Shell Changing Daily

Question
Hey Kristy! My crab (crabby krabler) is in a small plastic tank we got at 'wings' where we first adopted it(green with air vents at top). It has some colored gravel, a natural sponge, a natural shell for bathing and a plastic container for its food. It also has about 4 different shells. We keep him in the laundry room where he loves because its warm. I try to wet the sponge and run him under the sink every other day for a rinsing. His cage might be a little crowded. Crabby Krabler has killed every one of its friends, we put one in, it kills it..we put another in and again, the next day its dead as a doornail! So we let him be the only child. Recently, every day we wake up, its in a different shell. This has been going on for about 2 weeks. They all vary in size just a little bit. He is never in the same outfit. Is he bored? Dying? Fashionable? Its bizzare to me! I've scanned websites looking for an answer but could never find one! Thanks!

Answer
Hello Cal. May I make a few suggestions first of all? You should not put gravel in with your hermit crab, gravel has many sharp edges that will eventually crack the skin of your hermit crab and he will either die of infection or from his insides drying out You can buy sand or some similar material (coconut bedding, etc.) at most petstores.. Another suggestion would be to possibly use the shell for food and the plastic dish for water, if the dish is bigger than the shell, if not, you should try to find a larger one that will fit in there, hermit crabs should really be able to get all the way in the bowl and sit in a puddle of water to keep themselves moist. I think if he hasn't found a shell to stay in, it possibly means he does not like the shells you have put in there for him, hermit crabs are very picky about shells, they are after all very tender and naked inside them, any bumps, cracks, ridges, scratchy parts etc. that are inside the shells hurt them very much. You should probably look into the shells, if there is anything in them, you can try to clean them out, or you should buy new shells that are a different style than the ones he has. Keep the old ones, he may change his mind eventually, but for now, he needs to have shells he does like.