Hermit crabs eating snails?????

[phishman1]

My red legged hermits and my zebra hermits are finding and eating my turbo snails. I assume this is because they are hungry? I have a 55 gallon tank and always take such care to insure my feeding doesn't go overboard. What sort of things should I be feeding my hermits so they leave the snails alone???

 

[ozadars]

A hermit eats snails not because it is hungry, it eats them because it wants their shells

 

[salty jeff]

The same thing is happening to me. Does this mean I need to get some larger shells for my 2 hermits?

 

[acez28]

one of my snails fail from the glass for some reason and the hermits took it out. None of them even used his shell.....but his shell was pretty big tho.

 

[brinkdrum]

Are there a good selection of shells for them to choose from on the floor?

 

[ozadars]

So it must be very very hungry

 

[shels]

I have a good sized hermit crab (She is the size of a girls fist with her shell on) she takes out my turbo snails. I know it is not for the shells, she is too big for them. If my turbo's fall off the glass, they are gone. I think it is just something they do sometimes.

 

[killafins]

Originally posted by Salty Jeff
The same thing is happening to me. Does this mean I need to get some larger shells for my 2 hermits?
no, its just instinct to collect shells... it's a home and a food source for the hermits. as you all know, hermits scavenge for food and no matter how much you feed them, it will still scavenge through the shells... by lots of small shells for the hermits to scavenge throguh and they should leave ur snails alone.

 

[dreeves]

Dwarf blue hermits will kill snails to eat them as well as kill them for their shells...
I have also caught my Peppermint shrimp devouring a snail...

 

[hunterdaddy]

I have both scarlet and blue legs as well as snails in my tank. The only time I ever see snails being eaten is when they are on there way to dieing off anyways. Snails are not very long lived in general (from my experience) but I have one that has been around over a year.