HCA: Hermit Crab Association

I left for vacation and asked someone to check on my hermit crabs while I was gone and to turn on the humidifier and give them food and water but now that I got home the humidity is at 35%, the substrate is very dry, one crab is under the sand which had been collapsing and the other tried to come up and is now half buried . I immediately gave them food water and turned the humidifier on but I need to do something more and I don't know what. Should I soak them ? I'm dreading to have to know if they're alive or dried out and suffocated

How many crabs do you have? Are you sure the sub is dry all the way through? If it is, I think you should take them out and place them in a temporary hold with moist moss while you re-wet the sub. Just don't overwet it. The humidity should increase quickly. What is the temp? When it gets to 65% humidity I would think it's ok to put them back in. Someone more experienced may advise different.

I have two crabs, I got home at 1 am yesterday so I just turned on the humidifier and gave them food and water. One is still half buried and the other one is somewhere under the sand, but he might be molting. Would it be better to just dig him up? The sand is still somewhat moist but I think it might be too dry to hold its shape (that's what it looked like on the surface but it may be fine underneath)

The temp is around 75 -80 where it usually is since the heat lamp stayed on. Although I'm wondering if it got hotter as the air got less humid

I would just crank the humidifier and let the substrate rewet slowly. Less risk to the crabs that way. Just be cautious of how much water you're adding in, as there is a greater risk of accidental floods.

Thank you!