Why does my crabact the wayit does?
One of the most interestingthingsabout land hermit crabs is their behavior. Simply put, eachhermit crabhas its own disposition. In my crabitat, for example, I have thecrabs Grouchyand Thankless Beast (or TB) who almost nevercome out oftheir shells, except to pinch me! But on the other end of thescale I havethe crabs Friendly and Oprah who come flying out,antennaea-pattering about in greeting when I pick them up.
What makes them sodifferent?There are a few reasons your hermit crabs behave differently.We'll use mycrabs Grumpy, Big Mouth and Attila asexamples.
Grumpy makes me eatmy words!WhenI first purchased Grumpy, she was the last hermit crab left alive in apet store tankfull of dead crab bodies. Since she refused to come out of hershell forme in the pet store, I bought her, sight-unseen, out of sympathy.On theway home from the pet store, this small crab with very long antennaecame out ofher shell quickly, pinched me VERY hard on the palm and immediatelywent backinto her shell. I did not see her come out of her shell again forthe nextmonth! Each bath day, I would pick her up and handle her on mypalm for alittle while and she would cautiously peek out and then slam shut inhershell. This went on for about three months until she finallyrealized Iwas not going to poke her or drop her (like the people in the petstore).Grumpy ended up being one of my most outgoing hermit crabs.
Big Mouth is loved intosilence! Big Mouth is a very special, soft-ball-sizedjumbo hermitcrab. I purchased Big Mouth from a Sunsations store in OceanCity,Maryland during the 2001 Crab Convention. Poor Big Mouth was oneof aboutsix jumbo crabs crammed into a small wire cage. The pet storeemployeesrefused to allow me to handle him until I showed them my HermitCrab Associationbusiness card. Then I picked him up out ofthecage. As soon as he realized he was being picked up, he startedchirpingloudly! Big Mouth is a very large hermit crab and purple-clawcrabs of hissize do not normally chirp unless they are intimidated, which is rarefor a crab of that size. But there he was, chirping alonglike I wasgoing to rip him out of his shell and have him for dinner! Notonly was hechirping, but he was curled tightly into his shell and sticking his bigdefenseclaw out. I continued to hold him and gradually he quieteddown. For the next two days or so, each time I would pick up BigMouth hewould chirp, a little shorter each time. Now he is one of thequietest,happiest, most friendly hermit crabs I own. While I may misshis deepbass voice, I realize that he is much more at peace than he was when Ifirstfound him.
Attila, the "work inprogress." Attila is easily one of my biggest challengesas acrab owner. I bought Attila from a pet store that was keepingtheir crabsin a bird cage. He was pinched tightly onto the bars of the cageand, aswith Grumpy, Attila was a 'mercy purchase.' To be honest, Attilaismean. He will not come out when I am around. When I pick him up, hesticks hiswide-open big claw out at me. The only time I've seen him out wasafterhis molt, when he came out to eat his exoskeleton. But sincethen, he isback to his 'old self,' the totally unrepentant C-R-A-B!!Because Iown over 90 hermit crabs, Attila's behavior doesn't bother me, but if Ionly had four and one of them was a crab like him, it would be difficult.In thatcase I would not 'get rid' of the mean crab or take him back to the petstore,but would purchase another, more friendly crab to play with. I donotbelieve in taking 'mean' crabs back to the pet store (and almostcertain death),since it is usually partly the pet store's fault the crab is sostressed andangry to begin with.
Normal crab-to-crabbehavior.Hermit crabs normally act with each other in standard ways, by crawlingover eachother, by having "feeler fights" or "pushingcontests." Both feeler fights and pushing contests are normalcrabbehavior and are not cause for alarm. When crabs are having"feelerfights," they are actually smelling each other. Pushing contests,also, are a way they get acquainted. They will run up againsteach otherand wildly wave their antennae and sort of "flick" their legs andclaws out at each other. Hermit crabs seemingly do not understandtheconcept of "going around" an object -- they will try to dig under orclimb over it. That is why they have these "feeler fights" and"pushing contests," because they cannot comprehend walking around anapproaching crab.
