feather dusters and hermit crabs

Hey guys. I have a "cluster duster" as the LFS called it. Basically it is a bunch of small-medium sized feather dusters all together forming one cluster. They look really good and have been doing well but today after feeding I saw one of my hermits on them scaring them to death. I am not sure whether he was trying to get a piece of food that was stuck in them or to eat the worms themselves. He is a not a blue or red leg hermit, I got him as "assorted reef safe hermit."


Also what do the worms of feather dusters actually look like? When the hermit grabbed the dusters I saw a worm escaping out of the bottom. I am not sure whether it was a small bristle worm or a feather duster worm abandoning his home.

 

Don't know for certain, I would remove the hermit if it was pulling the worms out and put it in your sump.

 

mantis food.....

 

well he wasn't pulling the worms out but he was grabbing very hard to their shells, I wasn't sure if one of the worms ran out the bottom of his tube though. It looked a lot like a very small bristle worm but I have never seen a worm outside of its tube, so I wasn't sure how similar they look.

I think the hermit was trying to get a piece of food that was in the middle of the cluster, but he didn't care about killing the worms to get to it. I banished him to the sump.

My mantis has removed his raptorial appendages so the hermit is safe for now.