HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Xanadu, my pride & joy PP, came up four days ago from her first molt with me. Prior to her molt, she was a very pretty cranberry color. Now she is a beautiful deep purple. Unfortunately, her coloring wasn't the only thing to change....

Prior to her molt, she was very social to both humans & other hermies. We would watch her active antics for hours ~ climbing, jumping, digging along the glass, and even watching TV. Nothing bashful about her! ~She was definately "Queen of the Tank". Now, however, she is totally different! She is extremely timid & is not socializing with the other hermies at all. She actually seems to be hiding from them and me! What happened to the hermie I knew & loved???

I have had other PP's come up from molting be a little strange for a couple days, but nothing like this!!! Is this considered normal post-molt behavior? Will she ever be her old self again, or do I now have an eternal "hermit"?

My crab Indy changed after his molt. He is a medium Indo. Before, I would take him out of the tank and he would crawl around on the sofa, and on me to a limited degree, while I watched TV after the kids went to bed.

After his molt he became much less friendly towards me. I actually was afraid he was going to pinch me the last several times I held him. So, I tried introducing him to a new tank with 2 other Indos, and he was a complete tyrant, even though he was the smallest Indo! I had to put him back with the ruggies/cav, where he is not aggressive. I may try another supervised introduction in the future. I moved the pp's into the Indo tank, they are much smaller but seem to be doing just fine!

I have had 2 crabs come up from molting act the same way. One is a jumbo PP - Quincy. I have had him for 15 months - after his first couple of weeks here he became very social. Out and about for 4-5 hrs. a day and at night watching TV. He was buried for 8 weeks molting - came up just beautiful - deep,rich chocolate color. His personality was completely different - stayed hidden and would go back in his shell when I walked by. It's been 1 month now and he is almost back to his old self - coming over to the edge of tank to say HI and climbing all around where I'm tidying up the tank! So glad he's BACK!
The other crab that changed after his molt is a large Strawberry. Was very active in the tank - not concerned about activity in the room - just a mello guy. He's been up from molting 10 days now and is just starting to get back to the way he was. He's been very edgy and very cautious. Last night after his bath was the first time he came to the edge of the tank when I 'talked' to him since his molt - very common behavior pre molt.
Hopefully yours will come around too!

Grunt did that too! She was still really aggressive right be fore and after her first molt with me. Then she molted again less than amonth later. She's alittle more friendly than she was premolt, but not as friendly as she was before that time

Yes, my E's get very shy and paranoid after their molts. It takes them a few weeks to stop jumping at every little thing. They're almost back to normal by the time they go down for another molt.