HCA: Hermit Crab Association

I woke up this morning to my new baby (just got him/her yesterday evening) completely buried in the moss pit?! I figured he/she (Razor) was molting in the sand, so when I was digging through my moss and moistening it, i was unaware that he was in there, and i totally bumped him. I immediately covered him in moss again... I know I should isolate if it's molting... does it sound like a molt?

Hello. If you just got him/her more than likely your crab is just de-stressing. No need to isolate.

How are you moistening the moss? Are you misting it? I'm only asking because I don't want you to flood your tank.

GotButterflies wrote:How are you moistening the moss? Are you misting it? I'm only asking because I don't want you to flood your tank.

I do mist it to moisten it, but it's in a container that's not touching the sand, so no need to worry about flooding the sand! Also, he/she hasn't left the moss. How long do they take to de-stress? My other one never took this much time. Of course, different personalities do different things, but I'm scared for him/her.

dstephens wrote:

GotButterflies wrote:How are you moistening the moss? Are you misting it? I'm only asking because I don't want you to flood your tank.

I do mist it to moisten it, but it's in a container that's not touching the sand, so no need to worry about flooding the sand! Also, he/she hasn't left the moss. How long do they take to de-stress? My other one never took this much time. Of course, different personalities do different things, but I'm scared for him/her.

It varies from crab to crab! Some crabs do molt immediately when they reach better conditions ~ so it is definitely a possibility. Your best bet is to not handle him/her. Since your moss pit is in a container, I would just recommend transferring that to a kk inside of your tank so that the conditions remain the same and the crab is protected from your other crab. Good luck!


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GotButterflies wrote:

dstephens wrote:

GotButterflies wrote:How are you moistening the moss? Are you misting it? I'm only asking because I don't want you to flood your tank.

I do mist it to moisten it, but it's in a container that's not touching the sand, so no need to worry about flooding the sand! Also, he/she hasn't left the moss. How long do they take to de-stress? My other one never took this much time. Of course, different personalities do different things, but I'm scared for him/her.

It varies from crab to crab! Some crabs do molt immediately when they reach better conditions ~ so it is definitely a possibility. Your best bet is to not handle him/her. Since your moss pit is in a container, I would just recommend transferring that to a kk inside of your tank so that the conditions remain the same and the crab is protected from your other crab. Good luck!


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Well, I can't put it in a KK inside of the habitat; I do have a KK, but it's too large for my tank. My tank is a 10 gal. I haven't isolated him/her yet, but the other crab hasn't gone over there. I think the best would be for me to separate that section of the tank from the other, but I'm unsure how.

If it is a new crab it is also possibly just soaking up the moisture in the moss pit. If it's been in dry conditions it is probably loving the humidity.


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Sounds a lot like what I'm going through right now. Got a new 10 gallon and four new PP crabs. They dove headlong into a deep Moss pit where I figured they were hiding and munching on Moss barely saw any of them for two weeks. Actually just last night I stayed up and three of them popped out and where crabbing around. Saw a shell swap. Was totally worth it staying up. Get him a krabby buddy maybe two. Wait and wait then wait some more as long as you're tank does not smell like dead fish keep waiting. Try to resist disturbing the tank for a couple weeks while he distresses. Just keep a close eye on temp and humidity