HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Hi,
I was getting rid of the sand in my 10 gallon tank & I found some body parts. Claws and stuff. Freaky lol

Is this normal?

I'm guessing my crab Sean has been molting down there. I didn't dig up anymore because I'm scared I'll disturb him.
I also found another crab (Eric lol) in his shell and buried. But not moving.

No strong smells so I don't think anyone is dead...

Anyway I was going to change out all the sand because I bought the hermitcrabpatch substrate and it's coming today. But I'm scared to bother these crabs. So I guess leave that little area of playsand and replace the rest?

Was the claws and stuff hollow; or did they have a bit of meat inside. For me, it was common for a moulting crab not to eat their entire exo and leave a claw or some other body part in the substrate for me to find later on. No biggie; the crabs know what they need so they should be fine.

However it could also mean that a crab is moulting in that area; are all your hermies up?

~~~~~~~~
As for Eric; he could be preparing for a moult hence the inactivity. Best to leave him at most; place him in an ISO where you can observe if needed.

It's best just to leave your crabs be if they've dug down, disturbing them could potentially interfere with them while they're molting which can be dangerous to the crab. The claws and legs you found in the substrate are most likely left over exoskeleton, nothing to worry about sometimes the crabs don't eat the claws or all the legs. Now about this crab who's not moving, he could just be molting at the moment and what you see as a still crab could be his exoskeleton, sometimes the crabs molt within their shell, so it can be hard to tell if it's him not moving or exoskeleton or he might just be preparing to molt, in this case it's best to leave him be. If he starts smelling fishy, then you'll know he's passed for sure. My advice is to not switch any substrate out until both your crabs have come up from molting, you don't disturb them in any way, it's not worth the risk.

Playsand is perfectly safe for hermits. The sand from HCP is playsand and cocofiber premixed.

wodesorel wrote:Playsand is perfectly safe for hermits. The sand from HCP is playsand and cocofiber premixed.

Yes, playsand is what I've been using from the start. Works great.

But I felt like splurging this time. It says on their site that it's clean Florida sand...I assumed it was beach sand...but hmmmm...all it says is sand... oh well idk

Well I was impatient and ended up changing the sand out. Except for the spot with the inactive crabs. Hopefully they will be alright.
I feel bad for my other crab though...he's all alone at the moment.