Hermit Crab question/story

[jburgi]

I have a random hermit question. I got 3 scarlet hermits about a month or so ago. They are really cool, but they have really long shells, which they seem to have a rough time navigating.
Anyway, I have been meaning to get some other shells for them in case they wanted a new mobile home, but I haven't got around to ordering any yet (I don't really have a LFS where I live). So today when I was cleaning my tank I noticed that one of the hermit shells was empty. I was sad because I thought that he must have died. Then after I was done cleaning and admiring my tank I found him! He killed one of my snails and stole its shell. The killing of the snail for the shell is not what I found peculiar...what I found so strange about it was that the shell that he moved into is more than half the size of the last shell! I thought they moved up, not down! Especially since if he was going to steal a shell from a snail there are bigger snails in the tank!
So I guess I am curious...is this normal? When I get more shells for the hermits, should i get some that are smaller as well as larger?
Thanks for reading my rambles

 

[btldreef]

The hermit may have more room on the inside of his new home. The shell might also be less cumbersome for it. It's not unheard of for them to move to a smaller shell, but it definitely isn't the norm. Throw in a mixed batch of shells and see what happens.

 

[jburgi]

Next time I see him I will grab him and take a pic of him next to the old shell He is super fast now too!