HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Hi everyone,
One of my crabs has been buried since last Monday and I assume he is moulting. There are no holes on the surface of the substrate, so I assume he dug himself down under one of the hides (it is a 90* elbow for plumbing, one end facing out and the other pushed into the sand). None of the other crabs hang out around there, and it would be impossible to isolate him without collapsing any tunnels he may have made. Is it ok to leave him as he is?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

They backfill their holes so your crab could be anywhere underground. Just leave it be.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Crabs do NOT need to be isolated to molt. They should be left in the main tank. With proper substrate of proper depth, they will do just fine. The only time a crab should be dug up is in the rare occurrence of a flood or bacterial bloom.

Thank you so much!! I read that you should put a pop bottle around them? Idk I guess not then. The other crabs aren’t bothering the buried one so should be fine?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

squid wrote:Thank you so much!! I read that you should put a pop bottle around them? Idk I guess not then. The other crabs aren’t bothering the buried one so should be fine?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That is more if they started to surface molt. But underground they are pretty safe. And if they surface molt and need to be isolated, that is a good sign something else is wrong in their enclosure. That he burried himself is a good thing. So yes he should be okay.

Sent from my LGL157BL using Tapatalk

Yes, as Angel said, the pop bottle method is if they need to be isolated from the other crabs for a reason like a surface molt. The only time one of my crabs dug up the other one was when I didn't have enough depth of substrate (I failed to add more substrate as Sonny got larger!).