HCA: Hermit Crab Association

i acquired a rescue jumbo, Tacroy (truly by far the largest crab i have ever seen) from horrible conditions about a month ago. he had been living for about a year in a 10g with about 20% humidity and maybe a quarter of an inch bone dry sand as substrate. since he's been with me, he's changed out of his tiny shell and eaten me out of house and home! its amazing how much food that crab can put down...he can easily eat half a golf-ball sized portion of various foods every other day.

today i discovered that he has finally dug down...hopefully to molt, since its been at least a year since he has and his exo is quite ashy. this will be my first jumbo molt, and i was wondering what everybody's experiences have been with the length of time? i've heard three months, but i'd be interested to get some input. i'm really hoping that despite his rough start he'll have a good, healthy molt. he (or she, i haven't been able to sex) is such a sweetie.

annopia

Your jumbo will probably be ALOT longer, Betelgeuse just came up from his molt from January 5-March 24 and he's not quite a jumbo yet. Some can take 5-8 months, and since he was in awful conditions, he'll probably take longer resting before and after he actually performs the molt. Also he might have slight difficulties since he wasn't able to molt all that time (I think) but since he's a jumbo, a year isn't that long. I'm pretty sure the averge time between molts is 12-18 months. So although it'll take awhile, you'll get to see him longer without him going down
Just a note, it's gonna suck. I'm still waiting for my jumbo and large blueberry, and I've been biting my fingernails since the three went down, so far only one has surfaced. Molting is probably the most stressful time on the crabs and owners

63 days average, though Moya when I first got her took all of 33 days. And then there won't be another molt for 12 to 18 months. Best part of having jumbos!

my true jumbo took 7 months to molt and my large/almost a jumbo took 6 months.

wow...such varied experiences! i certainly hope that Tacroy follows wodesorel's Maya's example, but truth be told all i want is a healthy molt, no matter the length. I told my fiance that Tacroy might be under for six months or more, and he was crushed . he's very fond of Tacroy, we can both see he's a very special crab.

thanks for the responses!

annopia

My jumbo recently came up from a 4 month molt.


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I have two jumbo PP's that went down to molt this past December and Both surfaced about 2 weeks apart at the end of March! They surely do eat a lot too. I always put fresh food down at 5pm and one of them comes to the dish even before I get my hand away. I leave dry stuff down but they rarely eat that. I was relieved that they molted at the same time!

Does this mean they don't eat anything for that entire time period "n months" or do they sneak back up to eat

They will be down there for months without eating or drinking! It's crazy. Near the end or beginning they may pop up for a night to restock, but only sometimes I believe

i actually just found where his cave is by accident...apparently he tunneled right beside the salt water dish, so when i lifted it up to change it out i saw him. needless to say, it won't be changed for a good long while. i'll put in another dish for the other crab in there.

i miss him already!

annopia

he came up today!!! 52 days down and he looks wonderful. i'm going right now to post some pics in the pic section. thanks again for everyone's help!

annopia

congrats on the molt! can't wait to see pics! I just had my large go down a few weeks ago and am anxiously awaiting her to come back up

Congrats! Would love to see pictures as well.

52-64 days seems pretty average for jumbos, every 18 months.

Congrats! My jumbo, Mallorn (PP), usually takes about 3 months start to finish and so far it's been every 16 months. Can't wait to see pics.

WOW! That is great! Pics Pics Pics!
Congrats