HCA: Hermit Crab Association

So two weeks ago, I rescued two teeny hermits from pretty horrid conditions - silica sand not even an inch deep, small pools, crab pellets. Their previous owner had them just over a year. The shells provided as "extra" are too big even for my two Medium Hermies to fit. They've never molted, but a prior friend tried and did not make it.

I brought them home and put them immediately into my tank with optimized conditions - 8" of 5:1, 76 degrees, 90% humidity, deep pools etc. The one teeny changed shells in the last week and has been hanging out topside with the two larger hermies in the tank. The other, well, I haven't seen since the day I brought them home. Like...poof...they've disappeared.

So, what I'm wondering is this - has anyone else had a new crab immediately bury themselves to molt?

Any thoughts?

(Ps - my profile pic is the one teeny, who's now in a lovely Jade Turbo since changing from their West India Top snail shell)

It's possible the one teeny immediately went to molt after being in conditions with shallow sand. If he is molting then I would keep an eye on your larger hermies to make sure they don't try to dig teeny up or anything

I would say this is pretty normal. After what these crabs have been through, they certainly need to rest, destress, recharge, and probably molt. It may be a while before you see that one again but try not to worry about it too much