HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Okay, I'm a bit shaky, so ignore any typos I make okay? I woke up this morning to check on my crabs and change their water and clean up a bit, when I saw the cocohut was filled with sand i dug under the sand and saw Lavenders shell and a LEG right next to it. She was underground and now she's suddenly up. Fiddlesticks was under the ground also, I assumed Lavender was dead and eaten by her own brother, Fiddlesticks (she is in a WAAYYY too big of a shell so it looks like it's empty most of the time), so I got a little clear container, wrote "my very first crab's shell" on it, taped a bunch of pictures of Lavender I had laying around on it, then picked up her shell and rinsed it gently in some warm salt water, a white thingy came out into the water (not mold) and then a pair of crab eyes peeke out. I squealed with joy that she wasn't dead! Now I havr a question, do I pull Fiddlesticks out of the ground in case he's out to get Bonfire? Or am I just paranoid. Was that a molt? because there was a LEG next to her.

If Lavender has a pale exo,hair,& sharp nails then she probably molted. You want to get the rest of her exo out of the sand, put her & the exo under a cocohut or other hidey, its important for her to eat her exo,she may leave a few bits uneaten but they usually eat most of it. As far as Fiddlesticks, I would leave him be,he may have dug down to de-stress or molt. Digging him up may stress him.

That's cool.

I'm thinking the leg you saw was really a piece of his exo. The exo is not pale or anything, it's the exact color the crab was before he/she molted. I would probably iso the molter with her exo until she has hardened up and then put her back in the main tat.

Check if the leg is part of her exo- simply look inside. If it's hollow, you will be able to see inside of it through the hole or crack it open. If it's part of her exo, follow Irene's advice as she needs to eat as much of it as possible. Good luck!

*relieved sigh* I picked up the white thing in the water and saw it was Lavender's little claw. I freaked out but then I remembered that it could be an exo. I looked inside and it was hollow. Lav is now in a cocohut with the claw and leg and another bit I found while digging through the sand to look for buried food. I am SO relieved.