pop bottle molting

blackorchid77 · Post by **blackorchid77** » Fri Jan 28, 2011 11:56 am

Hi I am a new hermit crab owner.
One of my crabs right now is in molt using the pop bottle method. I mist the pop bottle once in a white inside. He is going to come out soon. I was wondering since they come out in the middle of the night, how are you going to give him his shell and food? can he be left with no shell in a pop bottle all night? or should I try sliding the pop bottle off and put a shell in there?

Thanks.

PS: I'm so lucky my other crab came out today after a very long molt (2 months!) and he is only the size of a loonie!

CrabbyIrene · Post by **CrabbyIrene** » Fri Jan 28, 2011 12:34 pm

Is the crab naked?or are you just refering to extra shells?

blackorchid77 · Post by **blackorchid77** » Fri Jan 28, 2011 1:12 pm

oh i guess i was under the impression that it would come up naked looking for a new shell right away. i guess it could stay in its old shell until the morning, right?

CrabbyIrene · Post by **CrabbyIrene** » Fri Jan 28, 2011 5:38 pm

Crabs will stay in their shell through the molt, they may or may not switch shells after molting

blackorchid77 · Post by **blackorchid77** » Sat Jan 29, 2011 12:15 am

ok! thanks... I was worried about that!

CrabbyIrene · Post by **CrabbyIrene** » Sat Jan 29, 2011 10:53 am

you could try to put in small dishes of water & food under the soda bottle, so if the crab comes up from his molt he has it available right away in case you're not there. But I wouldn't worry about extra shells right away, he can always choose a different shell later when he's done his molt and out of iso. As long as he's wearing a shell he'll be ok. Some of mine switch shells prior to molting, some switch all the time to the point where I don't know who is who anymore, and some change when I give them brand new shells. I have 7 crabs and they have like 50 shells in the tank! Spoiled little stinkers!