hermit crab not moving

[Jade1980]

i got 2 hermit crabs from a beach shop when i went to myrtle beach and one ended up dying which i kind of expected and i ended getting another so my original guy wouldn’t be alone and the new one won’t move. i’ve had home for about a week and he’s almost the same exact size as my old one but won’t move. he has sat in the hiding spot he moved to in the first day. i’m worried about him bc none of my hermit crabs have had this hard of a time transitioning

[mrsnuggles]

hey hey! this is totally normally it can take different hermies different lengths of time to fully transition ! dont worry unless she/he seems to be getting sick or goes still. maybe the shells to small? if its from a surf or beach store then yeah, i totally would expect him/her to take a while to open up. i would just continue with normal care/feed/water until they feel comfortable enough to be out

[C: ClareCrabOwner :)]

It is also possible that it moves around at night when you don't see it and goes back to the same place during the day?

[HermitGuy3]

Please do not buy anymore crabs. They go through tons of abuse and are all wild caught. Adopt them instead. Have you looked at the basic care sheet?

[C: ClareCrabOwner :)]

It's okay to buy crabs if you can't find them anywhere else, right?

[HermitGuy3]

No. Just wait until there is an adoption available. You can look at facebook marketplace or craigslist. Look at the hca forum. Or look at the LHCOS adoptions. I know it is terrible seeing those crabs in petstores suffering. I got my first crabs there too.
Here is an article from crab street journal about why not to buy crabs:

https://crabstreetjournal.org/blog/2021 ... -a-rescue/
Crabs are forced into painted shells for the pet trade. They break the natural shell and force them into a painted shell. Sometimes the paint is not even dry and they can't change shells or successfully molt.

[C: ClareCrabOwner :)]

Most of the crabs I got did not have painted shells. The store kept them in a good cage, and the staff knew a lot about hermit crabs and how to take care of them.

But I could see how you would want to avoid crabs with painted shells

[C: ClareCrabOwner :)]

Sorry! Not trying to start an argument or anything!

[HermitGuy3]

This still happens even with crabs that don't have painted shells, some are painted and some aren't. Even if the store takes good care of them, they go through tons of abuse before even making it there. When you buy a crab, you are subjecting many more to abuse, and many more die. When you buy a crab, you may be saving one, but many more die to replace it. It is better to just let them sit in the petstore cage, as terrible as that sounds. Did you look at the link I sent?

[C: ClareCrabOwner :)]

The link you sent said "page not found"

[curlysister]

i got 2 hermit crabs from a beach shop when i went to myrtle beach and one ended up dying which i kind of expected and i ended getting another so my original guy wouldn’t be alone and the new one won’t move. i’ve had home for about a week and he’s almost the same exact size as my old one but won’t move. he has sat in the hiding spot he moved to in the first day. i’m worried about him bc none of my hermit crabs have had this hard of a time transitioning

Crabs go through so much before we get them. And we unfortunately can't do any diagnostics on them. All you can do is to keep your heat and humidity optimal, and offer healthy foods to eat. Be sure that you have deep enough substrate in case he wants to dig to molt. Keep an eye on him, in case he starts to surface molt or seems weak - then you will need to isolate him from your other crab.

What are you using for substrate? What are your heat and humidity readings?