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Hermit Crab Shell Swap

What happens when one hermit crab has too large of a shell, and the other too small? Between two crabs I observed, they swap them in a rather civil manner. Last week I was shocked to see a Tricolor hermit (Clibanarius tricolor) leave his shell complete and unprotected, while an Electric Orange Hermits (Calcinus cf. [...]

What happens when one hermit crab has too large of a shell, and the other too small? Between two crabs I observed, they swap them in a rather civil manner. Last week I was shocked to see a Tricolor hermit (Clibanarius tricolor) leave his shell complete and unprotected, while an Electric Orange Hermits (Calcinus cf. elegans) also left his shell to occupy the former home of the Tricolor. After that the Tricolor then took the Electric Orange’s home and they went on their way.

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The shell-less tricolor hermit reveals their long abdomen (spiral looking thing). This reaches deep into their shell to keep them in homes.

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For some stunning hermit crabs, most of which you cannot find in the U.S. or Europe, check out this article:  Beautiful Hermit Crabs.

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  • JD
    Hermit crabs switching shells is one of my favorite things to watch. I love how they roll the new shell around, picking things off of it. Then in an instant they are in the new one.
  • Nicholas Sadaka
    Oh man they are creepy looking when they come out of those shells. I can't remember why, but I remember this one time I was watching this hermit come out of his shell and he ran all around the tank shell-less and he was creepy looking when he was still, but much moreso when he moved around. I'm still very much on the fence at whether or not I like them in my reef tank. I'd be lying if I said that there hasn't been a few instances where I suspected them of eating some patches out of some of my SPS corals.
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