Hermit crab legs

[colettem]

Since starting my tank one month ago I keep finding the front half of hermit crabs lying around (on 3 occasions). The legs are coloured the same as in a live crab but the body portion is missing. Am I finding molts or have I got an evil predator that is eating the back half of the crabs or are they just dying? Anyone else experienced this?

 

[capncapo]

If no hermits have gone missing I would assume that you are seeing molts.

 

[colettem]

Trouble is there are so many hermits that all look similar I'm not sure if any are dying or not. The tank is too big to do a head count!

 

[capncapo]

In that case, anything is possible.

Hermits will eat other hermits if they get the chance. A different predator is also a definite possibility.

Have you been noticing any empty shells ( I know , you put in extras right? ).

 

[colettem]

Lol, yes there are loads of extra shells, they swap them around so much as well that I can't keep track of them. Last night I witnessed two crabs trying on different shells for size and then swapping back to their original shells after obviously deciding they didn't like their new homes.