HCA: Hermit Crab Association

my new crab that i rescued is missing an entire leg, a segment of another, and half a small claw. i try to nurse him back to health, but even though he is active, eating and drinking daily, and overall happy, i am concerned his molt will be too much for him to take. should i quit worrying or is this a concerning matter?

Nah your crabs fine. The molting will actually benefit him in regenerating those missing limbs. If you don’t mind spending a few bucks I recently looked at this site called Hermie’s Kitchen and they have healing foods for $1-2 that are supposed to aid crabs with injuries or just new crabs.


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I am not sure, there's always a chance for a crab to pull through anything, more or less depending on their current behavior. But since he appears active, then I wouldn't worry about problems during his molt.

^^ There also is that chance. However I would take the steps to make sure when your crab is ready to molt that he has the resources to do so. So make sure you got good sand/substrate depth with good consistency for tunneling, your giving him lots of good healthy foods (especially ones with calcium for those limbs), and he gots plenty of treated water.


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okay thanks. i have a lot of calcium blocks in my tank already.

I think maybe you should wait till it molts then see if it is a concern or not. Did it already have missing limbs when you got them or did it lose them after you already had them in the tank?

it was missing them when i got him/her.

purplepincher wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 18, 2019 1:29 pm

it was missing them when i got him/her.

Ok, then it is probably recovering from being stressed, sick, or PPS. Hope it has a successful molt!

thanks. he was in the tank with a large crab that looked mean and was covered in mites. i treated them, so they are fine, but that crab was probably the reason. he is also very dominant tward other crabs.

purplepincher wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 18, 2019 9:34 am

okay thanks. i have a lot of calcium blocks in my tank already.

You say calcium blocks, as in the vacation time release supplement? I do not recommend these, you can use cuttlebone instead. Beneficial items that offer calcium are cuttlebone, dry coral, egg shells, sea urchins, and crushed shells.

no, i use peices of cuttle bone and scatter them. i also use eggshells.

Spinach is really good for calcium, too.

I am not sure how much calcium cuttlebone has, but you have to eat a ton of spinach to get calcium. For example, half an egg shell has 900-1000mg of calcium. But one whole cup of cooked spinach only has 240mg.

curlysister wrote:I am not sure how much calcium cuttlebone has, but you have to eat a ton of spinach to get calcium. For example, half an egg shell has 900-1000mg of calcium. But one whole cup of cooked spinach only has 240mg.

Cuttlebone is formed of calcium. It’s like 80-90% calcium carbonate.


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I guess I was wondering how much volume of cuttlebone had how many grams of calcium....in order to compare it to eggshells or spinach. Safe to say that it would definately have more than spinach, and probably similar or more than egg shells?