What happens to a hermit with no shell?

[Opcn]

3 left handers now graze in my tank, they have about 40 shells each but I was thinking about putting one in a dish and removing the shellto take a look at the little fellow on his own, how long can one go without a shell before stress would creat problems?

Thanks

 

[zachariah]

Cruel mate, He will die

 

[RamJet]

You will pull him in two before he lets go of the shell. Death is a sure out come.

 

[StingrayKid]

Hermits only leave their shell homes when they outgrow them and they are extremely vonerable when they leave a shell to find a new one. I dont think you'd be able to even get the little guy out of the shell without killing him. If youre lucky, you may be able to witness the transfer of shells at some point. Just dont try to pry him out of his shell.

 

[Opcn]

I wasnt going to pull on the hermit, I was going to crack off the shell. First you take needle nosed pliars and breack off all of the edges of the shell untill its small enought to get ahold of in the back of the jaw, now comes the part I developed when I showed my little brother a snail from the inside, I took some of my surplus Malaysian Trumpet Snails (grr I hate them) so you slide the shell to the back of the jaw and put your finger in to the front of the jaw,then you squeeze and the shell cracks under the presurebut your finger stops the pliars from going so far that whatever lives inside is mutilated, and in the end you have a snail thatsperfect forscientific examination. Thats what I was planning on doing for the hermit.

Edit: Ive seen em change shells a few times in the past 4 days.

 

[Navarre]

very cruel.. the crab would die within days and even if it didnt the amount of stresson the poor animal would be imense.

 

[hyrookin]

too bad for that hermit.

why don't you just wait until it molts?
the discarded exo is almost intact.

 

[Opcn]

I was thinking like 15 mins tops.

 

[The-Wolf]

I'm sorry to be the one to say it Brendan;
IMHO of all the things you have posted this is by far
the worst I'm very dissapointed in you.

 

[StingrayKid]

I dont think hes trying to be cruel to the hermit crab, he's just curious on what they look like without the shell. But, I agree, the method he proposes seems somewhat harsh.

 

[Opcn]

Acctually My intent was to teach my little brother about how Hermit Crabs protect themselves, and how they work, I was going to show him how they move with there little hind leg and such, negating the use of a shed exoskeliton, if you have any other ideas for taking them out I'm all ears.

 

[WhispTech]

Isn't there pictures of them online you can show or look at?

Or maybe wait until one dies at least.

 

[Opcn]

A dead one would have the same shortcomings as a picture and or a shed exo. I'm guessing most of the objections are to how I was going to take them out, How about cutting a hole in the back of the shell and using a syringe to inject water into the shell, encouraging the hermit to abandon ship

 

[WhispTech]

How about just letting him be lol.

How would you like it if someone came into your house with a fire house and kicked you out of your home with it lol.

 

[mattski]

i haven't kept hermit crabs, but i did consider them. so i've read a bit. apparently when you give them a bath each week, they will come out of their shells. but you have to be careful that they don't drown!