HCA: Hermit Crab Association

I have no idea what to do here, let me explain what happened last night: lets name the 2 crabs I have~#1 and #2 for the ease of this situation. #1 came up first and #2 was still in the eco earth. #1 has been out for a few days and I noticed him looking at the empty shells I have but nothing was good enough and #2 was under the ee still. Well, this morning I look at the tank and the soil above #2 was disturbed but I could not find #1 but I see 2 shells down there! I grab the one shell and its empty, its actually #1's shell. Then I grab #2's shell wondering where #1 is...and I see the claw from #1 in it!! (he stole it!!) I move him to the top and I see #2 is still alive but not in a shell so I grab what I think is the biggest empty shell out there and put it in the hole near him and cover him up with a tupperware type lid (I don't want to cover him with the ee soil) so he has some protection but is still covered. Is this normal? It looks like #1 went down there and kicked the other guy out. But #2 looks on the pale whitish side a bit, I did see him move on his own so I know he is alive. Is there anything I should do right now? Sorry but I just feel lost right at the moment...

Just a bit more info, I did find a home for them and I am currently waiting for #2 to finish his molt then they are off to a great big tank (75 gallon!) and will be spoiled rotten.

ETA- I initially posted this in a the MOLTING forum but thought it warranted the Emergency forum instead.

This is natural crab behavior, so there is no shock. Your #2 crab that is molting will find a new shell once it has come up from a molt. If you find that both crabs want the same shell, try buying a shell very similar. I hope this helps. Tell me how it goes!

If your naked crab has not reshelled yet, try the glass cup method. Place a clean, appropriately sized/kind shell in the bottom of a clean glass. Gently rinse the crab in lukewarm dechlor fresh water and place him on top of the shell in the glass. You can then cover and place it in the crabitat to keep him warm and humid. If he doesn't reshell on his own you'll need to help him into one. It is very important to get a naked crab reshelled asap. They do not do well for very long. I would also ISO him for a while (after you get him reshelled) so he can recover from not only his molt but also this attack.

I'm wondering, how deep is your substrate? How many extra shells do you have? Are they preferred kinds?

Arosewithashell3 wrote:This is natural crab behavior, so there is no shock. Your #2 crab that is molting will find a new shell once it has come up from a molt.

ack! sorry, but this is not good advice. it's not natural or OK for a hermit crab to be without a shell for any length of time. and a molting crab that has been disturbed/dug up needs to be isolated from other crabs right away.

figaro, I've emailed you my thoughts on it already but just for the sake of anyone else who reads this, the most important thing is to get the crab back into a shell ASAP. normally a naked crab can be coaxed to take a shell on its own, but if he's still pale he's probably quite weak and likely will need assistance. Rinse the dirt off his abdomen with fresh dechlor and gently ease him into a shell that is a little too big for him. Because he's still pale I'd dig around where he was dug up from (never dig if there are other molters down) and try to find his exo. put it right in front of him and cover him with a 2L pop bottle with the bottom cut out and cap removed (push it down into the sub a little) this will let him eat his exo and finish his molt in peace without getting attacked by another crab. they're so vulnerable at this time and smell delicious to other crabs. If you can't find his exo put some eggshell in with him instead. He really needs the calcium to harden his new exo. Keep him isolated until he's moving around normally and doesn't look pale/pink. Like I said, I'm away this weekend but I'll be checking my email from time to time so feel free to get in touch if you have any questions or concerns and we can set something up for next week if it works for you

Sandra and Callalily are exactly right. I'm sorry, but if you wait until he comes up.....well, he won't, he'll die down there.

I absolutely recommend the glass cup and reshelling as well. If he's been out of his shell longer than a few hours, he needs to reshell ASAP - without it, I've never seen a crab live more than a day or two without one. Keep it very humid, keep his abdomen clean, and do what you can from what sandra and callalily said. I'm sure he'll love his new 75g home!!

Here he is still in his hole


And he was too fast for me to put into his new shell so I put him in isolation, I put eggshells in there and found his exoskeleton plus a bit of strawberry and a larger shell. I misted him with warmed up freshwater and the papertowel he is on is also wet to provide some humidity. And is ISO bin is in the tank but he is protected.

And for having no shell, he was fast so I will take that as a good thing!


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Yay! He went into the other shell! It worked putting him in the container with the shell, his exo and eggshell!

Fast is awesome! I'm so glad he's back in a shell.

sorry I haven't checked in here all week, my inlaws were visiting. Glad he reshelled for you, how is he doing now? he's likely eaten all of his exo by now and getting some colour back? if he looks like he's hardened up and is active you might be able to take him out of iso at this point

I'd love to hear how the little guy is doing too. I've been thinking of him. Hope he's recovered well!