HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Hello Everyone,

I have had 2 hermit crabs going on 10 years now. Went on a 3 day vacation and come back to find hermit crab pellets in their food dish by the caregiver I was livid is an understatement. For years they have only been fed THC food or the food I get on Ebay that is all natural. Mr. Grumpy had recently come up from a molt before we left. He was beautiful and healthy as always. Soon after the pellet incident, he no longer was energetic and buried himself again. I heard him chirping at an alarming rate and dug him up just going by gut instinct and glad I did! He was completely limbless except for his small pincher and I knew this was not a molt. Fast forward 3 weeks later. The good news is he is still in his shell and active is eating and drinking both his salt water and fresh water. He is also in ISO. My concern is why is he not getting any gel limbs? I see his shoo shoo in the freah water bath every morning so I know he is eating. Humidity is 83% and temp is 83 degrees in his iso. Thanks for any advice as this is my first rodeo as a nurse.

Giving crabs pellet food for 3 days will not cause problems.
Have you isolated him from your other crab?
Are you able to post a photo of him?

Thank-you, Yes he is in ISO and has been the past 3 or 4 weeks I rescued him. No, i am not going to take any pictues of him and stress him out. He is still very lively in his shell which has me hopeful he will make a full recovery. I was just wondering when they start showing gel limbs? I am 62 years old with some vision problems so maybe I am just not seeing them. He is eating and drinking his salt water and fresh water and foods I put in his little lid. He gets a salt water and fresh water bath every morning before I go to work and then offered water as well 3 times after work. ( i work from home 5 hours per day). Thanks for your response.

When I had a limbless crab from an attack while molting, she didn't grow gel limbs until she was refusing food and was attempting to bury. I covered her at that point realizing she was trying to molt again, and when I checked in on her a week later she had gel limbs in place. It was probably close to two months after the initial attack.

Thanks so much fro the info! That is exactly what I needed to know! I have followed this forum since 2013 and love everyone on here! They are so helpful and generous!

This has had me completely baffled. I only have the 2 and have had them for 10 years without any issues. My other little guy is perfectly fine and healthy. Plus, I know it was not him attacking because he never dug down he has been on the surface.

He has his gel limbs now and I have him covered with a hut and his ISO with towels will follow up next week on my babies progress!

Fingers crossed!