so I have a medium that I have had for a while now and he is getting ready to molt or de-stress becz lately I have noticed that he is digging alot-or trying to- and I can see the gel limb growing for his Big Pincher. up until now he has not dug at all...now I notice that he is digging holes but cant bury himself becz it seems that he cant dig good at all without it.. What can I do to help him
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digging for molt without BP
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MudCrabDude
In my experience, it seems that land hermit crabs tend to do lots of shallow digging around just to get a feel for the environment without actually burying themselves under for about a couple of weeks or so before burying completely.
It may be a case that your crab may just actually be just "checking out" the dig areas in the tank before dedicating to a spot where he/she feels comfortable enough to dig completely under for the long term for the molt.
Even without the big pincher, for the most part crabs should be able to dig under fine, given that the substrate has enough moisture to hold its shape.
It may be a case that your crab may just actually be just "checking out" the dig areas in the tank before dedicating to a spot where he/she feels comfortable enough to dig completely under for the long term for the molt.
Even without the big pincher, for the most part crabs should be able to dig under fine, given that the substrate has enough moisture to hold its shape.
While they do seem to use their big pincher a lot for scooping out the sand, they can use their little pincher and their legs for the same purpose when they want to. Sometimes if they are in an awkward position and they can't get the sand out with their BP they'll use another limb. So I'm sure he'll be able to manage. Like MudCrabDude said, he's probably just testing different places before he makes up his mind.