HCA: Hermit Crab Association

About a week ago I noticed a crab that stayed still. I moved him slightly and he kinda hung out just barley. Now he hasn't moved since then, he is in the same position that I left him in. I've had crabs die on me before and I'ld recognize the smell if it were death..and this time it doesn't smell the same. It's a strange weird smell but not a death smell. I would assume that a week after death it would have a very strong smell, but it doesn't. I've put a bottle thing over him to iso. him but i just caught a crab digging through underneath. I've read somewhere that a molters' smell can be enticing and luring to another crab. I haven't bothered to pick up this possible molter. But there is white fuzz on the crab itself.

What is going on???

White fuzz sounds like mold

If it is mold, then I'd say the crab is dead.

that's what I thought.But there is no horrible dead fishy smell.

There isn't always a fishy smell. Usually, but not always.

:/ ok. i'll have my mom bury it. :/ i can't take them out of the shell it's yucky.

He's not dead!!! He's molting. when my mom was pulling the crab out we realized that something was pulling it back into the shell.ha ha ha. yay!!! I could see that it was just the exoskeleton hanging out

Yay, glad to hear that the story has a happy ending!

I'm so glad he's okay!

yeah me too!! He is in Isolation. But I don't know how long it takes for them to surface molt. It's never happened to me.

wow, thank you for sharing this....it is good to know that type of error can happen. ack!

yeah so um.... why hasn't he moved? it's been a month the exo is just hanging out a bit. there is no bad smell but i see no surface molt!! what's going on. He hasn't pushed his exo skeleton out nothing. I'm going to attempt to remove the exo tomorrow with the help of my mom. If anyone has been through this and thinks that I really should wait let me know

Make sure other crabs have lots of minerals and wormcastings, sometimes this helps keep them so they won't go after one that is molting. I still wouldn't move him, some crabs have a hard molt and it takes longer. Had a large molt in 2 wks, but next time it was 2 and a half months.

That seems too long for a surface molt. You really should check him since it's been a month. He should have started to eat his exo that day and would have been done by now. (Buried molts can take a while as the crabs waits underground before and after the molt, but the molting itself is a quick process.)

Are you sure what you saw was exo and not the front half of the body? Exo normally falls right away when tugged, and it wouldn't have been drawn back into the shell. That sounds like the abdomen half of him was stuck tight in the shell, which can happen after death. There isn't always a smell when they go.

ewww gross. it couldn't fall right out at all. My mom laid it on its back with it's body spread out, his front body was laying on it's back but part of it was in the shell. We left it and stared for 2min. and then it was yanked or pulled back in, the front part didn't move at all, it came from in the shell.