Hermit crabs

[Mark Bradley]

I have two hermits (red legs). I’ve had them since end of August 2019. Since then one of them has upgraded its shell twice but the other is still in the same shell - is this a hierarchy thing? There’s several shells spread in the tank for upgrading.

 

[KSUChemist]

I have 6 and have only noticed one swap out in 6 months

 

[ZipAdeeZoa]

I think it really comes down to the individual crab. I've had my two crabs (dwarf blue leg and scarlet) and they are worlds apart. My blue leg seem to only want conch like shells and I've only ever seen my scarlet in auger type shells. The Blue leg changes shells almost constantly while the scarlet changes maybe once every 3-4 months (sometimes just changing back to his old one).

With this said, if one crab was faster than the other and was therefor getting more food and will certainly grow bigger sooner and therefor require shell upgrades more frequently.

 

[Mark Bradley]

I think it really comes down to the individual crab. I've had my two crabs (dwarf blue leg and scarlet) and they are worlds apart. My blue leg seem to only want conch like shells and I've only ever seen my scarlet in auger type shells. The Blue leg changes shells almost constantly while the scarlet changes maybe once every 3-4 months (sometimes just changing back to his old one).

With this said, if one crab was faster than the other and was therefor getting more food and will certainly grow bigger sooner and therefor require shell upgrades more frequently.

If one gets more food than another that would suggest to me a hierarchy - I’ve only got two and both seem to forage. The bigger one, on occasion, i prise off the smaller - I assume this is either aggression or mating?