HCA: Hermit Crab Association

So I just got my hermies a few days ago. Yesterday o went out and bought more sand for them. The. Last night one started digging in the corner. He has been there all day. He got up once and got water then went right back to digging. i do not have an ISO tank so I figured I would just cut off his corner from the others but not sure when to do that since he left tovget water once

He's good...probably destressing...if he did decide to molt you do not have to cut off his corner or separate as long as he's dug down also they are nocturnal so him being down all day isn't concerning.


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My other concern is when I bought more sand it still wasn't 6 inches deep. (It's about 2.5 inches on one side and about 1.5-2 inches on the side with the food and water,which is the side he is on) It almost sounds like he's reached the bottom and is still trying to dig. Is that dangerious if he does end up molting? His body is covered and his shell is 2/3 covered. Not including the mound of sand that was built up from him pushing the sand away when digging. (The height of the mound is about a full shell length above him)

The crab does need to be fully covered by several inches of substrate to feel safe enough to molt. Lack of sufficient substrate can lead to surface molting, a far more vulnerable process for the crab. The easiest way the create the recommended 6" minimum depth is by making a mix of ordinary playsand (sold by the 50lb bag at HomeDepot/Lowes for about $5) and EcoEarth (coconut fiber). You'll want to be sure that the substrate is mixed to a sandcastle consistency so that it will allowing easy tunneling and hold its shape, not collapsing around the crab.

Oh then yes that's a problem :-/ they do need to be covered fully...so what type of sand are you using? I'm sure an admin will want you to fill out an emergency form so we can know how your crabitat is set up.


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So if I got more sand how could I add it for him without bothering him or hurting him

Ohhellosara wrote:So if I got more sand how could I add it for him without bothering him or hurting him

You can add more substrate in increments of 1/2"-1" daily but don't tamp it down as it will settle on its own.

So should I build it up around him? And avoid covering him any more then he is

Hello, and welcome to the HCA! Just fill in as much as you can around him. If he is completely buried by now you can add it on top. You don't want to pile a bunch on him, but if you fill in in enough around him will likely cover himself. Check out our basic care guide when you have a chance if you haven't already! Here is a link: viewtopic.php?f=51&t=92457

Had a true horror story last night. One of my crabs who is more of a bully was picking on the burying crab and I woke up to him crying so I moved him away. Woke up again to the same thing and I moved him once again. The third time I woke up and my burying crab had abandoned his shell and I found him sitting in the water bowl. I put him in a seprate cup with his shell until he went back into his shell. I returned him to the tank and separated the bullying crab into my temporary carrying case. I planned to get more sand to set up an ISO tank for my burying crab and to fill my current tank higher. I woke up and the burrying crab had begun to dig again and the bullying crab had escaped! I found him in the other room. What a crazy night.

But I have my ISO tank all set up now. I moved him to the new one and he has already began to dig about 2 inches down. I also added more sand to my main tank. Will be keeping an eye on the bullying crab to make sure he behaves.

Oh no!! I'm glad the lil guy re-shelled. Make sure there are at least 3 shells of appropriate size and type for each crab. Usually aggression stems from lack of resources, or shell envy. Crabs coming from pet stores are often in pretty bad shape, so they are in survival mode. They are natural scavengers and they will also take advantage of a molting crab for easy nutrition if possible, which is why sub depth is so important. Just to clarify it is not necessary to separate molters if there is proper sub depth invthe main tank. It was once common practice to iso molters, but it's really difficult to tell absolutely when a crab is about to molt, and a change in location can actually stress a crab and cause it to postpone a molt, making the practice a bit redundant. Good luck, and I'm sorry the last 24 hours have been so stressful!

Yea I have quite a few extra shells in the cage. I have had problems in the past few days of this one crab being a bully. But I relocated the molting crab and he has dug way down already. Also adding the sand to the main tank helped too because I believe another crab my smallest one dig down to molt as well. So I'm excited.

Ohhellosara wrote:Yea I have quite a few extra shells in the cage. I have had problems in the past few days of this one crab being a bully. But I relocated the molting crab and he has dug way down already. Also adding the sand to the main tank helped too because I believe another crab my smallest one dig down to molt as well. So I'm excited.

Sounds like u have got it under control!


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