HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Looks like my littlest pp may be molting in the moss pit. I think I interrupted him just before he began when I adjusted the driftwood that supports the shell shop. He dashed from beneath the wood on up into the moss pit. and now my son just observed this:



how might I safely determine if this is nekked crabby or exo?
especially since these two and another pp are on top of the moss right now..

Does that first picture show a picture of his shell, or a picture of his naked abdomen? If it is the abdomen, then I believe the crab is naked. I'm pretty sure they only shed their exo from their front half (the part visible from outside the shell).

fun fun. that is a pic of a crab behind. as I sat at the computer searching for other posts that might give me a clue, my son noticed that the part was no longer visible. since we had three other crabs in the moss pit i decided to intervene. the crab(Ron) molted. he is so very pink but safe in his shell. we just moved him into a freshly done up kritter keeper with sand and small amount if EE. fresh salt water fresh dechlorinated with stress coat, dish with powdered cuttlebone and surf n turf from hcp. we made a little well for him and what we could find of his exo and put a towel over the keeper. will check on him in the morning but he's already peeking out to see what's going on

so now how long should he remain in iso?

I would wait until he has returned to normal color. He shouldn't be acting normal if he just molted, as he'll still be soft and want to rest, but if he is then you could probably put him back in the main tank more quickly.

sounds reasonable. he looks really pink, but strong enough to peek out, so that gives me hope. maybe molted a couple of days ago and was working on the last bits of exo, just a couple of bits left really. so crossing my fingers that he ate it up and not anyone else.

He will need to eat what you managed to find of his exoskeleton and I would give him at the very least a few days in iso after that once he's up and moving so he can recharge. He should be alright if he's still showing signs of being perky, but if he was pulled out of his shell by another crab or chased he could have been badly hurt and you won't know for a few days. Try to provide him with as many calcium sources as you can if you only managed to recover part his exo as he'll need those extra minerals.

i dropped a bit of shrimp in with the surf n turf. the cuttlebone is also from hcp, honey flavored, gave a nice scoop.