Hermit kicked snail out for good

[op6rigo]

Hermit crab kicked snail out and killed him , took his shell like it was his job. Is this normal? Is a snail shell good enough?

 

[inetjnky]

It's normal and part of the hobby. Just replace the snails...

 

[jamie callard Verified Sponsor]

They need bigger shells as they grow so they take snail shells. Thats why indont have anymore hermits. Snails do a better job in my opinion

 

[sbash]

I have a halloween hermit, pretty cool to look at. He came with a bunch of red hermits I bought. He lived with my first fighting conch for a year or so just fine. He was also did not change shells for a long time. After I upgraded my tank, the fighting conch died, I assumed of natural causes. I should add, not only are these conches neat, but they are useful and not very cheap. The halloween hermit started wearing the conch shell, it took him almost a month to be strong enough to get off the sand bed with that beast of a shell on his back (lol). Six months after the upgrade, as the algae started to form, I felt it was a good time to get another conch. He did not last more than a month before the halloween hermit killed him off. The hermit wore the shell for a few days, then switched back to the other one. Last weekend the hermit put the new conch shell on, then switched back after a couple days... It is like a weekend party hat for the guy now...

Long story short, either keep lots of shells on hand, or expect your hermits to kill for their new home...