Hermit crabs moving to new shells?

[mrjayd]

Last night I noticed a bunch of my hermits ganging up on one of my snails. I chased all the crabs away so the snail could get away but the snail looked dead. When I woke up this morning, I noticed that one of my biggest electric blue legged crabs shells was empty and after further inspecting of the tank, I noticed he had moved to the dead snails shell.
Is this normal for the hermits to take a snails shell?

[BigAir]

Yup, it is. That is what hermits do. The snail was probably already dying or dead.

[mrjayd]

Thanks, yeah I know hermits do that but I just did not know if they used snail shells also.

[supaboy1981]

Well hermits dont grow shells naturally and they arent born with one either. Atleast I dont think they are. I am pretty sure they arent. In fact I am almost positive they arent

[nah2ofish]

if i was getting married THIS WEEK and i got caught on sdreefs, my wife would kill me! your a brave man!

[Dakota]

Go buy more shells for the hermits to x-fer into. That way they won't target your snails. it's like 10/$1 or something at AW.

[Saltwater Taffy]

Mrjayd...wait until you actually see them move from one shell to another...it's pretty cool...i've seen it twice in 3 years of being in the hobby.

[mrjayd]

I actually caught that today. It came back to the old shell and crawled back in and back in the snail shell a couple of times before staying in it's old shell and walking away......Pretty cool.



Mrjayd...wait until you actually see them move from one shell to another...it's pretty cool...i've seen it twice in 3 years of being in the hobby.