Blue Leg vs. Red Leg crabs

[jackie]

Ok, this is war. I bought about 1 doz. red leg crabs a couple weeks ago and I've been finding little red dead bodies out of their shells....could my blue leg crabs be attacking them? I have one large blue leg (over 1") that walks around like he's Conan and I'm wondering if he's the culprit?

 

[wrassefan]

Are you sure you are not just finding the shedding remains? Unless you see them fighting for the shell or having an all out battle, this might be it. They might be hiding until their new body hardens up.

 

[jackie]

Well I saw one being attacked a few days ago but haven't caught one in the act since then. It's possible they were caught shedding and then attacked....

 

[jango]

keep an eye out i dont see my red leg's for a couple weeks after they molt...

 

[jackie]

I'll keep a closer watch while I'm also looking for sundial snails.... thanks

 

[SherryQ]

Adding extra empty shells will help. If the hermits have lots of shells to choose from they seem to be less likely to kill for a particular shell.

 

[Matt L.]

I've had blue and reds together for two years now with no problems. The molts do tend to look like dead crabs, but they're not,

Matt

 

[jackie]

Well, you learn something new in this hobby every day. I honestly, to my embarrassment, did not know crabs molted. Wrassefan, I thought you meant shedding as just in finding a bigger shell. Matt confirmed my worst fear. I feel like an idiot, I sometimes wonder how I got this far.
I did have some empty shells, but threw them away while I was going through the cyano outbreak, I didn't feel like cleaning them off all the time. I've been looking for some but they're either too big or too small.