HCA: Hermit Crab Association

I was at PetSmart yesterday and saw a little baby, all alone in the tank and stuck in their shell
(haven't had a chance to sex; let's call her a girl for now)
She was moving her legs a lot, trying to come out of her shell but I could see substrate packed around her body, preventing her from moving much. She was very responsive to light and touch, and is brightly colored with pointy legs and lots of little hairs (freshly molted?)

I gave her a bath (the amount of substrate that came out of the shell was insane) and placed her in an iso tank. She was able come out of her shell a bit more, after this, but still not much and I could still see more gunk packed in there so I gave her another bath a few hours later, where even more substrate came out!

When I went to check on her this morning, she was a bit more out of her shell, was still responsive to light and touch, and had even managed to scoot slightly to the side!

I just got home, however, and when I went to check on her, she was limp and doesn't seem to be responsive at all
There's no "death smell" but maybe it hasn't been long enough for one to form...

I don't want to assume this is PPS right away, just in case, but I do realize that it could be..Does anyone have any suggestions? I just hate to give up, but I'm not sure what I can do for her :'(

Did you fully submerge the crab? I'm wondering if by bathing you would have gotten substrate into her gills.

She also could be exhausted- I would provided raw organic honey and some bee pollen and leave her alone. Make sure tank conditions are optimum and she has a hiding spot

Good luck!


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I echo what GB said. Make sure she has what she needs to recover


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When you say she's unresponsive, did you happen to see if her feelers are moving at all?

Also, could you describe the bath setup (type of water, temperature-- if you know, if she was fully submerged, how long you left her in, if there was opportunity for her to climb out of the water on her own, etc)? Not trying to find fault with anything you did, I'm just curious how everyone else does this.

You are correct about the death smell, it can take a few days to begin stinking, probably closer to a week, depending on conditions..

Has she eaten anything as far as you can tell?

Hoping for the best!

GotButterflies wrote:Did you fully submerge the crab? I'm wondering if by bathing you would have gotten substrate into her gills.

She also could be exhausted- I would provided raw organic honey and some bee pollen and leave her alone. Make sure tank conditions are optimum and she has a hiding spot

Good luck!


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I did fully submerge her...I didn't think about it getting in her gills
I have cuttlebone, bee pollen, and honey out for her, but even when she moved slightly the other night, it was in the opposite direction.

Should I give her another bath? I don't want to stress her out any more, but I also want to get as much substrate out of her shell as possible so that maybe she can move?

RebsCritters wrote:When you say she's unresponsive, did you happen to see if her feelers are moving at all?

Also, could you describe the bath setup (type of water, temperature-- if you know, if she was fully submerged, how long you left her in, if there was opportunity for her to climb out of the water on her own, etc)? Not trying to find fault with anything you did, I'm just curious how everyone else does this.

You are correct about the death smell, it can take a few days to begin stinking, probably closer to a week, depending on conditions..

Has she eaten anything as far as you can tell?

Hoping for the best!

She's too far in her shell for her feelers to be visible. When I put a light on her she tucked further into her shell, and when I touched her BP with the stem of a piece of spinach (I wanted to be as gentle as possible), she wiggled around and then pinched it very tight.

I don't know the exact temperature of the water, but it sat under a heat lamp until it was warm to the touch - not hot, but definitely not cold. I submerged her and slowly and gently swished her around to loosen the substrate for about 10 seconds. I then touched a paper towel to her legs that were out of her shell to soak up any excess water because I was worried about drowning her. I alternated between both saltwater and freshwater.

She hasn't eaten anything as far as I can tell. I don't think she can even get out of her shell enough to perform such a task

AuntieEm_ wrote: She's too far in her shell for her feelers to be visible. When I put a light on her she tucked further into her shell, and when I touched her BP with the stem of a piece of spinach (I wanted to be as gentle as possible), she wiggled around and then pinched it very tight.

This is promising. As long as she hasn't started to drop any limbs, I'd say it's less likely to be PPS (someone will correct me if they know better).
She's most likely a little freaked out by the bathing, since it's hard to communicate with crabs what we're doing for them.
As for the dirt inside her shell I'm not very concerned about this. Hermit crabs have special grooming appendages that are quite flexible and dextrous, which they use to swab out the inside of their shells. If there's something in there she doesn't want, she'll take care of it.

AuntieEm_ wrote:She hasn't eaten anything as far as I can tell. I don't think she can even get out of her shell enough to perform such a task[emoji21

You'd be really surprised. They don't really need to come far out of the shell to eat and can simply reach down to grab things. If you leave easy to eat foods very close to her, maybe even directly under her shell opening if you're really concerned, that could help her out a bit.

In general though I think you're doing a fine job. From here on the best thing is to maybe give her some space (if she's just a little freaked out) and keep an eye out for any major changes.

Hello! I was wondering if you have an update for us. Hopefully your little crab is recovering!

GotButterflies wrote:Hello! I was wondering if you have an update for us. Hopefully your little crab is recovering!

I'm going to keep changing her food and water and misting the iso tank and everything like that for a couple more days, just in case, but I think I'm starting to get the "death smell"

Bummer- so sorry to hear this!


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That sucks, you tried. But sometimes crabs just smell, like one time, my tank smelled like a lake, but everyone was fine.

Oh no!!!


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HeyItsEggs wrote:That sucks, you tried. But sometimes crabs just smell, like one time, my tank smelled like a lake, but everyone was fine.

Yeah :\ I am gonna wait a couple more days, just in case!

Thank you so much, everyone. It really means a lot to me that so many people were willing to help <3

We are all here to help one another!


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