HCA: Hermit Crab Association

On May 3rd my husband bought me a small Med hermit crab. It promptly buried that night and resurfaced sometime last Tuesday Night. I know because I found its painted shell where it switched and a tunnel. My other two never dig unless they are ready to molt. I am worried because it has not resurfaced again like my other babies. Do i dig or wait this out. Thanks T

Persia352 wrote:On May 3rd my husband bought me a small Med hermit crab. It promptly buried that night and resurfaced sometime last Tuesday Night. I know because I found its painted shell where it switched and a tunnel. My other two never dig unless they are ready to molt. I am worried because it has not resurfaced again like my other babies. Do i dig or wait this out. Thanks T

Molting takes anywhere from a few weeks to over a year depending on the size of the crab.

Since it was a new crab and it went down May 3rd, it could be coming up any day now or a month from now. I would give it a few more weeks before you start worrying. They usually pop up right when you've decided that they never will.

Thanks a bunch! I am a worry person. I have lightly smoothed over the sand and have not seen any traces that it came back up since last Tuesday.
just the fact that it DID come up and actually changed shells has me hoping it will be up soon permanently

It's not unusual for them to resurface for a night or so to eat or swap shells and then dig back down again to continue to recover in safety. He'll probably be up soon, though some crabs just really like to dig a lot.

It came up Mid July Big Beautiful and Healthy!