How often does a crab molt?

Oliver's Mom · Post by **Oliver's Mom** » Fri Dec 31, 2010 10:58 am

I have a post in the behavior forum and mentioned that one of my mediums has not molted in the 2 years I've had him and that is bad. Does anyone know how often they should be doing this?

Kilimanjaro · Post by **Kilimanjaro** » Fri Dec 31, 2010 11:56 am

It depends on the size of the crab, their environment, and their diet.

Healthy crabs that are very small will molt very frequently, while the larger crabs may molt only once a year of even less.

A medium crab should molt at least once a year, if not a little more.

I would try feeding some calcium-rich foods and coconut or extra virgin olive oil.

All types of foods that are high in nutrition can help to induce a molt.

Big MaC · Post by **Big MaC** » Fri Dec 31, 2010 12:42 pm

My Smalls molt about once every 2 months...
My Mediums molt about every 4 of 5 months...
My Larges molt about every 8 months....
My Jumbo Molts about Once a Year...

My Smalls stay under ground for 3days to 2 weeks
My Mediums stay under ground for 1 week to 1 month
My Larges stay underground for 2 weeks to 2 months
My Jumbo goes under for 4 months.

So If they are plus or minus a month or so with any of this no worries

Oliver's Mom · Post by **Oliver's Mom** » Fri Dec 31, 2010 12:58 pm

Ok. My tank conditions weren't up to par until about a month ago, so hopefully this will cause molting conditions to be better.

Big MaC · Post by **Big MaC** » Fri Dec 31, 2010 1:31 pm

Once conditions are up to Parr the molt fest begins. Be ready for bigger and brighter coloured Hermies in the very near future.

TheCrabbyTabby · Post by **TheCrabbyTabby** » Fri Dec 31, 2010 5:31 pm

Big MaC wrote:My Smalls molt about once every 2 months...
My Mediums molt about every 4 of 5 months...
My Larges molt about every 8 months....
My Jumbo Molts about Once a Year...

My Smalls stay under ground for 3days to 2 weeks
My Mediums stay under ground for 1 week to 1 month
My Larges stay underground for 2 weeks to 2 months
My Jumbo goes under for 4 months.

So If they are plus or minus a month or so with any of this no worries

Actually it depends more on the individual crab, not their size. It'll vary greatly with each crab.

I find that larger crabs do take longer in general than smaller ones but sometimes a small crab can pull back to back molts and be under for a while.

Kathy Freer · Post by **Kathy Freer** » Sat Jan 01, 2011 12:17 pm

Since I discovered HCP minerals I have had mass molts in both of my tanks.No I have no monetary interest in HCP. LOL.My crabs eat this stuff like crazy ,then they go down and molt.
Kathy

Post by **wodesorel** » Sat Jan 01, 2011 1:15 pm

Two years a long time without a molt! Are you sure that he couldn't have snuck a few in at some point? It doesn't take some crabs very long - I've had medium crabs molt in the moss pit and be up and moving around again within a few days.

Oliver's Mom · Post by **Oliver's Mom** » Sat Jan 01, 2011 1:33 pm

I haven't noticed any molts with him. He never dug down in the sand, as far as I could tell. He usually never dug on the surface of the sand either. he is the less active of my crabs. I smelled a metallic odor on him yesterday, but he still has not moved. Right now I'm leaning towards the fact that possibly he put of molting too long and he's very stressed.