HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Seems like everybody is having two molts right now, and I think I have a case of it also. Taz (a small/medium sized E) dug down probably around 3 weeks ago now, and my other small/medium sized E, Aslan, dug down just 3-4 days ago. Now they are both in the same tank, and I have no clue where either or them are. Do I dug one up or both or just hope they aren't going after each other's old skin (I read on hermit-crabs.com that crabs love the smell of new fresh molter)? So I would love advice about whether or not to dig them up or figure out where they are or just sit back and hope they aren't hurting each other.

What is your tank like? Are you able to lift it up to get a peak of it from the bottom? My tank sits on top of a cabinet with no top to it, so I can open the cabinet door and peak up at the bottom of the tank. If the crabs have dug all the way down, I get a good view of where they are. Anyway, I would probably not disturb them. There have been cases of crabs going after exo or molting crabs, but they may both be under in order to molt, and digging them up would only cause them more stress.

I have 2 down right now too, my understanding is that the molters are too involved in their own molting to bother another molter, I am just keeping an eye out to who's out first and then I can take measures to seperate them.
They are not in my main tank....

I figured filling out the molt sticky might help a little. I have a 10 gal. tank sitting on top of a table I have, I am unable to see the bottom because of the table but I did manage (with a lot of effort) to lift it up and I didn't see any windows. They appear to be more towards the inner part of the tank under these huge mounds of sand that I can only guess can lead to them under them lol. I'm doing the sticky for Taz because I am not worried about Aslan as much as Taz.

I) About the Crab

1) What is the species and size? E, small-medium

2) How long have you had the crab? Since Feb. 10th or so, the day the Olympics started I got him

3) How many molts has this crab had with you? none

4) When was the last molt? na
A)Date
B)Date of this Molt.

5) When purchased, what were the PetShop conditions? I don't know because my parents bough him for me

6) What time of the year was the crab purchased? winter here

7) Did the molt occur while it was destressing from purchase? no, he's destressing went fine, he hid in the coco hut for like a week and then return to himself

8 ) Were there any missing limbs,pinchers or Eyes? nope

9) Did the crab re-grow all the lost limbs or eye(s) na
(A) How Many Molts to regrow?

10) Was there a molt-sac or gel limb? no gel limbs cuz he didn't lose anything but for a molt-sac I don't know because they dig under during the day while I am at work and don't come up till I sleep

11) Did you notice any crust on the crabs eyes? not that I know of

12) Did you notice any pre-molt or post-molt aggression? If Yes,
(A) Was it the molting crab? or other Crab? yes, pre-molt he was digging a lot and eating a lot, aggression -not really he gets along with the other crab

13) Was the crab able to eat it's exo or was it stolen? na

14) Did the Crab Change Shells?
A) Before or After Molt. -he hasn't changed shells since i got him

15) Did the Crab Go Naked to Molt? not that I know of, he just dug under shell and all

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II) Crabitat and Environment

1) What substrate did the molt occur in/on? playsand
(A)Was it moist or dry? moist

2) How deep is the substrate? 2 1/2-3 inches
(A)Was the crab dug all the way down? yes, he's under a mound of sand he put over himself

3) Do you offer warm/cool zone? yes, heater in one corner under the tank and the rest is cool/normal
(A) what side did molt occur? near the warm spot but a little towards the center where its both

4) What is the heat source? -under the tank heater
(A) If UTH, what side is the UTH located? (Left, Middle or Right? ??
(B)Is the UTH located under or on the side of the tat? under..????
(C)Where did the Crab Molt? On UTH Side or away? ??

5) What do you use to maintain humidity? two sponges in water plus keeping the coco fiber backround and hut moist in water and a towel over the tank to help keep it dark and humidity in

6) What were the Temps and RH at time of molt? don't yell at me for this question, i've heard it before, but at the moment i don't have gauges to check these because of my budget, really please just give me another lecture about this, i get annoyed, i will get them when i have money

7) What type of tank? Glass, plastic, or other? glass
(If other, please explain.)
A) Size of Tank - 10 gal.

