HCA: Hermit Crab Association

I have accidentally dug up a moulting crab - he had disappeared three months ago and has only ever gone down for 3 weeks so I thought he must've died and started to renovate the tank. Unfortunately (and I feel terrible) he was actually moulting after all. Having said that, I think that he was in a bad way down there because his large claw was next to him (not damaged by me), which may be why he has been down for so long (?) - I have isolated him beneath a plant pot so he is in the dark and safe from the others, and put his exoskeleton in with him. Is there anything else in the way of energy food I can put in with him to give him a boost? I've had him for over a year and his moults have always been successful - his first one was a surface moult right after I bought him and since then you could set your clock to his moulting cycle, which is why I thought he'd died.

fabulousflo wrote:I have accidentally dug up a moulting crab - he had disappeared three months ago and has only ever gone down for 3 weeks so I thought he must've died and started to renovate the tank. Unfortunately (and I feel terrible) he was actually moulting after all. Having said that, I think that he was in a bad way down there because his large claw was next to him (not damaged by me), which may be why he has been down for so long (?) - I have isolated him beneath a plant pot so he is in the dark and safe from the others, and put his exoskeleton in with him. Is there anything else in the way of energy food I can put in with him to give him a boost? I've had him for over a year and his moults have always been successful - his first one was a surface moult right after I bought him and since then you could set your clock to his moulting cycle, which is why I thought he'd died.

The larger they get, the longer the molt process is and there will be more time between molts.

As long as no other crabs can get to him all you need to do is leave his exoskeleton for him to eat. After he eats his exo, hardens up and is moving around, you can allow him to roam the tank freely as usual. You may want to place him in the freshwater pool and allow him to climb out after he is hardened and ready to go, just so he doesn't still have the molting smell. This way other crabs won't bother him.