A Hermit Crab is like an Aspie

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I love hermit crabs. I own hermit crabs. I know a lot about them. I rescue them. I adopt them out. They are more than just a little creature in a shell.

I recently rescued 20 crabs, and I have been discovering each of their personalities. Take Scuttles. She is a small crab. Very friendly, and often comes out of her shell without a second thought. I have to catch her often, because she scuttles across my hand without thinking that there may be a drop over the edge. Today, I saw her under her little choya wood log, and decided I would play with her. When I picked her up, she hid in her shell and had her big pincer wide open. If she could have grabbed any part of me, she would have pinched as hard as she could and held on for dear life. She was scared. Now, I have had crabs for years, so I knew the reaction, and I understood it. To someone who had never had hermies before, this would have been a very odd reaction. They probably would have put her back and thought she was just a strange crab. After all, she was supposed to be a friendly crab, but she had a reaction that was very extreme and just didn't make sense. Didn't she know she wouldn't be hurt? They have never hurt her before. Why would she be scared now?

Well, this is the crab's point of view. I had just recently changed both their decor and their actual aquarium (bought a larger aquarium, and consolidated from three to two crabitats - then moved all of my permanent crabs to a new tank and added a few newbies). She was also "the new crab on the block" so to speak. I had decided to move her from rescue status to 'Adopted', and put her in with my permanent crabs. When I do this, I usually leave them alone for some time so that they can adjust. She had gone from an environment where she knew what to expect and her surroundings were familiar to being with mostly strangers and having new objects and new smelling sand. Then, this big hand comes down and picks her up, causing further change. She panics and goes into protection mode. She cannot recognize me, and instinct tells her that she is in danger. She retreats as far into her shell as she can and opens her pincer. After a minute of sitting on my hand, she recognizes the 'feel' and decides to peek out. "Oh! It's you!" She wags her antenna and comes on out. After seeing that I am me, she starts to crawl around. After a few minutes, she is back to herself and is crawling all over my hand and arm.

In general, I have noticed this behavior in hermit crabs. They seem very anti-social. Uninformed people buy them, then comment they they are no fun. They looked so active in the store, and at home, all they do is hide, pinch or both. They don't understand that crabs do not like change, and when purchased, have often come from hostile and harsh conditions where many of them did not make it (not in the wild, but after 'harvesting and transport). They are fine with a few changes (like moving their food dish to the other side of the tank, or putting a new toy in their cage, although depending on the crab, that may be avoided until they are used to it), but something major does not always sit well with them. It is so easy to stereotype them all as timid, shy and no fun, but once you get to know them, most are not like that at all.

I have found that so many of them have different personalities, and you cannot say all crabs are like X, Y or Z. For example, here are some of the crabs that I have:

Scuttles: Small (about the size of a quarter), active and friendly. Always seen outside of the shelters, and always exploring. Usually will come right out of the shell and even a hand moving over her head will do little to effect her (crabs instinctively hide when they see a shadow - they are prey for birds).

Bob: Large to Jumbo in size (just smaller than a baseball). Friendly, and a lot like scuttles, except she (Bob) will hide a little longer when picked up. Has never given an indication that she will pinch anyone (not that it will not happen, it is just harder to scare her - I have found this to be the case with many, but not all big guys). I allow my 8 year old to handle this one. I have to watch Bob though. She loves to snack on other crabs (yes, she is a cannibal). I have to make sure that if I have a molter, that they are well buried, or that they are moved into an isolation tank. She has eaten at least one, and I saved the other one. It is another odd, and unacceptable behavior that is very typical and normal for crabs.

Steve: (Also a girl, and a little larger than Bob). Not quite as friendly. She will come out of her shell, but she is usually very timid and ready to pinch. I only allow my oldest to handle this one. Steve has been through a lot, so I am giving her time to adjust before I move her in with everyone else. She is still hanging out with her rescue friends. Since I moved aquariums, I haven't seen her out much. She has also been acting like she will molt soon, so that may explain some of her behaviors.

Spidey (number one): Very small, but not too much smaller than Scuttles. Scared and timid. She will not come out of her shell long enough for me to sex her, but since most of my crabs are girls, I will just assume she is as well. lol. I am sure she would pinch is she would come far enough out of her shell to reach you. She will not come out unless she is left alone for a while. I have only seen her active at night.

Russel: Passed away. Was a crab I bought from a store. He was not taken care of well at all. Because of this, he was a scared crab. He would have pinched me if he had a chance. I had to be very careful when handling him. Unlike Spidey, he DID come out of his shell, but he was always out with an open pincer, and I know he would have nailed me if he could. I really worked hard with him to help him to not be as scared, but he passed away before he was at a good state. He was much better though. I took a picture of him the day before he passed and he was scurrying along outside his aquarium and wasn't afraid that my hand was there. It was success. I was sad to see him gone.

Zeus: She is medium to almost large in size. She is what I would consider a typical crab. She will hide in her shell while on my hand for about 30 seconds or so. She just has to be sure everything is OK. She will pinch is scared, but is usually quite relaxed. I sometimes see her out and sometimes she is hanging out in the hut with a couple of her buddies.

I guess I bring this up because I can really relate to them. They are frightened easily (like some Aspies), they don't like change, they have a routine (out at night and hide during the day), they are misunderstood, they are friendly, but often appear not so (big pincer) until you get to know their personalities, they hide away in their shell until they feel safe, and they can have reactions that seem out of proportion with the situation.

I don't know. I just like them. They seem so much like me.

Hermit crabs are the bomb! Do you bling them out by painting their shells or doing up their 'houses' (like putting up scenic paper on the backside of the 'tank' - like some people do with their fish)? btw, do you know if painting their shells can be done safely? Also, I love that word 'crabitats'. ...ok. later.

My brother has a couple of them and I think they are pretty cool......I might get a couple myself.

I used to have a pair of hermit crabs. I think I might get some more at some time in the future when I'm not already over the limit for animals allowed in my apartment

My mom always told me it would not surprise her if I grew up to be a hermit. Scuttles has to be the most insanley cute name I've heard for a hermit crab so far. How can you tell their sex? My hermit crabs' names were Slimey and Pepermint because that's what their shells reminded me of. They died like a week after we got them but I still have their shells.