switching

Many crabs that we have gotten at the petstore were brought home wearing uncomfortable shells. A hermit crab will wear whatever shell is availible, but it doesn't mean that the shell is an ideal fit. It is important to put plenty of good looking shells into the crabitat to give your crabs some options on housing themselves.

There are several behaviors you can look for to determine if a shell change is imminant. When any of our crabs have changed shells, they have always preceeded their shell changes by first examining the new shell, then positioning the new shell, and finally coming out of their own shell in order to move into the new one.

A crab sizes up a possible new shell much in the same way you would when buying extra shells at the petstore. The crab inserts his large claw into the shell to check the size of the opening in relation to his claw. He will then move himself into the opening of the new shell somewhat. Of course, when getting new shells, you cannot stick your crab's claw into them. Instead, just estimate how large your crab's claw is and get a shell that has an opening which is slightly larger. Don't try to pull your crab out of his shell!

If your crab decides that the new shell is approximitely the size necessary, he may decide to move in and try it on. In preparation for this move, the crab will position the new shell so as to minimize the time he is exposed, naked. The crab will grab the shell with his legs and claws and spin it around a few times until it is moved to his liking.

Well, your crab has checked out the new shell and positioned it correctly, now he must move. Whenever any of our crabs have moved from a shell, they always have a little ritual to doing so. They tend to pull back into their current shell, then stretch out, then retract again, and stretch again. Each time they repeat this cycle, they stretch out a little farther, until finally they exit their shell and move into the other one.

Sometimes your crabs may switch shells and then decide that they didn't necessarily want the new shell and so they switch back. Other times, crabs act silly and switch into shells that are obviously too large. They are silly creatures and at times I wonder why they do what they do. Here are a few pictures of crabs switching and being goofy.