immaculate conception: hermit crab style
November 17, 2013 6:17 PM Subscribe
A weird thing happened with our hermit crab(s). We started with two, one died, but now we have two again!
In June, we acquired 2 hermit crabs - one pretty big and one smaller. A few months later, despite good treatment, the bigger one died. After that, it seemed that the smaller one was perhaps eating the remains of the bigger one, as hermit crabs do. Now, just a few days ago, we discovered another hermit crab (situated in the sand under the salt water dish)! This new one is much smaller than either of the other two.
It's my understanding that hermit crabs do not breed or give birth in captivity. What the heck happened here, then? Could one of them - the one who died or the other, littler one (who is now a LOT bigger) have given birth in our tank?
We have good humidity, salt and fresh water dishes, food, things to climb on, natural shells: in short, what I think is a pretty good hermit crab environment. What we don't have is the ocean in that tank, which is what I understand that hermit crabs need to breed/give birth.
We are perplexed. Anyone have any ideas?
In June, we acquired 2 hermit crabs - one pretty big and one smaller. A few months later, despite good treatment, the bigger one died. After that, it seemed that the smaller one was perhaps eating the remains of the bigger one, as hermit crabs do. Now, just a few days ago, we discovered another hermit crab (situated in the sand under the salt water dish)! This new one is much smaller than either of the other two.
It's my understanding that hermit crabs do not breed or give birth in captivity. What the heck happened here, then? Could one of them - the one who died or the other, littler one (who is now a LOT bigger) have given birth in our tank?
We have good humidity, salt and fresh water dishes, food, things to climb on, natural shells: in short, what I think is a pretty good hermit crab environment. What we don't have is the ocean in that tank, which is what I understand that hermit crabs need to breed/give birth.
We are perplexed. Anyone have any ideas?
Response by poster: Thanks stewiethegreat. Does it make sense that this "new" hermit crab is so much smaller than either of the "previous" ones? It's about half the size of our smaller crab and probably a quarter of the size of the one that I thought died.
posted by kirst27 at 2:58 AM on November 18, 2013
posted by kirst27 at 2:58 AM on November 18, 2013
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I'd leave him where he is, but make sure there are a number of shells he can choose from that might fit him when he chooses to emerge.
Also, I'm guessing what you saw the crab eating a few months ago was the molted remains of the larger one, not his actual body.
posted by stewiethegreat at 6:22 PM on November 17, 2013 [7 favorites]