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Many people know that alongside weddings and bereavement, moving home is one of the most stressful things you can do. Imagine then that in addition to finding a new place to live and dealing with the inevitable breakages caused by the movers, you also had the added pressure of having to shed your skin and grow a new one. That’s the dilemma faced by the Hermit Crab.
 
Born without a shell of its own, a hermit crab lives a wandering life, moving from one second-hand shelter to another as it grows in order to continually protect its soft abdomen from predators. Indeed, in an echo of the human search for the best property locations, crabs will often fight amongst each other for a desirable vacant shell. More aggressive crabs will literally pull weaker ones out of a shell, and will sometimes pull dying gastropods out of their original homes in order to gain access.
 
But as its needs inevitably expand along with its body, not only is it forced to abandon the overly snug shell itself in favour of a larger home, it must also shed its own exoskeleton in the process known as “molting”. This is a highly stressful period for the crab, as it is at its most vulnerable. Indeed for a short time after shedding its old exoskeleton, the crab is unable to move until it regains muscle control and the new exoskeleton hardens up.
 
But this can also be a time of renewal in more ways than one. Hermit crabs will sometimes lose eyes or legs in fights or due to the stress of sickness, but if it’s lucky enough to survive and then find a safe and secure environment in which to molt, the missing appendages will likely grow back.