HCA: Hermit Crab Association

I've had this purple pincer crab since October 10th last year she is relatively small almost tiny but not too tiny like a baby Should she have molted yet? how long should she be going before switching shells again?
:covereyes: :headshake: :crybaby:


( she has deep enough substrait to always be able to dig into and come out , its 50/50 calsium sand and coconut fiber and is always kept 70+ hjumiodity )

I probably would expect her to have molted once by now. How deep is the substrate, what type, and how moist is it kept?


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the substrate is always kept deep enough for her to fully cover herself and bury herself , and it kept at all times above 70 humidity . i think now looking at more posts on this site the issupe might me when i dig her up i didnt know crabs bury themselves to molt so i have been digging her up to get her food .
that was probably a mistake

I READ EVEN MORE , IDIDNT REALIZE HOW MUCH OF A MISTAKE IM MAKIGN DIGGING HER UP I DIDNTKNOW BUT ITS GOOD NOW I WILL STOP DOING THAT!!!!!!!

Calcium sand is not recommended for hermit crabs, because it can turn hard like cement when wet. And we need the substrate to be moistened to sand castle consistency - so it holds it's shape when the crabs tunnel and make a cave to molt. There are some long term crabbers who use a bit of calcium sand mixed with a bunch of coco fiber, but if you are just starting out, I would recommend getting rid of the substrate you have and replacing it with a mix of play sand (super cheap at a hardware store) and coco fiber (aka- eco earth).
When you replace the substrate, then stop digging her up and she should molt.

Thank you so much for that info! Will definatley switch out the substrait and was thinking abotu buying an auto tank sprayer so it can be wettened when nobody is home ( Very often in my house)

I would use a lot of caution with an auto sprayer - introducing a lot of water into a tank can be a flood risk.
If you moisten the substrate when you put it in, so that it holds it's shape, and your lid is mostly sealed, the humidity should stay up where it needs to be. What do you have for a lid on your tank now? If the tank doesn't have a solid lid (ie- plexi glass or glass), you can simply use plastic wrap over the top to hold in humidity.

Its not solid btu i was going to start implementing plastic wrap after seeing more posts , and today i moved her to A temporary tank ( for a few hours ) cause your reccomened to switch it out , she is currently in a humidified tank and today i am getting some play sand and making a thicker substrait for the tank so she has more space to burrow !also her tank started to stink very bad like rot so i assumed there might have been some old food stuck in the old substrait that was rotting so i needed to disenfect the tank and clean it asap ( im using a crab safe tank disenfectant ) will update you once i have the sand and the new bedding set up ! thank you so much for all your help/ suggestions.


Update: found small peices of coconut shavings from her dinners with mold on them upon further inspection of what was under her shelter i had placed in there it was rancid :headshake: :crybaby: they have been removed and i thourould wahed and disinfected her tank and im shortly going to go get some play sand for her bedding ( im going to mix with coconut fiber for moisture retention as well. ) will continue to update
also i have disinfected everything else that was in her tank

Second update : Okay the sand got here and i used a mix of coconut fiber and play sand to set up new substrait. I made the substrait around 4.4 inches thick so she has ample room to dig and burrow, and i set everything else up in the tank ( Water dishes , Activites , shell shop etc) and i made sure that the sand was the right moistness to be "sandcastle" moist. added saran wrap to lock in moisture and will continue to update . Thank you so much for your insights i would have been spending so much money on sand if not for you ! Sand i shouldnt even be using ! Thank you will continue to update

UPDATE : SHE SHED HER EXOSKELETON YAY!!!!

Did she not bury underground? If she is on the surface and molting, you will need to isolate her from other crabs (if you have more than one crab).

she didnt burrow , she just constabntly stayed in a shelter , i dot have any other crabs i just saw the molt when looing in the shelter to see if she had burrowed yet