Fighting???

Question
Hi,
We bought three hermit crabs while on vacation in June and we have them in a 10 gallon fish tank.  My daughter's crab died approximately 2 months ago so we went to the area pet store and had her pick another.  She and I call her a "she" because she is in a pink shell with a Supergirl emblem painted on it.  However, things were fine the first two or three weeks but now "she" and my son's crab have been in a hold for 4 days that we can keep track of unless they release each other at night while we are sleeping but I do not think so.  This morning my husband and I decided to do some researching on the Internet and that is when I found you.  I read your archive and low and behold we thought we had found the answer.  We separated them dipped both in water and we actually put "supergirl" as my daughter calls her inside the circular chickenwire to separate them a bit longer because one of them would either have to crawl up and over to find the other and I thought that would take a while.  Well, it did not and my husband found them back together within the hour and has since separated them again and to no avail they are as I write back together and in the same spot.  I wanted to mention my son's crab is chirping when we are around as if I feel to say save me, save me from "supergirl".  So the million dollar question I have is what do I do next?  We really do enjoy them and I am not exactly sure who is to blame, but I think it is new "supergirl".  She has her legs and claws inside the others shell.  Please help???  Thank you for your time and I am so glad there are crab guru's out there like yourself willing to answer everyone else's questions!!  

Answer
To me it sounds like Supergirl wants the other crabs shell. Do you have extra shells in there? Any of them like the one the other crab is in? If not, I would suggest getting some just like it to add in there.
Also wanted to say that there will be antennae fights and shoving matches in the tank. There will be an alpha crab and it's normal. One other thing, make sure you are feeding them a protein every day. It can be fish, meats, eggs, etc. No spices or table salt, those can be harmful to them. If they don't get enough proteins they can cannibalize each other. Keep me updated!
If you'd like to get more information on hermit crabs feel free to check out this site.

www.hermitcrabaddiction.net/forum