HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Welcome here! I did a pitty purchase back in January. Got 2 teenies. They buried after a week. One came up and died. The other must’ve died under the sub. I didn’t think I needed to iso them because the pet store had proper temp and humidity. I guess they just had too much stress during transport. Maybe because it was January and cold.

So I have my first molting crab, I didn't realize he was buried where I was digging, to clean out and rearrange tank and found a body and the shell, I thought it was dead but then saw he was actually in the shell still and moved so I'm hoping that it didn't stress him out too much. I also did upgrade to a 29 gallon tall tank from a 20 long and everyone was right, I want to go bigger still!

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Crabs will tunnel and move once they are underground. You need to be very careful about cleaning or rearranging things when one is under. You will need to isolate him from your other crabs, with his exo and in the dark if possible. Maybe a small amount of fresh and dechlor water. Once he has eaten his exo and is moving around, you can let him back with the other crabs.

I placed him back down in the hole and covered him, should I still isolate him, I don't want to dig him up again and add more stress

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Once a crab has been dug up, you can not re-bury him in the substrate. He could suffocate. So yes, I would dig him up and iso him at this point.