i am so incredibly confused right now...

[tcarola154]

ok... so i came home today and found the front half of a dead hermit crab on my liverock in my 10gal. I quickly went through the whole... i hope theres nothing wrong with my tank thing and then realized all my hermit crabs were still alive.... I know I have three larger hermits (1-1/2 inch shell) and three small ones (3/4 of an inch) and they are all accounted for... so i have no idea where this thing came from. Anyone ever heard of a hermit hitch hiking on lr without a shell?? haha

 

[austinsdad]

Its probably a molt. Hermits grow and shed their skin in order to grow larger. Many have thought they had a dead crab also.

 

[Biggen]

Are you sure it is a crab and not simply the left over empty body from a molt? Hermits molt every so often (similiar to what snakes do) and shed off their old outer body and a new one forms and hardens. This can look just like the crab itself if you have never seen this before.

The back of the body will have a tear in it (if it is a molt) where the crab was able to "pull out" of its old body. It will also be slightly "clearer" than the real crab because now the body is emtpy.

 

[Feron]

I've seen my hermits battling each other before (the silly little guys).
I've also gotten a few freebie hermits when buying sand bed additives (like uh, live sand activator type stuff?)
But the previous two posters are probably correct.. I reacted much the same way when I saw my first 'dead hermit'.

They are pretty hardy little guys... saw one of my large snails jamming up my maxijet 1200 with a rotatiting head on it the other day.. The snail finally got itself loose and there was a hermit crab standing right in the path of the now rotating powerhead... little guy got shot across the tank into the wall...
got up and wobbled off... I had to laugh a good laugh over that one..

 

[tcarola154]

no it wasnt a molt... i was curious and decided to disect it (gotta love having a bio teacher for a mom... and all her disecting kits laying around) there was definately like meat or whatever you wanna call it inside...

 

[Brenden]

The shell could be back in the rocks. It could have outgrown it and was looking for a new home without protection and was killed.

 

[tcarola154]

yea but i knew how many crabs were in there... and he makes one too many...

 

[Florida8]

Well, if you are 100% sure it's a dead hermit, not a molt, and your others are accounted for then he must have came on your LR for free.

 

[hackteck]

i would agree probly just a hithhiker

 

[tcarola154]

yea its just really weird...

 

[Brenden]

yea its just really weird...

Not really. You will find stuff in your tank and on your LR that you did not see for months to come.

 

[tcarola154]

yea but a fairly good size hermit crab without a shell?

 

[Brenden]

Would not surprise me. I had a 2" emerald appear out of mine over a month after it was put in. As well as probably at least 20 other crabs, 5 mantis, at least one pistol shrimp and....... Someone on here had a niger trigger come out of their rock after they put it in from the LFS.

 

[tcarola154]

Ok, well I knew there was a lot of crazy stuff found in lr... but i just thought this was weird until I just read the niger trigger thing because thats just crazy. well i know i wont be surprised any more if i find anything else.