Bullied by not one, but several

[Wai]

I caught Iris trying to pull Oberon out of his shell two days ago purely by coincidence. Despite me separating the two to different ends of the tank (without isolating either), Iris continued to harass Oberon repetitively, at least another half a dozen times. Iris kept spreading his legs and claws over Oberon's shell. I even witnessed Oberon trying to climb up the sunken ship decoration to get away, but Iris actually CHASED him up the ornament, latched onto his shell again and tried to pull him down to the ground. So I locked Iris up in jail yesterday in the isolation unit. I thought things were going to be peaceful for now.

An hour or so later when I went to check on the tank, Oberon again was in panic... this time Huya was performing the same feat, latching onto Oberon's shell just like was Iris was doing.

So out came Iris from the isolation unit and in went Oberon. Now that no-one can touch Oberon, the tank is back to what it was... Iris and Huya minding their own business and climbing on random objects as though nothing happened before.

I am going overseas next week for a month and really don't want my mum to have to change two sets of dishes... any suggestions from experience when I should let Oberon loose again? I plan to let him out perhaps tomorrow or the day after and then observing closely what happens. I just worry that if Oberon moults in my absence, then all that will be left is his dead, naked body when I get back. The tank is full of similar shells, but nothing is more appealing than the shells occupied by other hermit crabs.

[appps]

Tricky, does make you wonder if a moult is imminent and that's what is attracting them to him.

Not sure what to suggest. Have you tried boiling all the old shells lately? I find that suddenly makes them interesting again.

[Wai]

I'll give that a try... anything is worth a try.

[Carrie]

I wonder if it would work to bathe Oberon, Iris, and Huya? That does help when introducing new crabs into an established group. Maybe it would work in the case of bullying too. I do also wonder if Oberon is going to molt as well. In that case even if he was bathed he'd still attract the others. Poor Oberon--he's had a rough time of it.