HCA: Hermit Crab Association

I noticed that my large, Herman, had some hair before he molted, but had more afterwards. Yesterday my hubby surprised me with a jumbo PP and he is VERY hairy, but has no black toenails. He has eaten nonstop since about 30 minutes after he entered the tank (he changed shells and took a long saltwater soak first) so I'm not sure if he's just making up for the lack of food or if he's gonna molt. Any other way to tell? On the rare occasion he leaves the food dish, (he's on his second 3 inch shell dish) he wanders the tank and seems pretty normal. Since he is my first jumbo, I'm not sure how hairy they are normally.

I dont thnk they are hairy all the time. It might have been that he molted, then if the petstore had substarte like gravelk it wore down his tonenails, but he still has hairy legs. Digns of molting are cloudy eyes, eating and drinking lots, bury down, less activity, ect. Keep in mind you rnew jumbo might just be really hungry and thirsty for a couple days, being just brought home from the petstore.

Thanks! I'll just keep him well-fed and try to stop worrying.

First of all, CONGRATS on the "present" from hubby!!!

All three of my jumbos are very hairy.....all the time. And when a jumbo is near to molting, you will definitely know by the amount of craters you will find in the tank. When my female jumbo, Bertha, was getting ready to molt, she started digging non-stop. My tank looked like Swiss cheese....I felt badly for the much smaller medium crabs that kept falling into the holes.

And, of course your new guy is spending hours at the food bowl!!! I am sure that he much prefers your menu, than the junk he was fed (or not fed at all) at the pet store.

Thanks, Kathy. Someone said that they might get aggressive premolt and he was definitely aggressive with my much smaller crab last night when I tried to combine tanks. I ISO'd him again. Guess it's wait and see time. The eating and drinking have slowed down a lot and he has spent more time sleeping in the corner, but no burrowing yet.