Took away exoskeleton from crab

[NefariusMDK]

Hello,

I have been going through this site all night. I am so grateful that there is a place like this here on the internet.

Here's what happened. I came to my hermit crab tank one night, to see my hermit crab snacking on what looked like to be a my other hermit crab. In a panic, I separated the crab from the other crab, and thought my crab killed the other crab.

Fast forward to a month later, and the crab I thought was eating the other crab is either surface molting or dead.

My question is this. I still have the exoskeleton of the crab who molted. The exoskeleton has been sitting in a plastic glove for one month. Should I put that exoskeleton back into the tank? Or, should I find some alternative nutrient instead?

There's no fishy smell in the tank. I feel so terrible for all the mistakes I've made. any help would be much appreciated. Thank you.

PS - the second crab seems to be doing okay. It looks like it is molting, but I feel terrible because I dug it up. The first crab is rigid and out of its shell. I thought both crabs were dead, so I was about to throw the whole thing out. Instead, I cleaned out the tank, put brand new sand in it, and put both crabs back. Lightly buried the molting crab on one side, and put the surface molting (or possibly dead) crab on the other side, and put a plastic border between the two, incase they are alive and smell each other. Temperature is at 68 degrees Fahrenheit, humidity is at 95%. no bad smell at all for 4 days.

[JoeHermits]

I wouldn’t bury the crab, it’ll suffocate. If it’s covered in substrate it’d be best to dig it out.

If they are both molting, they’ll need darkness to do so safely since their molting hormones are released in the absence of light. Put pots or hides over them so they can have the darkness they need.

And if you have the exo it’d be best to return it. Those nutrients are important and they typically eat those to help them regrow their new exoskeletons.

I would also recommend getting the heat up if possible, they’ll do better in temps above 70F


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[NefariusMDK]

Thank you so much Joe! Quick update: it's been almost 2 weeks, and the tank seems fine. There's no bad odors coming out of it, and the temperature went up to 75. I cut an old plastic clipboard to put a boundary in my 10 gallon tank while the crabs molt. None of them have moved, but I'm going to trust the process.

Thank you so much!