HCA: Hermit Crab Association

So I got a jumbo at a pet store in July of 2014. In January of 2015 he came up, and I posted a thread on it. Well in June, he went down. Haven't see him since I assumed he died. I got home this morning from pt and he's UP! I'm honestly so confused, he's been down for 8 months. And He couldn't have EVER come up, I've had to go through the entire tat twice and remove everything, he makes a big crater where he emerges.

He's smaller, which is understandable, but I just can't believe he's spent the majority of two years underground. Maybe he has real estate down there that he's holding on to?
Tonight they'll get a feast, to celebrate him gracing us with his presence! Half a Coconut, Head on shrimp, starfruit, chicken and blueberries, plus I'll throw some more sycamoor leaves in there from our yard.

Anyone got name ideas for mister groundhog?

He just came up to see if he could see his shadow.

Well, did he? I want to know how much more winter I'm in for.

No winter down here in North Carolina There's a high of 75 Wednesday

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punxsutawney_Phil

You could name him Phil after the official groundhog.

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Oh my goodness! I thought my guys 2 month molt was a long time! 4 of my 8 straws are down molting and they are pretty large. I hope it doesn't take them 8 months though!


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Wow, my jumbo is usually down for 3 months. I couldn't imagine a year!

I'm confused - was he down for a year, or was he down for 8 months? Someone else had a crab down for 8 months straight. I want to say it was meldamiriel?

If he shrunk, I'd say chances are he sat under there and did back to back molts for whatever reason. That can take a lot out of any crab, especially the big guys.

Did you get him as a jumbo or did he grow to that size since you have had him? I read on here somewhere that sometimes they can shrink from molts instead of grow for some reason if purchased at that size.

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I missed that he was jumbo. If he came up from a molt in Jan then dug under again to molt in June - that right there can explain the shrinkage. Jumbos don't usually molt that often and like I said, it takes a toll on them. Hopefully he's fixed whatever was causing the need for back to back molts and does well from here on out. Poor crabbies go through so much before they come home with us and it's especially harder for larger crabs to recover.

wodesorel wrote:I'm confused - was he down for a year, or was he down for 8 months? Someone else had a crab down for 8 months straight. I want to say it was meldamiriel?

I thought he buried down immediately, and came up briefly after a few months, and then buried down again for 8 months straight. That is how I interpreted what the op said.

Kraken my jumbo is usually down between 4-6 months for a molt, but never so close together in timing. He is usually closer to about 4 months but has taken longer on rare occasion.

Cydonia1 wrote:So I got a jumbo at a pet store in July of 2014. In January of 2015 he came up, and I posted a thread on it. Well in June, he went down. Haven't see him since I assumed he died. I got home this morning from pt and he's UP! I'm honestly so confused, he's been down for 8 months. And He couldn't have EVER come up, I've had to go through the entire tat twice and remove everything, he makes a big crater where he emerges.

He's smaller, which is understandable, but I just can't believe he's spent the majority of two years underground. Maybe he has real estate down there that he's holding on to?
Tonight they'll get a feast, to celebrate him gracing us with his presence! Half a Coconut, Head on shrimp, starfruit, chicken and blueberries, plus I'll throw some more sycamoor leaves in there from our yard.

Anyone got name ideas for mister groundhog?

Wow! You got me beat! Half my crabs were down for 6 months! Small and medium and 1 large and i thought I had lost them but they slowly came up one by one and i signed them off as i saw them. Some went down again but reappeared so its a yo-yo effect. All of them are thick, hairy and healthy and it reassured me because I was ready to dig up the tank several times.

Hats off to you! Enjoy them while they are up.

My two XL's must be quick molters then! For the last 2-3 years they both go down and come back up in the month of December. This year one took 3 weeks and the other took about 4-4.5.

wodesorel wrote:I'm confused - was he down for a year, or was he down for 8 months? Someone else had a crab down for 8 months straight. I want to say it was meldamiriel?

He was down since she purchased him in July 2014 and then he came up in Jan 2015. Then he went back down again for 8 months since June 2015 till now...

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