HCA: Hermit Crab Association

This reply was in response to a post on "First Shell Change", in which I told them I had dug gently in my tank due to a horrible smell and that I had found Herman and he was alive (still unmolted) and I gently recovered him with loose sand. What about everyone else? Did I mess up? What have you done if this has happened to you and did it turn out okay or was it a disaster? I'm frantic now! Herman is by big, beautiful, gentle baby. The following reply is what I received:


You can tell by the date I joined that I've only been crabbing since December, but I have a thought on the above...
One time I disturbed a molter and then quickly put the dirt back gently- that was the only molt that went bad so far.
Since then I have not only uncovered by actually scooped out and moved 4 molters because I was working on installing a water resorvoir for the stream i put in and they were in the way. I was as careful as could be and they all have resurfaced since just fine.
The main difference between the good and the bad was that I did NOT recover them with soil. Instead I covered them with loose moss from elsewhere in the tank.
Not exactly scientific deduction...maybe someone more knowledgeable will post about it.
The opinion I have for now, is only to use loose moss to cover a stressed crab.
Hope that helps

Well, I guess no news is good news or else everyone is sick of my posts.

evre1's-mom wrote:Well, I guess no news is good news or else everyone is sick of my posts.

No, we're not sick of the posts. It's just that's probably what I wouldn've done myself, if not worse...

Keep us posted on the progress!

Oh please don't feel that way. It's just that this is a very busy forum and sometimes, depending on when you post, your post will get "buried"...so check back and if it does, just "BUMP" it back up.

I disturbed a molter during my deep clean. He's up and about today!

So, yes, they can survive being disturbed.

As long as you left him some air room he should be okay. Some crabs like to dig tunnels just to dig (and not molt).

I dug up a molter when doing a deep clean. She was already done molting, so I gently moved her and the remaining exo to an ISO. I just dug a little impression in the substrate and placed her and exo in it. She survived though a bit shy.