• credo@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    They also duke it out if two crabs want the same shell. I recall one video where two crabs were goin round the outside when a third one just moves into the shell. Hilarious at scale, but I bet the first two were pissed. Good thing they weren’t pistol shrimp.

  • qjkxbmwvz@startrek.website
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    1 month ago

    Seems more analogous to clothes than housing — clothes can be “too big” in the sense that the extra size is detrimental to the function, which is somewhat different from houses.

    And it’s pretty common to have buy-nothing groups in cities or even at large companies. Got a loooot of hand-me-down clothes for my toddler from friends, family, and randos in the neighborhood.

    • SkyNTP@lemmy.ml
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      1 month ago

      Yes and no. I’m sure there is an argument to be made that a house can be too big. Bigger houses require more maintenance, cleaning, higher taxes. Downsizing a house is also a retirement strategy.

    • Hirom@beehaw.org
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      1 month ago

      Yes, that’s a better analogy.

      Actually swapping house like a hermit crab swap shell would leave very little time to move furniture, put some fresh paint on walls, have the owner review the house to return the security deposit, etc

      • lennivelkant@discuss.tchncs.de
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        1 month ago

        Pretty sure hermit crabs (like most animals) aren’t renting. The previous owner of that shell has abandoned it, so they’d be squatters or, lacking any concept of private property, simply inhabitants. Point is they wouldn’t need any owner to return security deposits they never made.

        Moving furniture and personal belongings is a good point though, they don’t have any of that. Most houses aren’t too mobile either. Clothes just fit better.

  • halvar@lemm.ee
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    1 month ago

    An animal named a hermit crab has better social relationships than humans I’m so pissed.

  • someguy3@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    Iirc there can be a mad scramble. If two try for the same shell, one loses out and their previous shell may be taken. So they’re fucked.

  • SSJMarx@lemm.ee
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    1 month ago

    The Soviets had an “apartment swap” system for people who wanted to move around filled-to-capacity neighborhoods. You would get on the list with where you currently lived and put in where you wanted to move and would get informed when there was a match. Sometimes matches would be arranged in triangles or other more complex shapes, but since everybody involved needed to get on the same page this was rare. The wait to move depended on how lucky you were - sometimes you’d get a match right away, sometimes you’d forget about it until ten years later when you would get a letter asking if you were still interested.

    This was all in the 60s and 70s when things were generally more chill.

    • BobQuixote@discuss.online
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      1 month ago

      Sometimes matches would be arranged in triangles or other more complex shapes, but since everybody involved needed to get on the same page this was rare.

      A web service could handle this neatly. You could commit to being ready for a match within the next 2 weeks. If the server can find a way to move any number of people between equivalent apartments, everyone gets notified and confirms receipt.

  • booty [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    1 month ago

    You know I’ve never quite bought the hermit crab shells = houses analogy. They seem much more analogous to armor.

  • I_Miss_Daniel@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    In Australia we lose about six months wages to ‘stamp duty’ if we move. Better to stick with the oversized shell.

  • boatsnhos615@lemmings.world
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    1 month ago

    They kill/eat their dead, weak and handicapped as well. Heard they also get half off fries at Wendy’s too no cap…Sounds pretty sweet op

    • PhlubbaDubba@lemm.ee
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      1 month ago

      IIRC it’s by doin’ a little crabby dance whenever they see other hermit crabs scuttling by until one that’s also looking for a new shell spots them and the hermit crab swap meet begins forming.

  • SuperApples@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    Got to witness crabs doing this when going for a walk one day. There was a very shallow pool on the beach, about a foot wide, and about 20 crabs having a ‘swap meet’, scurrying back and fourth between the different shells.