New crabs molting in shallow sand

[Emilyncarper789]

Hello!

I keep find great answers from this forum online. I am so helpless and need some help. I am afraid my hermit crabs will die. I just purchased 3 crabbies from the pet store. I bought a 10 gallon kit with toys (hiding places) for the guys. The substrate is less than an inch deep on the right and about and inch on the left with the coco fiber. One crab immediately went over to the corner and buried himself. Another buried himself beside that guy, came out that night, checked out some shells and found that they weren’t good enough, made a pile of substrate and substrate and buried himself in about 2.5 inches. I think they are molting and I wasn’t prepared for an immediate molt. They bathed themselves in fresh water dish that I had, the pet store was out of dishes for salt water so I hadn’t even bought that yet! There was no isolation tank. They soil is too shallow. I don’t know if the 3rd guy will molt or not. Will all my crabbies die? My 3 crab now is halfway buried in the coco soil, I’m afraid to touch him in case he is trying to bury for molt and I will kill him. I want to be a good hermit crab mom and don’t know what to do. They guy at the pet store told me that “those ones have big shells so they should not have to molt or change shells for a while.” He obviously knew nothing. Please help!

[piratetoothgir]

Hello! Welcome to the HCA!

Here, we recommend a minimum of six inches of substrate, or three times as deep as your largest crab.
Do you think you could fill out this template? It'll really help us do what we can to help you!
http://www.hermitcrabassociation.com/ph ... 27&t=46102

[Rawrgeous]

Hi Emily! I want to start of by saying thank you for seeking out information! You have come to the right place. I will link our basic care guide here: viewtopic.php?f=51&t=92457 Check that out and it should give a lot of good info. Don't hesitate to ask if you have any questions! Do you have any way to go to a home depot or a similar hardware store? You could get a bag of playsand for less than 6 bucks and that would be a great start to having enough sub. One bag would be plenty for a ten gallon. Most likely they are just de-stressing right now. As you may or may not be aware these little guys go through a lot on their transport, etc so it's actually pretty common. Welcome to the world of crabbing!

[Hermiesguardian]

If you do get enough sand/ecoearth to add, mix it eith dechlorinated fresh or dechlor saltwater to a sandcastle consistancy. I know we are never to dig up the crabs but chances are they are just destressing, not molting. Or haven't begun to molt yet. If they are buried, you can only add 1 inch of substrate every 24hrs, without patting down. So unless others chime in on that, I would remove them, they'll be ok for a little while in a dish or plastic container (large) while you fill the tank with 6 inches of sub.

[hermiwormi]

AHHH NO!!! Please, please, please, please go buy a few $3.00, 50lb bags of all purpose or play sand from your local hardware store ASAP. The sand in kits is almost always "Hermit crab sand" which is often calcium sand and it turns into cement when wet!

ғɪᴠᴇ ᴘᴘs: ᴋᴏᴀ, ᴍᴏᴊᴀ, sɪᴀᴍ, ᴏᴢᴀʀᴋ, ᴀɴᴅ ᴄʜᴇʟʟᴀ

[Hermie escape artist]

How can I add more sand if my substrate might not be deep enough ??
I just put an inch on top ? Every 24 hrs ? It wont hurt him at all just spread it o. top ? I'm worried it will bother him some how

[Hermie225]

How can I add more sand if my substrate might not be deep enough ??
I just put an inch on top ? Every 24 hrs ? It wont hurt him at all just spread it o. top ? I'm worried it will bother him some how

An inch or two a day, just don’t pack it down. Lightly spreading it by the handful works well, you just want to be sure you aren’t pouring in a ton of weight at once or applying pressure that could collapse caves and tunnels.