HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Gah, I had a whole thing here but then it deleted it when I tried to post it. I'm not posting my crabitat details because I don't think it's important for this situation.

Two days ago I noticed my substrate (pure coco fiber) was wetter than normal. Not wet enough to have puddles, just wetter-than-normal. I've been procrastinating changing it because I only have the one pack of substrate that I'm not sure if there's something wrong with because it was already open when I got it, so it's sort of my emergency substrate -- I'll only use it in an emergency.

Well, today I noticed my blind hermit crab was gone. There's a small area about 7 inches away from his "area," where he never ventures out of except for food and water, that appears to be "dug up" but when I scraped the first layer of dirt away I didn't find evidence of a tunnel. Because I don't know for sure if he's molting I'm afraid he could have climbed up the glue holding the corners of the tank together, but my family says that's impossible because a) the lid was closed (but we don't keep a lock or fastener on it), b) he's blind, and c) there's no reason for him to have done that. But I've seen videos of hermit crabs doing just that, and just because he's never done it before doesn't mean he can't now. (He's also been staying on the "highest ground" possible because of Hurricane Harvey and Irma, so if he was afraid of another storm he could have found the glue and climbed up it, thinking it leads to a tree or something)

I'm debating digging up the substrate to see if he's in there. Would he even want to molt in wetter-than-normal substrate? While I was searching I noticed an actual PUDDLE near his water bowl, because apparently he tipped it over again before disappearing (I'm working on weighing it down/keeping it buried in the dirt, he always takes the shells out or digs it back up!) Should I do it now in case he did escape? Should I add in the emergency substrate to try and soak up some of the water? (I should add that the first time I used it, the crab that was in it ended up dying -- but he was stressed out before he ever touched that substrate, so I cannot blame it only on the dirt) Would he be okay if he is molting and I dug him up today, the day he buried down? That would give him enough time to bury himself again, right?

my money's on that he dug down.
the only time i've had a hermit "escape" was when he was in a kritter keeper and I must not have put the lid on tight. anyway, the lid was clearly angled and loose when i found him sitting on top of the lid

I personally never recommend digging up a crab unless it is life or death. You definitely need to have some sort of weight on your lid. Hermits are pure muscle. My hermits have lifted up my glass lids with lights on them. I now duct tape them down and that works. More than likely your hermit has dug down. When hermits escape they go to humid spots - usually the bathroom. Some have put food out to find them, you could try that. Food has to be REALLY SMELLY

I'm boiling some eggs for the others, do you think if he did get out, a plate of eggs would be "smelly" enough? I can also rehydrate some free dried krill and put a small amount in each room, but I wouldn't be able to keep that out for more than half an hour because everyone will complain about the smell...

You could try it The krill would definitely be smellier!

Maybe tuna?

Okay, I bought some tuna yesterday and decided to try it out last night, but when I was replacing my crab water I noticed both of my other two crabs buried down to molt, too. I'm convinced all my crabs started preparing to molt at the same time and one just went down before the others.

But my substrate is still really wet! Do you think they'll be okay down there? Apparently it's not so bad that they don't feel safe molting, but would they still decide to bury down if they thought it was flooded? (It's not flooded, I'm just trying to figure out if my hermit crabs are smart enough to decide if the substrate is too wet to molt in... I think I'm being overprotective.) The last time one molted, he dug down next to the glass so we could see the molting process (Yay! I taped a dark rag over him so he would have the darkness he needed) but he was wayyy near the bottom. I'm afraid if it's this wet near the top, how wet it would be that far down. Would they have come back up if it was puddle-y down there? I have 6 inches of substrate, but in some areaes it's flattened down to 3 1/2 to 4 inches.