HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Ugh, so all 3 of my crabs went down to molt within weeks of each other. I'm really new to crabbing and have been worried sick. We had a blackout in our neighborhood a couple weeks ago and lost heat all night. I covered the tank in blankets and towels, but the heat and humidity got dangerously low. I was convinced that they wouldn't make it.

However the largest of the 3 came back up a week or so ago, changed shells even, and tonight one of the little ones made an appearance. I'm thrilled! Hopefully the other little one will be up soon as well.

That's a load off my mind. I even wondered if Crab Latte ate the smaller ones to recover from his molt. Fingers crossed the last one makes an appearance soon. I'd love it if all of them survived despite my being a noob.

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That's good to hear! I'm sure the other will be up soon, too!

Molts are always frustrating. It's more frustrating with new crabs because any injuries they suffered stay hidden and unknown until they molt. Honestly you can do everything right but if their injuries are too great there isn't much as a keeper you can do.

The loosing power is always extremely frustrating! Luckily with them molting the substrate holds in a good bit if warmth for hours. The air temperature may drop low quickly, but the sub will cool much slower.

Incase I have a power outage I have additional pieces of insulation cut to quickly cover the sides and top of the tanks.

A while back during a power outage I put my above ground crabs in a plastic container with moist moss and hung out in my car with the heat on with them. When it was time to go to bed I had a crabby slumber party! I kept them under the blankets and according to the gauge they stayed around 77-80 all night!

It's a good sign two out of three came up. The waiting game is always frustrating. Just give them time!

That's great info on the substrate holding heat longer, I didn't know that!

All three of these crabs are a mystery to me, since we got them by chance.

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