HCA: Hermit Crab Association

I have a 40 gallon tank and 4 hermits, I have had them about a month and only two and a half incidents.
I try my best since I’m new in the hermit community but I don’t have the best budget so every chance I get I try to buy them more acceptable stuff.
I have two huts one small coconut hut and the other a large rock like structure, two dishes for saltwater and fresh, and a little dish for food. I also have a large rock that is somewhat heavy that has large holes and stands vertical. I also have some zoomed Moss and a temp gauge but no humidity because I can’t find one in my local stores.

I’ve used eco earth coco fiber for a week now but I used to use a recommended ‘favourite’ from an employee that was zoomed reptile substrate that held moisture pretty well. Until it grew mold and I evacuated all my crabs into isolation tanks. Fun.

But anyway my smallest of the four - little brother - had been presumably molting and had panicked for some reason and did the autotomy thing and climbed out and fell in the salt water pool on his back and nearly drowned. I promptly moved him to an iso tank and gave him all the spare shells I had to hopefully lessen the shock for him, but he refused all the shells except one until he got sick of it too. It took me awhile but I found his old shell and put it in there and he decided “sure this is cool” and moved in.
Two of my other of my hermits were out when he had his incident, but neither looked like they attacked or had been upset and were just watching.

Anyway I left him in the iso tank for about a week but he seemed a lot more happy and was active except when he was molting I tried to get him some social interaction but he just wasn’t having it so I kept him there for another week which is when I switched to eco earth. I thought “what a time to switch him!” So I went to put him in and introduce him since I knew he probably felt lonely ( he was still very active while in the iso tank) but he looked like he was molting but he’d already molted twice this week and I was concerned he wasn’t getting enough interaction and I gently dug him out.

He didn’t crawl out to greet me so I looked to check on him- he was limp! I was saddened and I felt so certain he was dead due to the fact he was the palest and inactive in the tank and didn’t want to be social, I’ve heard things about to not assume your crab is dead that he could just be molting but he also smelled. He just looks all over awful. So I put him on the counter while cleaning the iso tank in case he died of some diesease I didn’t know about and I left for awhile, came back, and low and behold HE’S GONE. I looked all over the floor and counter and finally moved a box to see a pale little baby looking back at me on the counter.

I probably scared him pretty badly so I quickly tried to put him in the main tank to which he promptly buried himself. I’m really concerned of how much stress he’s been in for the past few weeks and the hold autonomy incident. Are my other crabs attacking him or is he suffering from PPS? Does he have a diesease of some sort? Why does he not like to be social? He’s small but he’s molting A LOT....I’m talking 3 times a week at best.

Should I put him back in iso?
I try not to handle my crabs so if they are suffering from PPS that I don’t scare them or stress them- however my friend (nosy and inconsiderate) decided to go digging for them so desperate to see them. I had told her not to mess with them but she did. 4 crabs dug up later and I was scared and placed them all back in. (The friend was never invited over again)

I use all living things soaking salt and I feed my crabs a variety of things like carrots and kale - and regular oatmeal- suggested by a YouTuber- I mist the tank every two days and the average temp is 70-75. I can’t guess the humidity so I put Moss and I want to try to put a rag on top of the enclosure to help but I’m not sure if it will help.

If any information or advice could be given I’d be very thankful! I’m very concerned for my crabs health and why he decided to skinny dip in the midst of what I presume to be molting and why he did the autotomy thing!! (He shed ALL his limbs but while he was naked he had all of them.
Sorry it is kinda incomprehensible and long but I hope you can get something from it
Also I meant autotomy not autonomy!! Sorry!

Can you do me a huuuge favor and go in and put line breaks in your text. It's very difficult to read as a wall of typing and I want to be sure we don't miss anything while trying to help you.

Putting spaces between your paragraphs like I just did here will be a great help.

Thanks.

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Also, what do you mean by "autonomy"? Is that autocorrecting from something else?

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Okay so your crab is dropping limbs which means stress.

Also, it is highly unlikely that your crab molted twice in one week (the process takes several weeks to months).

They bury in the substrate and stay underneath for weeks to months in order to shed their exoskeletons. This requires a lot of energy, a specific hormone that they produce (ecdysone) and usually a good amount of nutrients stored in their molting sac. (Located on the side of their body.)

Are you digging the crab up every time it is buried?

The best thing to do is make sure they have the proper heat and humidity, deep substrate, and nutritious foods. After tank conditions are good, leave them alone and allow them to bury and molt.

I completely understand having a low budget for crab expenses. I also have to be very thrifty when it comes to my tank.

What part of the world are you in? Some members may be able to recommend stores or vendors near you that have low priced options.

Many things can be made on your own if you are able to do that.


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Have you read through the care sheets? There is lots of good info about substrate, tank conditions, foods (I didn't see any protein source in your list that you are feeding), etc. Do you plan to get a hygrometer to monitor the humidity? What do you use for a heat source (your temp is too low, should be closer to 80)?

When I started crabbing, I read as much as I could! The care sheets are a good first start. Then I read through a bunch of older posts, looking at the subject lines for information I was missing or had questions about. Then of course posting when I couldn't find the info I was looking for

ReisDai wrote: I use all living things soaking salt and I feed my crabs a variety of things like carrots and kale - and regular oatmeal- suggested by a YouTuber- I mist the tank every two days and the average temp is 70-75. I can’t guess the humidity so I put Moss and I want to try to put a rag on top of the enclosure to help but I’m not sure if it will help.

Hi. Just couple of things that might help. I'm not really familiar with All Living Things soaking salt, but I know a lot of people use Instant Ocean to make salt water for their crabs. It looks like you get more for your money with the Instant Ocean than with the All Living Things.

You might try plastic wrap or even better a piece of plastic or glass to cover the tank and leave a little space for air circulation. I found that it really helps keep the humidity up.

Like others mentioned, this forum has some excellent tip sheets about crab care. I'd check them out.