HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Hello, here is my crabitat information
1. I use 6 inches of Eco earth substrate
2. I do not have gauges anymore, they broke and I was unable to get new ones. But, when I had them they read from 75-80% Humidity, and 80-90 degrees F varying from season to season
3. I do have heat sources, two zoo med heat mats stuck onto the sides, one for twenty gallons and one for 55 gallons( on the sides ) also, I sometimes have a 60 watt heat lamp, but not as of now beacause I keep it dark when they are under ground.
4. I have both fresh and saltwater available for them, I use 2 drops of stress coat per gallon to dechlornate the water, and then 1/4 cups of instant ocean to make salt water (sorry I do not know metric measurements)
5. All three of my crabs have molted Hermes and Walnut molted In I'd say August, and Noodle in September
6.All three of my hermit crabs are pp's, I got walnut and Hermes in March of this year and Noodle June of last year
7.(sorry I mixed up five and seven) I feed them a variety of foods, I feed them walnuts, dried Berries, dried bananas, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, freeze dried shrimp, HCA's mineral mix, and HCA's dried coconut popcorn. The food does not spoil in the tank for a while, so I change it weekly.
8. I have a glass tank, twenty gallons long. I have a mesh lid, I know humidity can leak out but my mom does not let me put anything on top of it so I just keep the tank super duper moist.
9.I have 3 crabs, two are large on is medium
10. I keep 11 shells in the tank at all times
11.No
12.I clean the tank annually, with distilled white vinegar and water
13.NEVER
14.No, but I rearrange the tank quite a bit
15.when my crabs are up, I bathe them in fresh water weekly (I understand it is a touchy topic, but my hermit crabs seemed to have benefited from it) I never take the crabs out of the tank unless I am bathing them or rearranging the tank.
16. So, my hermit crabs went all down at the same Time (which did not seem strange to me because they tend to do that for me) but here is the catch. It has been almost 3 months now, and now sign of them. ( the food bowl had not been touched, all the extra shells are the same from 3 months ago) I am starting to get worried, because of the size of them, which is not that big so it does not seem like they are molting for that long, and they are obviously not eating or drinking. So, please get back to me ASAP. I am not taking course of action for about another month to make sure they are just doing their thing. Thanks!

Oops for food I meant that I got the popcorn and mineral powder from the Hermit Crab Patch. I had HCA stuck in my head

Thanks for filling out the template. If two are large and one is medium, 3 months is not super unusual, maybe getting a little worrisome for the medium if it doesn't come up soon.

Several things to think about in the crabitat that may cause molting issues....one is the humidity being somewhat unknown, that would be the first thing I'd want to check and be sure of. Lowered humidity will make molts more difficult. The second thing I noticed which could effect molts is the saltinity of the salt water. If you are putting 1/4th cup of IO into a gallon of water, the salinity will be too low. That salt water helps them swell to crack the exo, so if the water is not salty enough this could cause issues. The only other thing to think about is adding more variety in the diet would help as well, (not that you don't have the right idea about nutrition) especially foods needed for molting.

I hope this feedback gives you something to consider, and I hope your babies come up for you soon!!!

I agree with landlubber, though three months even for a large crab is kind of pushing it. As for the medium crab, he should be up by now, and at the 3 1/2 mark or 4 month mark, I would slowly dig around to see if they are dead or they might possibly be just coming up only at night.

Thank you guys so much for replying! Sorry for any mispellong, I'm walking home from school and it is a bit hard to write while walking. Anyways, I saw noodle ( the medium one ) scuffling around the tank last night! I was spraying their tank, and noticed him in the coco hut. He look freshly molted, so it was a huge sigh of relief for me. Still no sign of Ealmut or Hermes though... An also it seems as noodle buried back down. I can't find him anywhere, and I have a secure locked lid so I'm sure she didn't climb out and escape, maybe she buried back down. The food bowl still seems the same, so do shells. So, I know noodle is alive, but I'm not to sure why she keeps on burying down. Also, still no sign of the other two, but I will keep my eyes peeled. I'm a little more worried because all but one (noodle) of my five original crabs passed away from burying problems.

Hello Again, I also heard that just plain Eco earth won't hold up molting caves, is this true? If so, I will mix plays and with Eco earth in the future

I usually mix them, but I have had EE/sand sides w/o any molting problems.

I also mix EE and sand. Also, I have found that pinecones tend to tell the humidity. The more humid it is, the tighter the pinecone closes. My relatives in North Carolina ship massive pinecones to me, and the crabs love climbing and chewing on them! One time, the crabs ripped the humidity gauge off the wall, and I couldn't find it for the life of me! Luckily, I had my trusty pinecone until I bought a new one. (I cleaned their cage yesterday, and found it buried deep beneath the substrate!)

I actually heard that pine is harmful to crabs, I could be wrong. But there are a ton of those ether I live, so maybe I'll use it if they are actually not harmful to crabs

It is possible that your medium crab keeps on burying down to regulate body temp. If the heat and humidity are not where the crab feels comfortable, they will bury to get more comfortable. I would for sure try to get another hygrometer as soon as you can! I had a medium down for 2 months that just came up, so for a large I wouldn't be overly concerned on them still being down.

Good luck, hope they all come up soon!!

I thought someone had said females tend to dig a lot more than males as well? Mine sure do! My tat' looks like I have tiny gophers in it with all the holes!

Could it be possible that it's too warm in my crabitat? I have a 50-60 gallon heat may as well as a 20-30 gallon heat mat, but it also gets really cold up in the north, and that's why I have that much heating stuff. But I will take off the larger heat may if you think it may be overheating the tank

Without gauges it is hard to tell. Temps under 70 for long enough will freeze them to death. Temps of about 80 is great for them so u
I don't think your tank is too hot with those sized UTH on it.

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I going on the side of its prob to hot to they are trying to keep cool. If you put your hand in the tank it should feel warm and humid..Not overly hot and humid. I haven't had gauges for a long long long time..but I have gotten used to the feel....I have to say though and this is my own opinion.. but it has been discussed on the forum before , you don't need to bathe crabs.. if you have their water in the tank they know when to go in.. in the wild they don't have humans bathing them..all you are doing is stressing them. Your diet needs more fresh type foods, give them what you eat but no seasoning..if you are having chicken ask to have a wing so you can cook it. Microwave if, bake it..boil it. Having salad? Get spring mix type, apples and banana ( no peels or seeds) check the food list. Maple and oak leaves dried out..No pesticides.. try unplugging the other smaller heaters. I would wait til the 4 months then slowly go looking. If you have a iso tank the next time this other crab comes up I would stick him in it.until.you get the others figured out..

Will do