HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Our smallest crab, Thor, molted in January. He was a very vivid purple claw and his coloring didn't quite come back. I figured he just didn't get enough calcium, so I bought supplements to prevent that in the future. Deedee molted about a month later and went to her normal color in about a week or so.

After Deedee's molt, I moved them to a bigger, 10 gallon, tank instead of the 2.5 gallon I had them in. They seem very happy in the new community.

OK, on to the weird part. Thor's molting again! It's only been a couple months. Is it normal for them to do that? I just recently purchased 2 more crabs (Spike and Peabody) and had them in the 2.5 gal for a couple weeks of ISO... Now I've been forced to move Deedee in with them because Thor has taken up the whole 10 gal. I had no signs he was going to molt at all! Is he sick or did he just not get enough calcium last time and need to molt again?

Hi there!

When at the pet store, Thor was probably putting off molting as the conditions weren't right.

There's nothing to be worried about! That means he is happy with the conditions you have him in and he feels comfortable enough to do the molting in your 'tat!

Also, you said he was your smallest. How small is he? I've had a couple of small crabbies that were on a ever 2 or 3 month molting cycle. Which is completely normal.

Also, in reference to the coloring.
He probably wasn't eating the best at the pet store, resulting in the coloring you saw with his last molt.

Jeff

when you say he has taken up the whole tank what do you mean? as long as he dug down to molt he should be safe from other crabs, you dont have to keep molters in a iso or away from other crabs in a separate tank when they molt. It may stress out your other crabs to have them all in such a tiny tank. I would put them back in the bigger tank even though he is molting below ground.

Ok, I feel better about him molting every 2 months now... The opening of his shell is less than an inch and he's buried pretty deep in there. His big claw is tiny in comparison to my other "small" crabs... It's maybe 1/4 inch across. He's not very big.

He didn't dig down enough to cover his shell, so I didn't want to risk anything with the others being in the same crabitat. It was almost like an emergency molt, but he didn't loose his big claw or anything. The other 3 seem to be rather comfortable together in the smaller tank. They're all nestled together in the crab-igloo like they're old pals.

crabs like to dig and burrow, how long has he been down, he could be down a few days at a time and not be molting, its natural..because he didnt dig far im thinking he is just resting and enjoying the high humidity of the substrate. They often make burrows and return to the same burrow.. thats why a good substrate that holds the burrows is important. you might see him pop up any time.

Oh no... He's molting. I picked him up to do my routine tank cleaning and there was a pile of exo under him. I just put him right back where he was, covered him up a bit more, and avoided him during the cleaning.

i would cover him with a coco hut instead of sand and give him some darkness.

Not a bad idea. I have an unused water shell upside down over him... Do you think I should use the cocohut instead? The 3 in the small tank are getting along quite nicely after the first night of vigorous chirping. I did check on Thor today and he chirped at me, so I know he's ok. He's always been kinda grumpy.

If he has some coverage I wouldnt bother him to change it.. he needs as little stress as possible.