how long before I assume my hermit crab is dead?

[SueB]

We have had our hermit crab for 7 years. He's molted several times, got bigger, has been doing well. Sometime around New Years, he disappeared and I assumed was molting. I know he's older but 4 months seems too long and I am assuming he is dead. I am worried about digging around and finding him because I realize some people have killed their molting crab.

What should I do?

[JoeHermits]

Anything beyond a month or two is worrisome and four is definitely weird. He’s either living underground and surfacing without notice or deceased


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[wodesorel]

My experience is similar to Joe's, if there's guaranteed no sign by four months I get really worried as well. There is no benefit to digging to check though other than to satisfy that concern. Sometimes I've been able to hold out for a while just for safety's sake, other times I went with my gut and went looking. I personally don't think there's a wrong answer.

[Sharon SharK]

Bumping this thread because I have the same question but different details: I brought home my 3 hcs mid-July, had them in their big tank fully set up on 7/19. Our smallest, Polkie Dot, pretty promptly disappeared. It's been probably about 4 weeks/1 month, and she was teeny tiny. From what I understand, the smaller ones take less time to molt? Probably there was some PPS going on, acclimating to new tank, etc... but when should I start to be concerned enough to dig around? Having read the other replies, I guess my question is specifically related to how tiny she was/is--if the timeline for being concerned is shorter.
Thanks for any advice in advance!

(Here are the details of my setup: https://hermitcrabassociation.com/phpBB ... 8&t=128188)

[ChonkyCrabsLover]

You can always smooth out the sand in the tank and see if there are crab footsteps. This might not work as well with other crabs in the tank though. Maybe put other crabs in an iso tank, make the sand smooth and look for crab footsteps.

[curlysister]

Crabs can come up for a very short time - like a couple of hours - then go back down. If you aren't in the room during that time and you don't have a camera that you can watch the tank 24/7, you might miss it.
The way that I see it is that you have nothing to gain by digging up a crab if it has died underground. But you could cause harm if you dig up a crab who is molting. So just leave it be, and see what happens.

[Sharon SharK]

Ok thanks to you both! I do have 2 other crabs and don't have a tank for iso. I think I'll try to put up a camera, which I think I do have! Fingers crossed PD is ok