HCA: Hermit Crab Association

My hermit crab Jem went under about three weeks ago. He was a little smaller than an egg. How long will he take to molt at that size? I really want to clean up the entire tank and add more sub but he hasnt come up yet. I would occasionally hear him moving around but no longer hear anything should I scoop him up and put him i the ISO tank for safe measures?

Emerald Fox wrote:My hermit crab Jem went under about three weeks ago. He was a little smaller than an egg. How long will he take to molt at that size? I really want to clean up the entire tank and add more sub but he hasnt come up yet. I would occasionally hear him moving around but no longer hear anything should I scoop him up and put him i the ISO tank for safe measures?

Is there something wrong with the tank that you would need to dig him up?? Unless it's an emergency like a flood, it would cause more harm to your crab if u dig him up. They go under to destress and to molt. Each crab varies how long they will be down molting. To give u an example, I have a total of 5 hermies . 2 are on the small size and they usually take about 3-4 weeks. My other three are mediums and my last molter was down for 4 months. I also have one that's been down 5 months, going on 6 months soon. So, unless it's for emergency purposes like mites that are harmful to ur crab or a flood, I would leave him be and let him do his thing. He will surface when he's ready;)


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I totally agree with Kermie16. You can add more sub while your crab is down - one inch every 24 hours, but do not compact it down. Set it in very carefully so that you do not collapse tunnels. Do not fill holes. The only "cleaning" you need to do is water dishes, and food. Everything else should be fine unless you have an emergency going on.

Kermie16 wrote:

Emerald Fox wrote:My hermit crab Jem went under about three weeks ago. He was a little smaller than an egg. How long will he take to molt at that size? I really want to clean up the entire tank and add more sub but he hasnt come up yet. I would occasionally hear him moving around but no longer hear anything should I scoop him up and put him i the ISO tank for safe measures?

Is there something wrong with the tank that you would need to dig him up?? Unless it's an emergency like a flood, it would cause more harm to your crab if u dig him up. They go under to destress and to molt. Each crab varies how long they will be down molting. To give u an example, I have a total of 5 hermies . 2 are on the small size and they usually take about 3-4 weeks. My other three are mediums and my last molter was down for 4 months. I also have one that's been down 5 months, going on 6 months soon. So, unless it's for emergency purposes like mites that are harmful to ur crab or a flood, I would leave him be and let him do his thing. He will surface when he's ready;)


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Okay thank you for your reply, Ill just let him be

I wanted to add more sub to my tank and four of my five crabs finally came up from molting(they were all down about 4 to 5wks) and I accidentally dug my baby crab up. She died a week later. Please don't dig yours up, it stinks to lose a life because of something you do.

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