possible molting

This forum is where you discuss issues relating to molting hermit crabs, including pre- and post-molting issues. If you are having a molting emergency please post in the Emergency Forum.
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Topic author
crabby1
Posts: 35
Joined: Fri Oct 16, 2015 3:23 pm

possible molting

Post by crabby1 » Wed Feb 10, 2016 10:41 am

WOW, where do I start? Ok I have a 40-50 gallon. With my original six, bout went into a pet store and found a tank with tons of tiny pp just crawling on top of each other and no lid or screen or substrate, anyone could poke at them or anything. I just felt so bad, I got 4 they were so small I didn't think it would make that much of a difference. See I'm moving basically next door so I was concerned about putting too much sand/ee ,because no one would be able to possibly move it. I did add a whole block of EE on top of the 4inches of substrate that were in there already,( I'm trying to describe the conditions as close as possible) course I did it slowly,I didn't just throw it in all at once,probably 1/4 cup in 3 places everyday. The crabs are making tunnels and rarely come up after my new additions, all of my six have molted successfully (the littlest Athena has molted twice)! Papa my largest on the other hand has yet to molt a few months ago I freaked out because he was acting very bizarre and wad up in the same spot for hours and I was terrified he was preparing for a surface molt and at the time ( this all occurred in my old 20gbreeder). I was worried because all 5 were down molting (Athena came up for a hour and went back down) where would my largest crabby go to molt if there are 5 down there would be no room I thought. So I fixed up my 5 gallon and picked him up and put him in there. Well he started pacing back and forth ,appearing nervous, clearly stressed and was looking into his old "tat" (@ that time Athena was now officially up and they were starring at each other because the tanks were next to each other. He continued to freak out maybe it reminded him of being shoved in a small cage and shipped to pet land. Well I put him back in and he was fine he was just lonely I believe. So now all of them are in the 40-50g and papa who is never separated from my second largest Red they are inseparable (except when Red was molting and that's what caused papas depression I believe). They are always in their tube together so when Papa went clear across the "tat" and dug a whole making so much noise from his claws scratching the bottom of the "tat" I thought this it he's preparing to molt,at the same time I was very worried because they're were so many other crabby tunnels around and like I said 4 inches is not deep enough for a crab his size. Well Papa stayed there for 5or 6 days and came back into his tube with his best friend Red. FINALLY MY QUESTION: Should I transfer Papa into my old 20g along with his best friend Red in their tube and if Papa goes down to molt I'll put Red back in the 40-50 gallon? For some reason when I click to fill out the template questions I can't.


Topic author
crabby1
Posts: 35
Joined: Fri Oct 16, 2015 3:23 pm

Re: possible molting

Post by crabby1 » Wed Feb 10, 2016 10:44 am

Sorry it was so long I have another topic but it belongs in a different topic any suggestions and or advice would be very much appreciated, thanks for your time

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