HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Hello,

I lifted up the water dish and noticed a couple tiny white spots on the substrate which looked to be mold. I was very concerned and carefully dug under and found a crab, or at least the exoskeleton of one. Is there any hope this is only the exoskeleton?? Or is it definitely a dead crab? I cleaned up this small part of substrate as best I could and did not find a shell. I would dig through the rest but I have another crab that has been buried for a week or so and don’t want to disturb him. Please let me know your thoughts, any advice would be beneficial.

Thanks!

How many crabs do you have and how long have you had them? Do you know if they have previously molted? Are they similar sizes? What size tank and how deep is your substrate?

Would it be possible for you to take a 'shell inventory'?

Was the exo/crab in one piece or several?

My first guess (and the most optimistic one) is that you found an exo from a previous molt that the molter didn't eat/finish eating and left behind. Unfortunately, it's also possible that you did find a deceased crab, but the absence of a shell in the nearby vicinity would indicate a couple very specific turns of events such as crab1 dies, crab2 finds an empty shell but not the deceased crab1 (crabs will usually consume any dead creature they come across, even their own species) and tries it on/wears it.

Thank you for the response. I have 6 crabs, most for about a year, one for about 6 months. I’m not sure if they have molted before or not. I know they like to hangout under the substrate, sometimes it seems like for weeks but haven’t seen any “evidence” of molting. I would say 4 are small and 2 could be considered medium. The tank is 40 gallons and the substrate is 6-7” deep.

4 of the crabs are currently up, and only 2 shells are missing. I am hoping the other 2 crabs are buried and are accounting for the missing shells but I know it’s possible there’s an empty shell buried.

The exo/crab was in one piece but did not look like a whole crab. I didn’t find any legs/claws, just kind of looked like the underside.

Hope this helps!

Would you be able to share a picture? It might help us identify just what it might be. Thanks!

For future reference, the bits of white fuzzy mold that form on the surface are often from bits of food etc that has been dragged around. It is totally harmless to the crabs, so you can just remove the white fuzzy and don't need to dig or remove any of the surrounding substrate.

Can you tell if the exo is hollow or not? If the exo is hollow then it's just the shed exoskeleton and if not then it's the crab.

Pumpkincrab: Sorry that would probably be helpful but I had thrown it away.

curlysister: Thank you for the info. I’m very glad it is harmless, I was hoping I didn’t need to fully clean the tank.

IamSam: I wish I would have taken a photo, it wasn’t fully intact so it’s hard to be sure. It must have gotten picked at/eaten either way.

Thank you guys for the help!