HCA: Hermit Crab Association

I've been waiting 8 weeks for one of my molters to come up. He is medium sized and this would be his second molt with us. Prior to molting he was one of our diurnal and very active crabs. Also he ate very well:) The crabs that went down before and after him are both up now and I moved them to the 55 g from the 20g. Still waiting on this guy. I haven't heard anything from the tank or seen any kind of movement. Our first molter came up great. The next one came up missing her big pincher. Worried about this little guy How much longer should I wait before checking on him? I smoothed out the sub as soon as I moved our recent molter to new tank and there hasn't been any disturbance to the sub since. Advice?

Just be patient my mediums take about 9-16 weeks on average to molt.

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Ditto what @soilentgringa said. My medium-sized ruler of the crabitat, King Felix the Pale, went under in late March-early April; I'm still waiting for him to pop up but am not worried...his tankmates seem quite happy that he's not up to make their lives miserable .

Oh wow! Didn't know they could take that long! I can be impatient in a lot of ways so seems like he may be testing me! Ok, will hang in there! Thanks!

Hi. A question to the one who is still waiting for the crab that went under in March/April...at what point will you get curious? I am asking because we agreed to take a lone crab from someone who was threatening death to the crab if it didn't leave their home! Within one week of us having the crab, it ate, went shopping, moved in to a new shell, and went down under (May). We haven't seen it since then. Since it was a new crab to us, I don't know it's usual molting time. I'm almost feeling desperate to dig! Our other crab has been down and back up since then.

I would continue to wait.

I've had small/medium crabs under for a few months after being in poor conditions previously.

For a medium/large crab, 3-4 months sounds normal.

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Thank you for the encouragement to wait it out. I would call the crab a small (especially compared to the other one!) so maybe she just needs some extra time to get cozy. By nature, I always want to fix what is not right and heal what is not well; the thought that she might be in trouble is what's making me impatient...I'll preserver for her sake!

I'm still waiting. It's amazing how even when they are under, I'm still busy maintaining their tat! I put 2 of our recent post molters in the new 55g tank. I think the first one I put in is upset that the other one also joined him that within a week of his friend coming, he buried himself again I think he thought he was the ruler of the tank until Clare came and he realized he is smaller than her even with her 1 little pincher! Lol! Still nothing from our molter since June. No sounds of shell or legs scraping but I'm still holding in there hopeful that he will resurface soon.

Going on 11 weeks now - no sounds or anything from the tank. Hoping Mike is ok and doing what he needs to do...Not going to lie though - I'm getting a bit worried...

They teach us patience, don't they?


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For real. Going to drive me nuts. Did u know if u stare at the sand long enough it starts to look like it's moving? I still change the water out as well as the food regularly hoping that some day soon he will surprise me and tear up the place like before. It's busy work taking care of sand

Lol, so true!


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Kermie16 wrote:For real. Going to drive me nuts. Did u know if u stare at the sand long enough it starts to look like it's moving? I still change the water out as well as the food regularly hoping that some day soon he will surprise me and tear up the place like before. It's busy work taking care of sand

Good to know I'm not the only one who sees sand moving when its not!

My medium- large crab was under for almost 4 months! Dont stress it, it is a scary time but your crab knows what to do and has survived it previosly