HCA: Hermit Crab Association

On Nov 8 a day after getting new shells for my crabs and creating a tank for the new guys. One of the crabs switched shells and went down. I thought he got out but I figured he went down to molt. The other day as I was turning the coco fiber to aerate some I found the shell he switched into. I didn't move or do anything just covered him back up. I have one other large crab who is doing his own thing. He doesn't mess around where he is. This weekend I plan to add some more coco fiber mixed with some sand.

My question is do they go down this long to molt?

If it's truly a large crab yes it can take that long. The larger the crab the longer the molting process usually takes. For instance my jumbo crab will take months to resurface from going down for a molt. my large crabs don't take as long as the jumbo but I have had them be down for a little over 3 months before popping back up. I think it's a process for them. Like they dig down, make a good burrow. Then they sit and let the dark of the burrow set in to make them molt. Then they eat there exo, then they decide to come back out when they are hungry again. Patience isn't always easy when it comes to crabbing. When my jumbo molted with me the first time I thought for sure he died cause I didn't see him for forever! Then he decided to come up and have dinner with the colony after being down for several months.

Yep, a large crab can "disappear" for several months to molt. Big Enzo, my large PP, has been under since late October-early November. He did the same thing last year and didn't emerge until around mid-January, all hairy-legged and black-nailed.

Large to jumbo crabs can take even up to a year to molt, depending on size and crab.

Well today he came back up. My youngest son uncovered them and said "hey there are two Houdini's" so I looked and low and behold there he was. In the saltwater bowl just drinking away. So I changed waters and added some dried shrimp and he ate shrimp and oats. Now let's see if the other goes done he has been digging a lot and resting. Tomorrow need to add sand to coco fiber and make it deeper before someone disappears.