The behaviors listed aboveareharmless, unless you see one crab grab theother's shell by the opening and start pushing it back and forth andchirping. That usually signals a shell fight.
"Shellfights occasionally occur among wild and pet hermit crabs and can oftenbedetected because of chirping sounds. From a position slightly above thedefending crab's shell, an attacking crab seizes the defending crabwith itswalking legs and rapidly rotates it back and forth. While doing this,theattacker's claws are usually inside the opening of the defending crab'sshell.This shaking often drives the defending crab from the shell that theattackerwants. Practically leaping out of its shell, the loser waits and entersthevictor's shell. Typically, neither crab is harmed and both might get abetter-fitting shell." Taken from Hermit Crabs: AComplete Pet Owner's Manual, by Sue Fox
Crab-on-Crab Violence.Grumpy, Big Mouth, and Attila were not friendly tohumanbeings, but perfectly civil to the other hermit crabs in theircrabitats. There are some crabs that are not. Land hermitcrabs havebeen known to kill each other in various ways; mainly by eitherrippingeach other apart or out of their shells, or by digging up molters andliterally"eating them alive." Hermit crabs are first scavengers andtherefore will readily eat their own kind. As you can imagine,thesesituations are very disturbing to the crab owner. The usualscenario isyou find a bunch of legs strewn around your crabitat, or you find onecrabliving in the "victim's" shell and the victim either walking aboutshell-less or already dead. If the victim is shell-less, thenimmediately isolate him with a shell comparable to the one he just lostin the fight. Rinse any sand or gravel off itsabdomen and follow the instructions on the FAQ pagefor putting a naked crabback into its shell. If it is injured and still in its shell,isolate itin a warm, moist area. If the crab is healthy enough, it will pullthrough on its own. Remember that in the wild hermitcrabs do not have 'owners,' yet they deal with these types of thingsall thetime. Therefore, when a crab is injured or naked, you shoulddisturb itas little as possible.
My hermit crabis mean or does not come out of his shell for me. What can I do to makethe crab‘nicer?’ Hermit crabs, like people, have different personalities. Some crabsneverseem to go all the way "in" their shells; some crabs you never see"out" of their shells. I’ve never had a complaint about someonewhose crab comes out too much, so I’ll address the problem of a crabthatwon’t come out.
Probably the bestway to get the crab to come out is to hold it. Don’t spray it withwater, justlet it sit in the palm of your hand. Eventually, some of the warmthfrom theyour hand will seep through the shell of the crab and the crab willstart to‘fidget’ and eventually come out. Some crabs won’t come out untilthey’ve been held a very long, long time. Some crabs will wait a littlewhile and then reach out with the big claw and attempt to pinch yourhand -- keep your palm stretched flat! Crabs ‘fresh’ from the petstoreare even less likely to come out, because more than likely they’ve beenpoked,prodded and generally harassed by everyone who looks in their cage.Once you getthe crab to come out, talk to it in a low voice. Keeping your hand flat(andyour skin taut), allow the crab to walk around on your outstretchedpalm. Do notallow it to get into a position where it feels it may fall, or it willpinchyou. Also, do not make any sudden movements or the crab will becomefrightened.Keep in mind that to a land hermit crab, any shadow passing overhead isapotential seagull looking for a meal of crab eyeballs! Once you realizethecrabs' very real natural fear, it helps you appreciate what you’reasking thecrab to do – come out of its protective house in the daytime, when mostof its predators are about.
When a crab comes outof its shell waving its big claw around, or tries to ‘dig’ intoyourhand with the big claw, just keep the skin taut and eventually curiosity will prevail and the crab will come out. Anothermethod people use for getting a crab to come ‘out’ is to blow on it.That isnot always a good idea – I’ve heard stories of people who’ve blown on acrab, and before they knew it, the crab had popped out of its shell andpinchedonto their lower lip. If all else fails, you can lightly mist the crabwithdechlorinated water. Do not mist the crab until it’s dripping. Thatwill onlyannoy the crab and leave you with a sloppy mess. Most crabs, if theyneed anymisting at all, will respond to two or three quick spritzes.
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