HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Hi
I started freaking out today. I got up to check on the crabs and noticed something that scared the living daylights out of me. Malibu's shell was EMPTY. All of my shells that I have in the tank came from Etsy. I immediately looked up the pack of shells I got and checked to see if any of the shells in the tank were missing and THANK GOODNESS! There was in fact a shell missing. She is no where to be found so I believe she changed shells and went under to molt. We'll see.....

She probably did. Or she could have gone down to destress. You just have to wait and see. But either way she is comfortable in your tank.

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HeyItsEggs wrote:Hi
I started freaking out today. I got up to check on the crabs and noticed something that scared the living daylights out of me. Malibu's shell was EMPTY. All of my shells that I have in the tank came from Etsy. I immediately looked up the pack of shells I got and checked to see if any of the shells in the tank were missing and THANK GOODNESS! There was in fact a shell missing. She is no where to be found so I believe she changed shells and went under to molt. We'll see.....

The same thing happened to me!

She went down.
I can't find her.
She is either destressing or molting.
Thanks guys

I am soooo confused!
I went to rearrange the tank and realized Mal was under the saltwater dish! I could see her and she was not covered by sand. I don't know if she is molting because she is uncovered. She hasn't come up for 8 days. Can they molt not completely covered?
Thanks

They have been known to occasionally molt underneath water dishes or solid objects. Don't rebury her, just try to carefully replace the water dish if you can without crushing her. If not, and she's responsive- just leave her and she will likely dig under again. She could have just been hanging out down there.

Mine like to hang out under the water dishes for a few days, then resurface. If they are digging down to molt or destress, they tunnel deeper into the substrate. I've never had one molt in a hole under the dishes, if that is any comfort to you.

(Have adopted over 50 crabs in three years so am going off of my experiences with multiple tanks of crabs

She came up last night. Rolo has been going under and coming back up every few hours. And when she does, she just disappears! I don't even see any divots or anything! But now all three are up and cuddling under the moss. SO CUTE!!!! I will be posting pics of my crabitat soon! And more pics of my crabs so keep your eyes peeled!!