Do hermits leave there shells?

[ninjamini]

I am thinking my favorite hermit was eaten. I found his shell upside down and he was not inside. Is there any chance that he left is shell and walked all the way across the tank to where the empty shells are. Mo I did not think so.
So it was the blue throat trigger in the green polyp room with the tummy.
Here is a pic of the hermit.

 

[fishgeek01]

my guess is your trigger made a quick snack of him... sorry to hear that it was your fav...

 

[watson3]

It happens...Sorry///

 

[reefkprz]

they out grow their shells and need to move into bigger ones, if there are no larger shells available they die. so it is important to kep lots of empty shells for them to move into. it is not unheard of for a crab to kill a snail for its shell. crabs are picky too its like watching a used car buyer they spin the shell over and over, clean it out, try it on, if they dont like it they move onto the next shell and so on.
chances are though yes your trigger probably ate it.

 

[ninjamini]

 

[zoie2]

He could still be there somewhere. I'd keep watching. I have had several hermits move from one shell to another. I have actually watched them do it, it's really funny. One time I saw my hermit leave a shell and another hermit move right in to his old one.
I hope you find him soon.

 

[vcreefer26]

My blue throats never touch any of my HC or anything else in my tank so i doubt that he ate him. They can get out of there shells and find a bigger one. I've seen it happen many times I've even seen HC without a shell in my tank before. Good luck

 

[xdave]

I had one that would switch shells all day. He (or more likely she, gonna get in trouble for that one

) would walk from shell to shell and put them on. The craft store is a cheap place to get shells. Don't buy coated ones, and boil them before use.

 

[crox]

Originally Posted by zoie2
He could still be there somewhere. I'd keep watching. I have had several hermits move from one shell to another. I have actually watched them do it, it's really funny. One time I saw my hermit leave a shell and another hermit move right in to his old one.
I hope you find him soon.

they only leave one shell when they found another one. He might be dead or your trigger ate it.