We have 4 Hermit Crabs, 2 of them were bought at the same time from the same tank (Debbie & Crabby Pattie). The third one (Rocky) is from the same store but we purchased him at a different time, and the forth one(Tiny) was bought at a completely different store than the other three. So here is my problem, Crabby Pattie is following Tiny around and "messing" with him until he goes into his shell. I have one of those coconut huts for them to hide-out in, and when I peeked inside of it this morning everyone was in there except for Rocky, and Crabby Patty was standing over Tiny (who by the way is the smallest of the three, and was in his shell) and the only way I can explain to everyone what he was doing is to say that it looked just like I have seen Tarantulas act right before they bite. (In the pet store, I hate spiders!!!) He was standing up tall, almost like his front feet were airborne, and he was resting on his shell, except that he was "stamping" his two front claws on the ground. This went on for at least two hours that I saw. So I took them both out to examine them, and Tiny has a missing leg I believe!
Now before I even brought Tiny home I picked Debbie up one morning to notice that she has a missing leg and her small pincher. We had had them for at least three months before she started missing limbs, and her and Crabby Patty never fought at all, he still doesn't seem to fight with Debbie or Rocky, just Tiny. So...my question is, what is he doing? Is he fighting or showing some sort of dominance? It can't be a shell fight...at least I wouldn't think so because Tiny is much smaller so his shell wouldn't even fit...and I have 10+ extra shells that I just put into the tank! I'm confused! What's going on?Thanks so much!!
Jenn
