New to crabbing, am I doing something wrong??

[JiJuXue]

I got 3 new crabs 7 days ago and all seemed to settle in well at first, one even changed shells on the first night.

However as the week has gone on, one has become very inactive just sitting in his hide on top of the substrate and just not moving, while another has buried himself but only lightly as can see the top of his shell. The third has been the most active but have noticed a big slow down in his behavior (bored because he’s now got no one to play with?)

Humidity and temperature (UTH) has been n have been using a digital hydrometer to monitor, substrate is EE (not mix with sand) and is 4” deep at the deepest section so not sure what’s wrong?

They we eating quite well and very extroverted for first two days but now gone completely the opposite?? Not sure if I’m doing something wrong??

[doth]

sometimes crabs will be really active after a big stressor (like moving to a new tank etc) and then slow back down.

it can be hard to tell when something's wrong, because maybe they are moving around more at night when you can't see them. or they could have had some illness before you got them & are showing signs now.

leave plenty of nutritious foods out for them. I think there's a thread on "healing foods" here somewhere. I know raw honey & bee pollen are good, make sure there's animal protein & calcium available too.

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[curlysister]

You need deeper sub - it should be minimum of 6 inches, or 3 times as deep as your largest crab, whichever is deeper, all over the tank (ie- your most shallow area should be at least that).

What are your heat and humidity readings? What are you feeding them?

[doth]

agree w/ curly about the sub but personally I would wait a bit before making a major change like that as it could stress the crabs further

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[JiJuXue]

You need deeper sub - it should be minimum of 6 inches, or 3 times as deep as your largest crab, whichever is deeper, all over the tank (ie- your most shallow area should be at least that).

What are your heat and humidity readings? What are you feeding them?

My largest crab is only 1” so that’s why it’s 4/5” deep. But that’s only at the deeper third of the tank (where they all currently are except for 1)

Humidity constantly around 75/80 and temp is between 23-26 degrees.

Last night was the first time no one touched the food The two that are in the deeper section seem to have semi dug in but the top half of shell still visible... can the substrate be too moist preventing them digging deeper? There is some condensation on the inside at the deeper depth?

[JiJuXue]

agree w/ curly about the sub but personally I would wait a bit before making a major change like that as it could stress the crabs further

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Yes I tend to agree, might hold off for now

But what do you think about moving the whole tank to a quieter space in the house? Currently in a very and noises area?

[Hermiesguardian]

Yes I tend to agree, might hold off for now

But what do you think about moving the whole tank to a quieter space in the house? Currently in a very and noises area?

Moving a tank with any crabs underneath can collapse their caves and tunnels and they will suffocate.

[JiJuXue]

Moving a tank with any crabs underneath can collapse their caves and tunnels and they will suffocate.

Ok so definitely won’t do that...

Guess I’ll just wait and see... who’d have thought hermit crabbing would be such high stress