HCA: Hermit Crab Association

My little Sneaker has been down for almost 3 months and I am getting a little worried. Bring the smallest of my 3 crabbies I figured he would have the shortest molting time. I don't smell a fishy smell that would indicate death but I no longer smell the chemical molting smell. It is way past time to change the sand but I don't want to disturb Sneaker if he is still molting. Any suggestions? I don't want to put the others in danger because of dirty habitat.

Some crabs will bury for 5+ months. Maybe he's coming out at night and burying during the day. If he's buried deep enough and has indeed passed, there won't be a death smell. Changing the sand/sub isn't necessary. Changing takes away beneficial bacteria. The only time you need to deep clean (change the sub) is during an emergency like a flood or bacteria bloom. Spot cleaning (removing food debris and poop) is all that's needed.

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I know it's hard, but try not to worry! Like Daws mentioned, you little guy could be coming up at night, or he still could be down. Molting takes time! Try to be patient! It's worth it!

I'm in the same boat. Have a crab, that I would classify as small, that has been down since late October (so approaching 4 months). Seems like a long time to be down based on his size but we are just being patient. It's hard but that's the advice I've been given so sticking to it.

Like everyone else mentioned they can go down for quite awhile, and I have a few that ONLY come up in the very dead of night and wouldn't see unless I snuck up to catch them so to speak. That being said, if you don't have a lot of crabs sometimes smoothing the sub out super well and putting in fresh foods will show some "tracks" so to speak to give some peace of mind.

As a side note, I doubt you'd be smelling a molting smell unless your crab was surface molting. I'd think that watever you were smelling before was likely just a natural tank smell, some scent given off by food in the tank, perhapse as it decomposed, or something outside the tank.

I have noticed that the odour of the sand seems to almost shift slightly at times.... I've assumed it's due to whatever the assorted bacteria in the sand are doing.

Anyone else have thoughts on this?

LadyJinglyJones wrote:As a side note, I doubt you'd be smelling a molting smell unless your crab was surface molting. I'd think that watever you were smelling before was likely just a natural tank smell, some scent given off by food in the tank, perhapse as it decomposed, or something outside the tank.

I have noticed that the odour of the sand seems to almost shift slightly at times.... I've assumed it's due to whatever the assorted bacteria in the sand are doing.

Anyone else have thoughts on this?

Not always, people have often described an iodone like smell while their crabs are done molting. As far as any smell shifts I chock it up to buried food/ wet moss. Eh. I suppose I don't often smell the tank either.

I read somewhere that smalls can molt monthly...Each molt is a week later then the last... Untill they get it to once a month....And so on..

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Dragonfreak wrote:I read somewhere that smalls can molt monthly...Each molt is a week later then the last... Untill they get it to once a month....And so on..

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It really honestly is different for every crab. We have a general idea of how long it takes them to molt, tinies might molt every few weeks to every month or so, smalls may molt every six weeks or so, and so on and on.

My first crab that molted with me was a medium, and was down for about 9 weeks if I recall correctly.

I've had large crabs down for months on and, only to pop up when I figured they'd died under the sub.

When do you "worry" so to speak? If they are buried so deep and you aren't going to be able to smell anything how do you know they are ok? I know to just trust the process but just curious. We have a small crab that has been down for 125 days (4+ months) as of today and based on his size I thought he would be up by now. We've had other crabs successfully molt with the longest being down about 2 months. I know every crab is different and I dont plan on trying to dig him up. I've read it could be 5+ months so we are being patient with it. Just curious cuz he wasn't very big at all.

Thejohnay wrote:When do you "worry" so to speak? If they are buried so deep and you aren't going to be able to smell anything how do you know they are ok? I know to just trust the process but just curious. We have a small crab that has been down for 125 days (4+ months) as of today and based on his size I thought he would be up by now. We've had other crabs successfully molt with the longest being down about 2 months. I know every crab is different and I dont plan on trying to dig him up. I've read it could be 5+ months so we are being patient with it. Just curious cuz he wasn't very big at all.

Well, here is the thing. Crabs are nocturnal. So, is it possible that your crab has come up and then digs back down and you just haven't seen him? A good majority of my crabbies do that. Most go down and leave their tunnels open. Occasionally they will backfill their holes.

Sometimes crabs do not make it. Sometimes they pass due to PPS (Post Purchase Syndrome), and sometimes they pass while molting. I do not recommend digging a crab up unless it is an emergency.