8 ) Did the molt occur in the main tank or in Iso? tank, i can't find him to move him to the iso

9) How many crabs were in the same tank as molter? just him and aslan

10) Were mites or mold present at any time during the molt? no, just fruit flies that were trying to get the fruit in the tank that I could get rid of

11) What is your typical climate? (humid, dry, hot, cold) umm, its Michigan, its always changing, seriously, like one minute it could be nice and the next not...we aren't really humid or dry nor hot nor really cold, we are a mixture...at the time of the molt it was cold because of winter

12) What is your Geographical Location? Northern-Central Michigan Area

13) If known, what is your elevation? 1039 feet abouts (had to google it)

14) What time of the year Did the Molt Occur? (Season, Dates?) spring, dug down somewhere between April 17-19 and havent' seen him since

15) What was the weather doing at time the molt started? typical MI weather, lots of rain showers and clouds and one morning we even had snow on the ground..
(A)when came back up? na

16) What was the barometric pressure? ...i dont' know..

17) What was the Moon Phaze? again i would have to look it up..
(A) At Start
(B) Finish

18 ) What type of Lighting do you Use? Please Explain. (Include Wattage if Known) just natural sunlight that I sometimes let through the window if I put my blinds up and/or my bedroom light, no lighting in the tank at all



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III) About the Molt

1) Was the molt surface or typical? typical

2) Was it a mass molt or a solo? i don't understand the question, did he only molt once or more or are you asking if others molted at the same time as him or not?

3) How long did the molt take? its been 3 weeks now

4) What was the outcome of the Molt? (Death, Deformed or Normal)
(A) If deformed, known cause? IE: up against the tank

(B) If death, what was cause, if known? -answers not known yet.

5) Was the molter disturbed? Explain. -i've tried not to disturb them but I am afraid the other crab will

6) Did the molt occur near food or water? both yes

7) If ya have Pre or Post Molt Photos...Please Post them in Pics Forum -i have pictures of him digging down and then back up once, but dont know if that qualifies and i am unavailable to post them for a long time cuz of work

8 ) If you bathe, how often? i dont' take them out and bathe them, i have a deep enough dish in there for them to do when they want
(A)With what? (salt or fresh) they have salt water in the deep dish, fresh in the more swallow one
(B)Do you use Stress/Slime Coat When you Bathe? there's a little bit in the salt water

9) How soon after a bath did the molter start to molt? i don't know, they bathe themselves

10) What is the Diet? all natural food around the house rinsed off in dech. water and then chopped or cut or whatever before put in tank dish
(A) Commercial? (What and How Often? When is it Changed?) no commerical, only commerical thing is natural bloodworms that are all natural
(B) Fresh? (What? When is it Changed?) fresh...anything from veggies to fruit to both to natural honey and peanut butter...they get some tuna when i make it for dinner every week or two....really depends on what parents buy for groceries ...changed every day unless its just the corn/sunflower mixture i grind up for them, then i change that every two days
(C) Combination? (Explain) sometimes i go bloodworms and fresh but not any commerical food with it, dont' own any commerical

11) Was there a Noticable Color Change? (Explain) he's the one in my display pic, he looked just like that before he went down, dont' know yet if he changed color

12) Was there a Noticable Size Change? dont' know yet.


.....hope this might help some. I won't disturb them if I can, I still have to change the water dishes though to make it healthy so i hope that doesn't count as disturbing them too much??

As for Aslan, the other one that just dug down, i would't be surprised if he molted, he changed shells within one hour of me owning him, he was in the wrong shell and everything. I've had him since Chronicles of Narnia came out ...thats how he got his name...but i dont' know the exact date, but he just dug down 3-6 days now.

SarahRose&AlyssaMom wrote:I have 2 down right now too, my understanding is that the molters are too involved in their own molting to bother another molter, I am just keeping an eye out to who's out first and then I can take measures to seperate them.
They are not in my main tank....

....i didn't get any heads-up so to speak that Aslan was getting ready to molt, I could tell Taz was but thats why I am worried because I didn't see any sign for Aslan and if its just the right time that Taz is shedding his old skin I am afraid Aslan smells it and just dug down to bother him and not molt. I wish I knew where they were to make sure it wasn't happening.

I doubt it. I have 8 crabs in my 10g right now, and I haven't had any problems with molts. I seriously doubt the smell could/would come up through the sand enough for Aslan to smell it. I'm sure they're fine. Just give them a little while. I know my Es are constantly up and down in my bedding. They seem to love digging just to go hide for a little while and then come back up. I have one that is missing the end of one of his walking legs, so I know when he molts. But he's been gone under for as much as 2 weeks and unless he came up late at night, he never came topside and still he didn't molt. You just never know.