HCA: Hermit Crab Association

So we had one little guy, Eugene, pass away just shy of being with us for a month.
I had all but David and Eugene go underground in the past month. With having only David above ground, I decided to replace our loss, so we now have Eugene 2.0, Frank and our David. With adding the 2 new, I figured everything would be great. By day two with the addition, everyone but Frank is totally underground. Frank is hiding out in the hut and he dug down in but I still see movement so maybe hes distressing and coming out at night.

I'm very worried that my crabs underground may not come back up and now with all of them under I dont know what to do! This will be my first molt, literally all at once! I'm worried I'll do something wrong or I have and that's why they all went under. I have 7 crabs, 6 under. All PPs.

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As long as you have the right tank conditions everything should be fine. What is your tank size? Heat? Humidity?

I have a 20g, feed them all kinds of healthy yummies, fresh/salt pools, extra shells, playsand/coconut substrate mix, roughly 80/80. Everything is pretty much where it should be, I just cant believe I bought two more so we had a couple on the surface and even they went down.

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I wouldn't be worried. Try to relax and trust your crabbies! One of my crabs went under recently- I didn't even realize lol. She came up fine.

The only thing I didn't do that I probably should have done, was lightly dip them in the sw before introducing them, I could've stressed out them all, but nobody was fighting or anything so I guess I'll just cross my fingers. Most of them are pretty small in size so hopefully they'll only be a little while.

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All PPs: David, Frank, Bob, Paul 2.0, Hank, and Eugene 2.0

The dip at the start was unlikely to cause too much stress. I wouldn't worry too much about that.

New crabs typically dig under and distress for a couple of weeks before coming back up, this is normal. If they also moult (does happen on occasion) best you can do is ensure they have good conditions and they will come up when ready.

Thanks y'all.
I guess since Frank is still somewhat active, I'll keep feeding him a smaller plate so to speak, since it's just him. I'll just make sure the tank is at the best levels, keep everything going and hope they all come up, sooner rather than later. In the meantime, I'll just keep an eye out. I had just not heard of them all going under at the same time before.

So a little update, Eugene 2.0 has come back up overnight but went right back under. Sad because where he was with his tunnel right up against the glass, you could see him moving and I knew he was just fine. Bright side, at least he was fine, but now I dont know where he moved to, all I know is he went back underground.
Frank still seems to be hiding out in the hut but also digs down, hes rarely seen outside of the coconut hut, but I know he's eating because of his size, he can go through quite a lot of food! Haha

Well atleast they're all okay! And some of my crabs a lot too!

So looking down into half of the tank this is where all my guys are hiding, pretty sure larry and bob are under the sticks, David went down in to the right of the upturned white and black shell and I think the rest of my crew, Eugene, Paul, and Hank are along the back wall somewhere and Frank is hiding out in the hut.

The other piccy, since this was the last picture before they all ran and hid.. David is in the green and white, Frank is in the white and Eugene 2 is up onto of the higher stick.

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All PPs: David, Frank, Bob, Paul 2.0, Hank, and Eugene 2.0

Oh wow! Too cute!

I wanted to post an update, they have all come up! We have successfully made it through everyone molting! I'm beyond excited, I can finally clean their tank and redo and clean up the substrate, but most of all, I can stop worrying! David, was the last to come up, he was the one I was most worried about. I cant believe how colorful a couple of them are as well. Pretty bright orange and purple on the smallest guy, Eugene. I'll try and get some pics. Thanks for all of your help and support! Anyone else worried, hang in there!

Beckanai wrote: ↑

Sat Nov 07, 2020 9:57 pm

So looking down into half of the tank this is where all my guys are hiding, pretty sure larry and bob are under the sticks, David went down in to the right of the upturned white and black shell and I think the rest of my crew, Eugene, Paul, and Hank are along the back wall somewhere and Frank is hiding out in the hut.

The other piccy, since this was the last picture before they all ran and hid.. David is in the green and white, Frank is in the white and Eugene 2 is up onto of the higher stick.

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All PPs: David, Frank, Bob, Paul 2.0, Hank, and Eugene 2.0

Your crab is so cute! Just wanted to let you know that sponges aren't the best for your crabs, I as they can grow bacteria and mold and are very hard to keep clean

HappyHermit0916 wrote: Your crab is so cute! Just wanted to let you know that sponges aren't the best for your crabs, I as they can grow bacteria and mold and are very hard to keep clean

Sponges are ok to keep in the tank dry for the crabs to munch on. It's when they're placed in the water dishes they can harbor bacteria and get yucky.

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CrabbyLover77 wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 30, 2021 7:44 am

Sponges are ok to keep in the tank dry for the crabs to munch on. It's when they're placed in the water dishes they can harbor bacteria and get yucky.

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Oh, ok! My bad! I didn't know that, but it'll be a good tip for the future. Thanks for letting me know!