QuestionI have two crabs have had them for awhile now. One of them started acting strangly this morning. It is lying on it's side. It stretches out of its shell or sometimes it looks like it is twitching. But making a loud noise while doing it. it is hard to explain the sound. Any Idea what it is or what I should do?
AnswerDear Corey,
thank you for your question.
The sound may be the chirping sound crabs make when they are stressed or annoyed. You can listen to this here:
http://www.geocities.com/hermit_crabs/carol/chirping.htm
It's possible that the crab is sick, but there is unfortunately not much you can do in that case. It needs to get through this on its own, the only thing you can do it to leave it alone as much as possible and to offer perfect conditions as well as a varied diet. There's something crabbers have called crickets syndrome that causes crabs to fall on their side and back and prevents them from getting up again, most crabs that show these signs die from it. But it's not know what causes it.
He may be trying to dislodge something that's stuck in his shell, that would fit with the annoyed chirping. It's possible that he will leave the shell then, make sure you have enough in his size that he can find a new one quickly.
I hope I was of some help to you
Jennifer
