Hermit crabs are fascinating...

[mcaswell]

...but they are murderous little thugs.  I happened to glance in the back corner of the tank just now and spotted a hermit crab checking out a shell.  I'd seen hermits change shells a few times before, but thought it would be neat to film it.  As I watched, I was curious as to how he had found an empty shell back there, as I had just gotten done rearranging the rocks and had thought I had put all the empty shells in the front area.  I was so fixated on watching his interesting behavior that I didn't realize until I watched the video afterward that the answer to that question was resting on the sand right next to him... the carcass of another blue-leg, presumably the previous owner of that particular shell before being mugged for it.

 

Anyway, it was interesting watching him spin the shell around and around (I'm guessing to try to empty it of any sand or debris from the previous occupant), line the shells up so he could stick his head in and check it out, spin it some more, and so on.

 

Finally, he repositions the shells for the changeover (which occurs at about the 4:00 mark), and moments after he's backed into the new shell, he realizes he doesn't like it that much after all and returns to his original shell.  After giving the other shell one last look over, he departs the scene of the crime.  All that, and he didn't even keep it!

Guess I need to add more empty shells.

 

 

[WV Reefer]

21 minutes ago, mcaswell said:

...but they are murderous little thugs.  I happened to glance in the back corner of the tank just now and spotted a hermit crab checking out a shell.  I'd seen hermits change shells a few times before, but thought it would be neat to film it.  As I watched, I was curious as to how he had found an empty shell back there, as I had just gotten done rearranging the rocks and had thought I had put all the empty shells in the front area.  I was so fixated on watching his interesting behavior that I didn't realize until I watched the video afterward that the answer to that question was resting on the sand right next to him... the carcass of another blue-leg, presumably the previous owner of that particular shell before being mugged for it.

 

Anyway, it was interesting watching him spin the shell around and around (I'm guessing to try to empty it of any sand or debris from the previous occupant), line the shells up so he could stick his head in and check it out, spin it some more, and so on.

 

Finally, he repositions the shells for the changeover (which occurs at about the 4:00 mark), and moments after he's backed into the new shell, he realizes he doesn't like it that much after all and returns to his original shell.  After giving the other shell one last look over, he departs the scene of the crime.  All that, and he didn't even keep it!

Guess I need to add more empty shells.

 

https://youtu.be/dbGdBMTyQ9A

Hermits are dicks. 

[Hdale85]

 

Apparently land hermits are not nearly as criminal..... We have a huge 55 gallon tank setup with 12" of substrate for 5 land hermits and they get along just dandy lol. 

[Dos Ocho]

I thought my hermits were OK until i saw 4 of them ganging up on and killing my Nassarius snail one night. They had the poor thing pinned into a corner and were taking turns ripping chunks of him out of the shell and eating him. For the record, they had plenty of empty shells to swap and they are very well fed. It was interesting to watch though.....

[JoeR]

I watched one earlier fall from the top of my tank all the way to the bottom on a coral lol. They're so clumsy and awkward. But yeah, even though I had spare shells in my tank one of my hermits murdered a snail and stole his shell instead. Mine have gotten really big too. 

[cfaye@Delaware]

Do not keep hermits and snails together.......that's a given......I think hermits love nice fresh shells......meaning snails.......or another hermit if they can over take it.....

[Clown79]

Lmao. I love hermits.

 

Mine never kill anything. 

 

I've seen them clean up a dead snail otherwise my live snails are fine. 

 

Mine don't even fight.

 

I've had a snail tipped over for 2 days and none of them have touched it.

[Weetabix7]

1 hour ago, Clown79 said:

Lmao. I love hermits.

 

Mine never kill anything. 

 

I've seen them clean up a dead snail otherwise my live snails are fine. 

 

Mine don't even fight.

 

I've had a snail tipped over for 2 days and none of them have touched it.

 

Canadian hermits are more polite. 

[fishfreak0114]

Mine attacked a nassarious once, but other than that they've been model citizens.  And who knows, maybe there was something wrong with the nass...but probably not.

[Friendly]

On 7/17/2017 at 6:05 PM, Hdale85 said:

 

Apparently land hermits are not nearly as criminal..... We have a huge 55 gallon tank setup with 12" of substrate for 5 land hermits and they get along just dandy lol. 

can you post a picture of this tank? I'm curious to see this 12" of substrate and how the land hermits use it.   

[Hdale85]

Sure give me a bit. They burrow under the sand during the day and when they are molting and such. Sometimes they can go down and molt for months sometimes even as long as a year at a time. 

[Hdale85]

Here we are, it's a 55 gallon tank that's in my daughters room currently. We've got 5 hermits in there but you rarely see all 5 out at the same time. Usually we see 3-4. 

 

IMG_20170806_204840 by Hdale85, on Flickr

IMG_20170806_204850 by Hdale85, on Flickr

IMG_20170806_204904 by Hdale85, on Flickr

IMG_20170806_204921 by Hdale85, on Flickr

 

The last pic is the water bowls, one is fresh water and one is salt water. They drink the fresh water and bathe/empty their shells in the salt water. I need to clean them out and refill them which I'll do tomorrow when I do my tank water change. It's sort of hard to see much since there isn't an internal light and there is some sand and such on the glass. The sand is 50/50 play sand and coconut fiber mix. It stays moist and helps keep the humidity up in the tank which needs to stay above 80% as well as 80 degrees. There is a big mat heater that hangs across the glass on the back of the tank. 

 

Honestly they are incredibly easy to take care of, but generally it's not much to look at except at night lol. They start coming out around 6-7pm I'd say. 

[Alexraptor]

On ‎2017‎-‎07‎-‎18 at 2:07 AM, mcaswell said:

...but they are murderous little thugs.  I happened to glance in the back corner of the tank just now and spotted a hermit crab checking out a shell.  I'd seen hermits change shells a few times before, but thought it would be neat to film it.  As I watched, I was curious as to how he had found an empty shell back there, as I had just gotten done rearranging the rocks and had thought I had put all the empty shells in the front area.  I was so fixated on watching his interesting behavior that I didn't realize until I watched the video afterward that the answer to that question was resting on the sand right next to him... the carcass of another blue-leg, presumably the previous owner of that particular shell before being mugged for it.

 

Anyway, it was interesting watching him spin the shell around and around (I'm guessing to try to empty it of any sand or debris from the previous occupant), line the shells up so he could stick his head in and check it out, spin it some more, and so on.

 

Finally, he repositions the shells for the changeover (which occurs at about the 4:00 mark), and moments after he's backed into the new shell, he realizes he doesn't like it that much after all and returns to his original shell.  After giving the other shell one last look over, he departs the scene of the crime.  All that, and he didn't even keep it!

Guess I need to add more empty shells.

 

https://youtu.be/dbGdBMTyQ9A

Are you sure that was a carcass? Looks more like a molt to me.

[mcaswell]

2 hours ago, Alexraptor said:

Are you sure that was a carcass? Looks more like a molt to me.

That's certainly possible... it looked like it had some "meat" to it (the white-ish part), but perhaps that's just how molts look.

[Thunder Goose]

My red legs and blue legs are reasonably well behaved but I also got some Hawaiian Zebra hermits and one of them.... Well I'll just say this, the lone survivor of the Great Hermit and Snail Massacre of 2017 is now named Dexter and living all alone in the refugium. It's too bad, too. They were very active and fun to watch.