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
Okay, I needed to think on this one a few days because the problem isn't an easy one so you will be better suited to throw a bunch of stuff at them at once and hopefully this will fix the problem.

1. Make sure you are offering both of them good sources of fresh meats. Shrimp, silversides, unseasoned chicken and beef. Give supergirl a chance to really eat a lot, she may have been starved at the petstore.

2. Make sure you've got plenty of shells around that are similar in type to your two crabs shells but slightly bigger in the opening. She could be trying to steal the shell of her new roomie.

3. The third option is more unusual and it is possible that one is trying to mate with the other one. It's not common but it does happen although when they do this there is a gentle rocking back and forth motion that people notice. I would concentrate on the first two options as they are the most likely culprits.