HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Hi guys!

I posted a month or so ago when we were getting ready to move and had no idea how to transport our crabs in their horribly heavy 50 gallon tank. We ended up pulling 2 crabs up who had recently gone down to molt and put them into a smaller 10 gallon tank - they went down right away and have stayed down and seem to be progressing with their molts.

The third who was molting was about 2 months into the molt and we had no choice but to dig her up since we couldn't move the 50 gallon full of sand. We dug out a little pit for her in an isolation tank and put the exo of her limbs in there with her - she still hadn't eaten them even after 2 months! She stayed down there about a week and then came up, and all the limbs appeared to be eaten.

But - she is super light colored, like a pale grey/blue instead of a healthy dark purple/blue with red accents like our other crabs. It's been about a week and a half or two now that she's been out and about. She eats if you put her in the food dish but I had never seen her just go to the food dish on her own, so I've been trying to put her in it for a little bit each day. She has trouble climbing and it takes her several minutes just to climb over an obstacle in her way. Most of the time she just stays in one spot.

Any tips to help her gain her strength? Starting to get really worried because we just lost another crabby a couple weeks ago after a difficult surface molt, and I am scared she's heading down the same path! For your info, our tank is a 50 gallon, filled with moist sand, fresh and salt water pools treated w/dechlorinator, heated in a gradient (about 70 on one end, 80 on the other), alternated day/night lights, 80 percent humidity, and their diet is just fruits, nuts, grains, veggies, etc. (no processed commercial food anymore). They also get calcium powder so hopefully she's getting some of that when she eats.

Thank you!!

Keep foods within easy reach. A lot of protein and calcium along with sweet fruits, honey, bee pollen, peanut butter, spirulina. I would keep her isolated in proper conditions with easy access pools.

Out of curiosity, what size crab is she? You said she did eventually eat all/most of her exo? Keep in mind that light coloring is not necessarily a sign of bad health, some crabs are just paler than others. I know clearly something is off with her being so weak, but I thought I'd mention that. I hope she pulls through.

Thank you! She's medium, about golf ball size or a little bigger. From the looks of it she did eat her exo - we didn't find any remnants in the iso tank where she finished up. She has always been a bit paler and lighter than the others but she is now really really pale, more so than usual, and of course weak. I will continue to get her nutrients with all these foods!