Crabs stealing shells

[biohazard]

Ok so i`ve noticed lately that I have hermit crab bodies laying around with no shells. No one is harming the decesed crabs but they are no where near thier old shells. So is someone going around and booting them from their shells?

 

[littlebuck]

they molt. thats why, you can just leave them in the tank it wont hurt anything.

 

[bluegirl]

Could possibly be shell wars between them, do you have extra empty shells in the tank? If there are no empty shells, sometimes a crab will forceablly(sp?) take the other crabs shell, sometimes resulting in one dying or possibly both. Or it may be the molts that you're seeing. Just my .02.

 

[biohazard]

They could be molts but they are not transparent. They are colored and I pulled one out to examine it by hand. It looks like the limbs and body are full of um crab meat lol.

 

[bluegirl]

Then, IMO it's most likely shell wars. :joy:

 

[biohazard]

That sucks because my LFS only has these little dinky shells and aparently thats not enough for these guys. This site has them but after everything adds up they are 23 dollars shipped.

 

[mikeyjer]

I know it's hard to find the right size shells. I usually go shop around different places looking for them. I need some small ones and they're hard to find. I'm still keeping my eyes open for those small shells.... :happyfish