How To Recognize Your Crabs

[anniehorsekrab]

Have you ever realized that a bunch of your hermit crabs have all changed shells at the same time? Or have you simply just seen that a crab has changed shells and not been able to know who it is? Well, that happened to me, but I found a way to recognize my crabs after they've changed using the process of elimination. Let me explain it to you:

Now, I'm sure most of you are thinking, "Well, won't the empty shell be there?" This is true, but it won't make much of a difference if more than one of your crabs have changed at once. So HERE'S my story:

What happened was, I saw an empty shell which I assumed was Your Shyness' from the bottom. But then I noticed a crab in Your Shyness' shell, which I thought was him. So I picked up the empty shell to see whose it was, and I found out that it was Mr. Krabs Jr.'s. So, I assumed that MKJ had changed into some other shell. THEN, when I picked Your Shyness up, he came RIGHT out as soon as he felt a touch. So I automatically knew this WAS NOT Your Shyness. But, If that's so, then who was it in his shell? One of the clues was that MKJ's shell was empty, so it might've been him, but I wasn't sure yet because the crab was the same size as Scooter or Zipper, so it might've been either of them too. But since I knew that Scooter and Zipper are both girls, I checked to see if the crab in the shell was a boy or a girl. He was a boy. So I figured out that the crab in Your Shyness' shell was Mr. Krabs Jr., and Your Shyness was in Mr. Krabs SENIOR'S old shell. So basically, what I did was this:

1. Picked up crab in shell. Crab came right out. Eliminates possibility of being Your Shyness.
2. Checked empty shell. Shell was MKJ's. Possibility that crab in shell is MKJ.
3. Checked crab's gender. Gender was male. Eliminates possibilities of crab in shell being Scooter or Zipper.
4. Knowing that Mr. Krabs Sr. was in the green turbo shell, the only crab left was MKJ. Therefore, Mr. Krabs Jr. was the crab inside of Your Shyness' shell.

Then where was Your Shyness?

MKJ's shell was empty, and so was the white extra, so Your Shyness was in Mr. Krabs Sr.'s old shell.

I just felt like sharing this story, also to help you guys if you ever need help in figuring out which of your crabs is in what shell.

[ladybug15057]

You're correct in an empty shell not always being a good way to tell who is who especially if one has a few hermies basically the same size. When one changes shells it can start a shell changing frenzy too.
We keep a notebook with a few things written in it.
When and where the hermie was bought, what size their shell opening was/is and what kind of shell, when they molt, etc. etc.
But on their page it also contains that hermies features. If one looks closely enough they will see something different about each hermie. Examples: Right front leg has white tip, left rear leg has last joint that is orange-ish, front right leg is all purple, etc. After they molt, check these features in case they need changed.

[anniehorsekrab]

Yeah, features was another way I could tell Mr. Krabs from Crawler in my early days of crabbing. And then someone says, "how can you tell them apart?" and you say, "how can you NOT?" Haha.

[Wai]

I just try to tell each of them apart without having to rely on the shell that they are wearing, as Marie said. All of my hermit crabs are of different size, in the following order from smallest to largest: Huya, Orcus, Haumea, Sedna, Ixion, Eris, Ceres.

Sedna and Ixion are very similar in size, but Sedna is missing an eye. Ceres and Eris are also very similar in size, but Ceres is a lot darker than Eris.

[anniehorsekrab]

Right. I try not to rely on the shell either. For example, Mr. Krabs Sr. has very pointy leg tips, and he is my biggest and most active crab. Zipper is the smallest, and Scooter is half-shy, half-brave. And so on, with the other crabs.

[emmac350]

Let's see...here's how I tell my crabs apart...Spaz is huge. Seriously huge. He's molting now, but seems to prefer Murex/other spiky shell shapes according to his previous owners. Rocky is much bigger than my original 6. He's always out by around 5 or so in the afternoon, and enjoys basking in the moon glow bulb. He prefers turbos - won't try anything else on. Benny is my next biggest crab. He's a PP that somehow prefers D shaped openings and isn't shy when I'm moving around outside of the tank. The first thing he does every day is visit the shower caddy shell shop. Every day. Toodles is next - she is the biggest E, although there isn't much of a difference between her and Nibs. She's currently missing a leg, but other than that she has orangy-red on her legs and claws. Nibs is next biggest and she prefers turbos. She has a recently regenerated leg that is smaller than the rest; she also has orangy-tan legs and BP. Curly is smaller and has a more bluish/gray/greenish tint to him; he also prefers O shaped openings. Rack is my itty bitty PP - he's seriously tiny and is pale and skittish. He is darker than when I got him, but he's still pale. Finally, little Slightly is tiny. Smaller than Rack (I think; never seen the two next to each other for comparison). He enjoys hanging upside down from the lid and trying to escape, and molts like every other month.

It's amazing how these guys get personalities, isn't it?

[anniehorsekrab]

It is, it really is amazing. Once you can recognize your crabs like that, it proves you're an enthusiast, having the time to just sit down and watch hermit crabs. Like me, and pretty much all the people on this website!

[emmac350]

It's not even that I sit around and just watch them all the time. If someone's out doing something, I'll watch for a minute, or I'll look before bed or when I'm packing up my lunch in the morning. I am always looking to see who I can find and where they are, and you really do learn each one's preferences pretty quickly. If you pay them even a little attention, they'll quickly steal all the attention you have!

[anniehorsekrab]

Yeah! Emma's right! Hermit crabs are fantastic little creatures and we could learn so much more about them if we just studied them more!