HCA: Hermit Crab Association

So I had accidentally dug up my buried crab Jem after he had been under for about 4 weeks. I was really scared and quickly put him in the iso tank just to be safe and dug around to see if there was an exoskeleton. i didn't find any so I carefully checked on him and he hadnt molted in all the time he had been down there so after seeing if he needed to eat, drink, and sit in the bath, I wasn't sure what to do. He wasn't really moving around and didnt touch the food I dont think and I was scared he might die overnight. I put him in the iso tank with fresh and salt water as well as some carrots with blended egg shells sprinkled on and half an eggshell. Today when I got home from school I was concerned and when I checked on him, I saw he had surface molted! I saw his leg move a little so hes still alive as of now and I replaced the carrots with celery and broccoli although I probably wont need to until his exo is mostly gone. How should I take care of this? He is currently in the iso with plastic wrap over the lid and a towel over it to make it dark. Does he need the dark still? I want to try and help him through as it is my fault he had to surface molt. This is also my first molt ever. any help or advice would be greatly appreciated!

Just leave him in is with his exo until it is mostly gone. Once the exo is gone then you can give him lots of calcium and protein. Honey is good as well. Make sure he has access to fresh and salt water and once he starts moving around a lot and returning to normal behavior give him a quick dip in the freshwater to remove the molting smell and then he can go back in gen pop.

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NLindsey921 wrote:Just leave him in is with his exo until it is mostly gone. Once the exo is gone then you can give him lots of calcium and protein. Honey is good as well. Make sure he has access to fresh and salt water and once he starts moving around a lot and returning to normal behavior give him a quick dip in the freshwater to remove the molting smell and then he can go back in gen pop.

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Okay thank you so much

It's all good. I know how it feels to check on your crabs and find one surface molting. When mine surface mooted my first thought was crab i have two dead crabs. Then I noticed one was extremely pale and the other was missing his tail. I put two and two together and then noticed him moving a little bit. I put him in a sheep and isod him with his exo. After a couple weeks he was perfectly fine.

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I'm glad that you knew about the iso tank! Great job! It's not necessary to provide him food right now. He needs to eat his exo. Please make sure your iso has heat and humidity, if it doesn't, you can use a critter keeper and place it inside of your crabitat. I'm so glad your crabbie is doing good! When the exo is gone, that is when it is important to give dechlorinated fresh and dechlorinated marine salt water along with raw organic honey, protein (shrimp, crickets, mealworms, grasshoppers, krill, chicken), calcium (eggshells, cuttlebone, oyster shell) Please keep us updated if you get time.

GotButterflies wrote:I'm glad that you knew about the iso tank! Great job! It's not necessary to provide him food right now. He needs to eat his exo. Please make sure your iso has heat and humidity, if it doesn't, you can use a critter keeper and place it inside of your crabitat. I'm so glad your crabbie is doing good! When the exo is gone, that is when it is important to give dechlorinated fresh and dechlorinated marine salt water along with raw organic honey, protein (shrimp, crickets, mealworms, grasshoppers, krill, chicken), calcium (eggshells, cuttlebone, oyster shell) Please keep us updated if you get time.

Thank you I will