HCA: Hermit Crab Association

How do you determine if a crab is molting or just destressing??


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

You don't. LOL.
Time will tell - when the crab re-surfaces, you should be able to tell if it has molted or not.

How long does molting take? It has been over 2 weeks my 2 have been buried. I keep changing the water, (fresh & salt), and food daily. Never touched. Tank doesn't smell.

Daffy wrote:How long does molting take? It has been over 2 weeks my 2 have been buried. I keep changing the water, (fresh & salt), and food daily. Never touched. Tank doesn't smell.

It depends on their size. I have three and two have been buried for about a month now. I just let them be. They'll come out on their own.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

They can stay under for months. The smaller they are the quicker it takes but since you never know, just enjoy your "pet sand". Just never dig for them. Keep putting food out. You can do just dry food.

My larger crab, Sonny, always molts faster than my smaller crab, Cher. Although I caught her above ground for literally one evening, and then she went back down. So maybe her actual molt isn't taking longer, maybe she just likes hanging out under there before or after her molt. She went down May long weekend, came up for one evening in August, then went down again until last weekend! Sonny went down in May and came up in late July.
When both are down, I use dry food only, so I don't have to change it as much.

Daffy wrote:How long does molting take? It has been over 2 weeks my 2 have been buried. I keep changing the water, (fresh & salt), and food daily. Never touched. Tank doesn't smell.

I rescued my Petunia on 8/24/19. She went under right away. She just came up last night 10/12/19. So about 7 weeks. She's about quarter size when retracted in her shell. I'm not sure if she molted or not, she might have just been destressing since she wasn't living in proper conditions. So they can hang out "underground" for quite a while.

Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk

Daffy wrote: ↑

Sun Oct 13, 2019 1:17 pm

How long does molting take? It has been over 2 weeks my 2 have been buried. I keep changing the water, (fresh & salt), and food daily. Never touched. Tank doesn't smell.

Like the others have said, it can vary between each of them, especially because of differences in size.

When I got my first 4, the bigger one was underground for 2-3 months. Might have even been 4, but it's been awhile so I can't remember exactly. But the rest of my smaller ones usually are only down for about a month or two.

My crab is back and it has a lot more hair. What does that mean??


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Pebbles wrote: ↑

Tue Oct 29, 2019 6:14 pm

My crab is back and it has a lot more hair. What does that mean??


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It molted. It probably has tiny black "fingernails".

Hermiesguardian wrote: It molted. It probably has tiny black "fingernails".

Black fingernails??



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Pebbles wrote: ↑

Tue Oct 29, 2019 6:37 pm

Black fingernails??



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The tips of their claws.

Doesn't look like it




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That's ok. It's hard to tell though since he's holding onto the mesh.