QuestionI work at a preschool, and we have had 2 crabs, who seem to get along just fine. Recently one of our moms brought us another one from a local festival, to keep with our 2. Sudenly this crab is doing i dont know what with the other 2. He flips them over, and they hold onto eachothers shells,with there claws, making REALLY weird noises! We didnt even know hermit crabs made noises! At first we thought they were fighting, and we have seperated them many times, but they all 3 seem to find each other. The newest one ALWAYS winds up on top, but the other 2 dont seem to fight it. What is going on?? all of us teachers are so baffled!!
AnswerCrabs do display dominance behavior in the wild and in captivity. There are a couple of things that could be going on and a couple of solutions.
Basic dominance displays are harmless. Although they usually don't escalate beyond "antennae fights". Try dipping all three in the water bowl (which should be deep enough to get them all pretty wet).
The shell flipping concerns me though. It could be shell aggression. Do you have a good selection of shells for the new crab? Are they the same kind of shells he is in now but with slightly larger openings? Shell aggression can be very dangerous.
