HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Has anyone else adopted/rescued crabs and have them go under for a molt within the day? I think both of my rescues are doing that (no fishy smells so I'm assuming no fatalities). I got them on Saturday 8/24. The larger crab wandered around the tat for a few hours, ate, and dug himself a nice little tunnel in the corner. The littlest guy went and dug down under a coconut hut almost right away. I haven't seen either of them since. I think they were living on gravel as a substrate so maybe now they feel comfortable enough and are able to molt? My Beau is also molting in a separate tat. I guess it's going to be a while before they can all get together.

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It’s happened to me before, and it’s fairly common in crabs who weren’t able to dig. Give them time before you worry.


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JoeHermits wrote:It’s happened to me before, and it’s fairly common in crabs who weren’t able to dig. Give them time before you worry.


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Thank you. I feel better knowing it's happened to someone else. I hope they can molt stress free now. I'll try not to worry.

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It's possible they are just de-stressing. Just keep putting out food and water. How deep is your substrate?

Hermiesguardian wrote:It's possible they are just de-stressing. Just keep putting out food and water. How deep is your substrate?

When I brought them home on Saturday, I realized I was short on substrate. I have about 4" in there now, but they are both smaller than my crab Beau, and were able to disappear into it. One of them is only the size of a quarter. I don't drive due to medical issues, so I was going to get a ride Sunday to get more sand, but both went under by Saturday night. As soon as they come up and resume eating and drinking, I'm going to add a couple more inches of sand/ee.

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CrabbyLover77 wrote:When I brought them home on Saturday, I realized I was short on substrate. I have about 4" in there now, but they are both smaller than my crab Beau, and were able to disappear into it. One of them is only the size of a quarter. I don't drive due to medical issues, so I was going to get a ride Sunday to get more sand, but both went under by Saturday night. As soon as they come up and resume eating and drinking, I'm going to add a couple more inches of sand/ee.

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You can safely add more substrate without collapsing tunnels if you’re careful. About one inch every twenty-four hours is a good rate.


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Thank you Joe hermits. That's what I was worried about, a collapse. I'll just be super careful and do the 1" per day for a couple of days around where they are. I'm glad I saw where they went under at least.

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