HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Hello,

Hermit crab owner for 3 years. I’ve noticed that I seem to steadily lose molters. They just go down and never come back up. I tried to keep Ecuadorians and lost them all within a couple years. Right now I have a mixture of PPs and Stawberries. I went from 11 or 12 crabs last year to about 7 or 8 this year. I believe I’ve lost one of my four Strawberries in that timeframe (I’ve had them for two years). I completely changed out my substrate last year due to flooding and installed a drainage layer with the new substrate. It’s about 9 inches of playsand:eco earth (5:1 ratio) moistened. 90 gallon tank.

One of my crabs had babies this past year so my tank conditions must be ok. I was just wondering why I lose so many molters? I have several large rocks in the tank and quite a few decorations so I was wondering if those could be inhibiting the molting process? Thanks for any advice.

Es tend to have molting problems and are cannibalistic which will also bring down numbers over time. Straws only live a few years in captivity at most. I think you're seeing normal losses. Most crabbers who start with exotics end up with just their PPs after around 3 years.

so sorry to hear your molting trouble. I've always loved your tank setup!
I'm new to crabbing so i won't be able to share any experience. But i would love to learn since if a great tank like yours can't keep them happy then it is something we should all learn from.

are the PPs you lost old timers or newer ones? i assume you already ruled out PPS?
could these death be diet related? they have enough calcium and protein source, right?

wodesorel wrote:Es tend to have molting problems and are cannibalistic which will also bring down numbers over time. Straws only live a few years in captivity at most. I think you're seeing normal losses. Most crabbers who start with exotics end up with just their PPs after around 3 years.

Well that makes me feel a little better. I was just concerned my loss rate was higher than normal, especially Es, I love them but I’ve given up on keeping them for awhile.

Do you think too much decor is hurting me too?

aprilmay wrote:so sorry to hear your molting trouble. I've always loved your tank setup!
I'm new to crabbing so i won't be able to share any experience. But i would love to learn since if a great tank like yours can't keep them happy then it is something we should all learn from.

are the PPs you lost old timers or newer ones? i assume you already ruled out PPS?
could these death be diet related? they have enough calcium and protein source, right?

Thank you!

All of my crabs I’ve had for at least a year (some I’ve had since the beginning), I haven’t introduced any new ones in awhile, so not PPS. Haven’t had any surface deaths in over a year. I always have two calcium sources in the tank (eggshells and powder) and feed mostly dried foods from online hermit crab speciality foods with fresh foods a few times a week. Lots of food variety though. If it’s anything I would think it’s a substrate problem.

i see. not PPS, not food. perfect tank condition.
how about the netting above the drainage layer. could crab get caught in them when they dig down? reading the molting care sheet, it says they tend to dig all the way down to the bottom...

Decor is good! Makes them more comfortable and offers more space vertically to use.

If anything you could go a little deeper with the sub for safety, but that only helps stop disturbances from other crabs. Exotics tend to have bad molts no matter what. They really suck, I lost all my Es the same way you have and ended up sending off the last three to another crabber, who herself started running into problems later on. Not all Es are bad eggs or run into problems early on, but get a combo of both and they rarely survive more than a few years. Some people have excellent luck and end up with a few great ones that never have problems, but I haven't noticed that to be the norm, sadly.

I'm just here to say that I've have found a lot of 'subterrain' decor is commonly used in the moulting processes, and will moult under/next to them. Over the years, having to dig up moulters -about to start, started or finished - and commonly found them/the cave near various pieces of driftwood, rocks, piping, bowls ect. So if anything, going of my own crabs I'd say that its probably doing you a favour? Regardless, it sucks to see a dwindling population, having had similar in the past.

Sorry about your losses but I just wanted to say I think your tank is beautiful

aprilmay wrote:i see. not PPS, not food. perfect tank condition.
how about the netting above the drainage layer. could crab get caught in them when they dig down? reading the molting care sheet, it says they tend to dig all the way down to the bottom...

I’m sure it’s possible with how crafty they are, but I can see the underside of the tank if I crawl in my tank stand and haven’t seen any crabs get down there. Plus I was seeing about the same rate of molter losses before I put the drainage layer in.

wodesorel wrote:Decor is good! Makes them more comfortable and offers more space vertically to use.

If anything you could go a little deeper with the sub for safety, but that only helps stop disturbances from other crabs. Exotics tend to have bad molts no matter what. They really suck, I lost all my Es the same way you have and ended up sending off the last three to another crabber, who herself started running into problems later on. Not all Es are bad eggs or run into problems early on, but get a combo of both and they rarely survive more than a few years. Some people have excellent luck and end up with a few great ones that never have problems, but I haven't noticed that to be the norm, sadly.

Yeah, I see some people have tons of luck with Es and I’m pretty jealous (I love them, with their rage issues and all).

I’m probably going to be moving within the next year or so and I’ll take your advice and deepen the substrate when I have to deal with that. Thanks for letting me know my situation isn’t unusual and for the advice!

aussieJJDude wrote:I'm just here to say that I've have found a lot of 'subterrain' decor is commonly used in the moulting processes, and will moult under/next to them. Over the years, having to dig up moulters -about to start, started or finished - and commonly found them/the cave near various pieces of driftwood, rocks, piping, bowls ect. So if anything, going of my own crabs I'd say that its probably doing you a favour? Regardless, it sucks to see a dwindling population, having had similar in the past.

Yeah they definitely like to dig around my decor (I’ve dug up entire fake plants I forgot I had). I’ll leave the decor be then! Thanks!

Happyhermiehome wrote:Sorry about your losses but I just wanted to say I think your tank is beautiful

Thank you! Wish it still looked this good! I can’t keep up with the crabnados.

rml6f4 wrote:

Happyhermiehome wrote:Sorry about your losses but I just wanted to say I think your tank is beautiful

Thank you! Wish it still looked this good! I can’t keep up with the crabnados.

Crabnados!!!