HCA: Hermit Crab Association

My wife and I picked up 3 little guys Sunday for my son. I noticed one had some grey patches on him when we got home and figured he was getting ready to molt. He was active the first day but has been hidden in a coconut hut since Monday afternoon. Since he has been in that hut one of the other crabs has been in there right next to him. Last night I lifted the hut off them and the one is completely grey. I moved both of them out of the way and put the hut back down and the grey one immediately went back in. Shortly after the other little guy went in and is right next to him. My concern is one is getting ready to surface molt and the other is waiting to attack or eat the exoskeleton. I do not have the ability to quarantine him in another tank other than the little critter carrier. But before I go with the cut two liter option to isolate him I just wanted to get some advise. They are in a 10 gallon tank with the temp around 80f and humidity at 79%. There are both fresh and salt water pools there and plenty of food. The third guy seems to be good he will wander around but still seems to be getting used to his new world.Thanks in advance for any advise.

Also the substrate is between 6-7 inches of coconut fiber and play sand.

I would use the pop bottle method to isolate him. Better to isolate too early than too late. You can always remove it later if he isn't surface molting.

Thanks for the reply. I will get him isolated as soon as I get home, and update this with the progress. Hopefully the little guy can get this done without any issues.

Crabs go through so much before we get them. There is even a term for it, Post Purchase Syndrome. They are vulnerable to succumbing from it, until at least their first molt with us. All you can do is keep the conditions optimal and hope they have enough energy to pull through. Keep us posted!

I hope the little one is going to be ok...sending positive healthy vibes!


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A update on the little guy. He must have been stressed. I quarantined him under a 2 liter with some eggshell. This morning went to put some more eggshell in with him and when I lifted the bottle he took off and some of his color is back. By the time I left for work he was purched on a cork chunk for the to climb. Now one of the others has taken up residence in the coconut hut. They are still not all that active yet but it’s only been a few days to adjust. Due to that I don’t want to mess with them and stress them out anymore.