HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Hi, do crabs leave their shells when they molt? I moved the food dish today and found a big cavity underneath which wasn’t there yesterday. A shell previously occupied by a crab the last time I saw it was underneath the bowl and empty. I put a loose layer of sand over it and returned the food bowl. Is that something to be concerned about?
Update: I searched empty shell on the forum and found it might be de-shelled Crab so I dug gently in the substrate as suggested and found my naked crab. I have enacted Re-shelling protocol A and will check in an hour or two. He was moving and seemed to be sizing up the old shell so I am hopeful. I have checked all potential stressers heat/humidity/water/food and all are normal and to suggested standards. So, I can’t imagine what’s going on. He’s my second largest crab, I’ve had over a year and has successfully molted before. All other crabs seem to be behaving normally. So, I’m a little perplexed but glad I happened to see the empty shell poking up out of the new hole under the food dish.

Update: he seems to have damage to his large claw too. He’s fairly lifeless, slid down into a propped up shell in the iso. I’ll leave alone and check him tomorrow morning. This is really sad and stressful. I feel so bad for the attack or whatever happened.

You did the right thing with iso but next time don't recover him in sand. I honestly don't know how to help but I would recommend posting this on the emergency because this is clearly an emergency.

I'm so sorry to hear this! Perhaps you should switch your water bowls to tupperware so this doesn't happen again. You would double them up. Check out this link: http://hermitcrabassociation.com/phpBB/ ... r#p1030806

Thank you for the responses. Unfortunately, he did not recover.
I have the doubled-up Tupperware water bowls.
Today I found another crab naked in the sand (before I read your response suggesting leaving in the sand) but this one was very active. I did the same procedure as I did with the prior crab and this guy put in a shell in about 5 minutes. I’m keeping him in iso at least overnight and I will make a new post in the emergency forum to see if anyone has any idea why this is happening.
Thank you!

I'm sorry to hear that. I will look to see if you posted in the emergency section as I go through unread posts.