Two of my hermit crabs molted at the same time!!

[Mrs803]

Hello!! I am really excited to be joining this website I feel like when I read the things on here it gave me some reassurance that I was caring for my hermies right!! except I have a few questions!
Two of my hermit crabs molted at the same time they are girls and they are smaller then the one big male I have 3 all together so rather than seperating the two little ones I took the big male out because I didnt want him to bother them and I heard you needed to isolate the ones that molted except I only had 2 tanks so I figured the 2 together would be fine which they are, I tried to get on here about a week ago but i had to reregister so i feel like my problem is solved but I will just say it anyway. Okay so now its been about a week since they have been white like newly molted, it smells in the tank (i heard the molting process has an odor?) and some of there legs fell off while molting but they have all there legs back so is that normal? Another thing is they didnt eat the entire leg i see some of the molt gone but not all when should I remove that? How do I get the smell out? When do I reintroduce the Big crab? I am pretty sure there hard outer layer has grown back so I want to say it is okay to reintroduce the Big crab but I want to switch the tank because I actually have a really big fish tank that I want to put them in and just fill it with a mix of sand and coco husk (dont worry i wont fill the tank with water!!) but I do have some questions about what water and how deep of water bowls they need should I ask that here? right now i give them a hermit crab salt water thing and fresh water with which i spray a water conditioner to "makes tap water safe for them" as the package says. when i go to switch the tank should I put the hermit crab "parts" that they lost during the molt in the new tank? or what? i have many more questions and would like to post pictures of my tank eventually so i can see if you guys agree with my setup!! I think im doing fine with them I just want to make sure. I have had some in the past but only like 3 when those past I bought 2 at the shore even though I know i shouldn't support that i didnt know they had RESCUES on here which I will deff check out the next time I want to get one and then one of those died and my cousin gave me hers cause she couldnt care for them properly so I have had one for approx one year but I dont know how old it was when i got it is there anyway to tell age? and the other two i dont know how old they are Thank you so much for your help sorry for the mess of questions hah its my first post thankssss

[CrabbyIrene]

Hi & Welcome!

so rather than seperating the two little ones I took the big male out because I didnt want him to bother them and I heard you needed to isolate the ones that moltedYou actually don’t need to isolate when they molt, as long as they have enough room to dig down and make their little caves to molt in they should be fine. Usually if another crab disturbs a molter its by accident because he is digging around or at times,though rare, they will purposely seek out a molter to attack & cannibalize if there is not enough protein in their diet.
Did your 2 girls molt on the surface? If so, then yes, it was a good idea to iso the other guy.
To help prevent surface molts you want your substrate to be moist, sand castle like consistency and at least 2x, if not 3x as deep as the biggest crab.

Okay so now its been about a week since they have been white like newly molted, it smells in the tank (i heard the molting process has an odor?) Molting usually smells more chemical, and within a few weeks it should pass. If it smells like dead fish then usually that is a bad sign & more often than not, the crab has passed.

and some of there legs fell off while molting but they have all there legs back so is that normal?That sounds like it’s the exo, a lot of times it looks like the crab itself but it is really their “skin” and the actual crab is in his/her shell behind the shed exo

Another thing is they I eat the entire leg I see some of the molt gone but not all when should I remove that?They don’t always eat the entire exo, a lot of times they will leave the claws & parts of the legs

When do I reintroduce the Big crab? I am pretty sure there hard outer layer has grown back so I want to say it is okay to reintroduce the Big crabIf they are done eating they exo and are back running around like normal, maybe give it another week and you should be ok with introducing the big guy again.

But I do have some questions about what water and how deep of water bowls they need should I ask that here? Right now I give them a hermit crab salt water thing and fresh water with which I spray a water conditioner to “makes tap water safe for them” as the package says.The water dishes should be deep enough for the largest crab to be able to get water into his shell, ideally they should be deep enough for the biggest crab to fully submerge. If there are small crabs then you can use fake plants, shells or rocks in the dishes so the little guys have a way to climb out. Also the hermit crab salt is not really beneficial to them, you want to get a marine salt, like the kind used for reef tanks(Oceanic, Instant Ocean etc.) the marine salts contain elements & minerals that are similar to real ocean water

when i go to switch the tank should I put the hermit crab "parts" that they lost during the molt in the new tank? or what?You can put the extras in the new tank, I’m sure someone will end up snacking on it! It’s a good source of calcium.

[Mrs803]

thanks so much for answering!! and no they did not surface molt, idk how to describe the smell but both of my hermies are alive and well so they didn't pass which is what I was most concerned about!! okay thanks for telling me when to reintroduce the big guy!! thats helpful and yes they are running around now they almost seem more active. okay so with the salt thing i have it says "hermit crab salt water conditioner" it says "adds calcium and natural sea salt to a second water dish in your crabs enclosure. removes chlorine, chloramines and ammonia, allows for ease in molting and aids in the hardening of your crabs exoskeleton after molting. so is this one not the one i should get? do you mean just like a bag of salt from the petstore? do you know where they sell the instant ocean stuff? and how big should that water thing be ? same as the fresh water (deep enough for the biggest crab to get water in its shell or submerge in) thanks so much its really helpfull!!