Question: Why do Hermit crabs change their shells?

Sarah-Jane Walsh answered on 18 Jun 2013:

Hermit crabs don’t grow their own shells, they take other creatures. When they are small they need a small shell but as they grow they need to swap for bigger and bigger ones!

Usually they will take empty shells they find of dead snails but sometimes there arn’t any free so they will fight other hermit crabs and steal their shells, kill snails or make use of other objects such a coke cans or other rubbish, check out these cool hermit crabs! http://snuzzy.com/10-neat-hermit-houses/