HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Please help me, my sweet Turbo has had a cave with a window for many weeks now and I’ve been watching him. Came home today to check on him and he’s naked. Have no idea why or what could have happened. My tank has ideal conditions. I know I’m not supposed to dig anybody up, but I don’t want him to die under there without trying to help him…




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Is the shell still down there with him?

Have you seen him molting (shedding exo)?

Are there other crabs in the tank?

Any signs of bacterial bloom down there (unnatural color spreading along the bottom of the tank)?

DragonsFly wrote:Is the shell still down there with him?

Have you seen him molting (shedding exo)?

Are there other crabs in the tank?

Any signs of bacterial bloom down there (unnatural color spreading along the bottom of the tank)?

Yes…to the shell
No, and he molted just a few months ago…it was weird to me that he even dug himself down there in the first place bc he’s my most active and biggest climber.
6 other crabs (I hope)
No signs of bac bloom

Killing me to watch him like this


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Without all the emergency questions, it is hard to say what might be wrong. But if the shell is still there, then it is unlikely that he was attacked for his shell (although he could have been, and they just didn't take the shell completely away). It is possible that he was attacked by another crab and injured, and now is too weak to stay in the shell. It is possible that this is just as far as he could make it, for whatever reason, and he has weakened and now is just going to die. However, as he will definitely die without a shell, although I hate to even suggest this, most likely his best chance will indeed be for you to dig him up and iso him in good conditions with possible shells and hope you can get him to re-shell. The problem of course is that you might injure him while digging; the cave could collapse, etc. If he has not been shell-less for very long, you might give him just a little while longer to possibly re-enter the shell that is there. If he doesn't, you'll have to either try to recover him and iso him, or decide that perhaps he knows it is "his time" and let him go.

The fact that he has been down for weeks without apparently molting again might indicate that he got injured after he came up from the molt, and so felt like he needed to molt again right away, but maybe just couldn't manage (too injured?). Or maybe the fact that there was too much light there right next to the glass caused problems with the molt?

I might try putting black construction paper over the "window" and giving him just a little longer to see if he can re-shell; peek only when it is dark in the room. Again, though, if he does not re-shell pretty quickly you'll have to decide whether to dig or just let things take their course.

I hope some others will come along with other opinions, too; I have not faced a shell-less crab underground, this is a whole new situation to me, so I just don't have direct experience there. I really wish you the best and hope all works out as well as it can.

Emergency Answers:

1. 5:1 ratio playsand/coco fiber, moistened with dechlorinated water to sandcastle consistency, 6”

2. Have digital gauge that reads 80/80, give or take a degree or two…located on back wall of tank

3. Have 2 tank-length ultratherms on the back side and one on the side of the tank topper as well

4. Have both salt and fresh water pools, deep enough to submerge and shells to climb out…both dechlorinated with Prime and Instant Ocean added for salt water, with bubblers

5. They get all kinds of foods, all fresh and/or crab safe. No preservatives or pellets. All HCA suggested food groups, changed every 4-5 days when I start seeing fuzzies

6. Turbo is a PP that I have had for 8 mos and the lady I adopted him from had him for a couple years, I believe

7. He molted successfully with her more than once and has successfully molted with me a few months ago as well

8. I have a 40g breeder with a 30g exo terra tank topper…used the lid from exo terra to cover open area of bottom tank. Screen mesh covered with plastic wrap

9. Should have 7 total crabs and 4 of them are very close in size, mediums. 2 smaller and 1 close to large

10. Around 30 extra shells, most in the shell shop, but some scattered around too…and I’m sure some buried

11. Can’t think of any chemicals/fumes…

12. I don’t really clean-clean, just spot clean the sub of poop, food and moss messes. I tidy up every time I change their food

13. No sponges

14. Switched out the freshwater pool recently for a deeper one and added new shells for safe climbing in/out (these were shells from the beach that I cleaned before adding them). *Turbo was down in his corner cave already when I made the switch

15. No extra important info that I can think of. I’m pretty hands off and things have been great in the tank…until now

**One of my mediums, Turbo, has had a cave with a big window for a few weeks at least at the very bottom front corner of the tank (like he was trying to get as far away from topside as possible). I check on him daily and he’s always just hanging out, seemingly fine. Was strange to me since he had molted somewhat recently and he’s my most active crab, always climbing and moving around, but I was just going with it…trusting his little crabby instincts.

Today, I came home to find him naked and immediately posted here for advice. I came to the conclusion he would probably die without his shell down there and I couldn’t watch him go through that so I decided to dig him up. I would never do this otherwise, but I was very careful and was able to scoop him out safely (his shell was just a little bit in front of him).

I was able to re-shell him pretty quickly in a plastic container with a bit of water (after dipping him to get sand off real good)…back into his old shell. He’s now in an iso tank with maybe an inch of sub, moss pit, fresh & salt water and all the superfoods he needs. Good news is that he is still in his shell and even came out of his little hut to explore the iso tank (10g). He’s now at the back of the tank, curled up in his shell.

Would greatly appreciate ANY feedback, especially from the experienced crabbers. Any idea what could have happened? Biggest question…what are the odds he ends up okay, after being naked under the sub like that?

Thank you my HCA!


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Sorry to hear poor Turbo isn't feeling well! I think you did the right thing by digging him up. I believe it was mentioned somewhere on here (can't remember where), that a shell-less crab underground is considered an emergency. So I would have dug him up and isolated him too.

Your tank conditions sound perfect. I always wonder if crabs are like people. We can have the best environment, and still feel unwell sometimes. If you have any bee pollen or honey, I'd offer that to give him a boost. My guys also love eggs (especially the yolks). They go crazy for them. Not sure if Turbo likes them. Maybe offer some hard boiled eggs for a protein boost.

Please keep us updated!

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Sounds like you did just the right thing. It is excellent that he re-shelled! It also looks like your conditions are all within recommendations. Now it's just a waiting game to see how he does, but it looks to me like you are giving him everything he needs to have the best chance.

Is it the case that Turbo was alone for a couple of years, before you added him into your group 8 months ago? Can you give me kind of a "social history" for all your crabs? (How long you have had them, when were they moved into this tank, how long they've been in this grouping?)

Thank you both for the words of encouragement. I was so relieved to see him take his shell back so quickly (I gave him 2 other options) and at least move around some. I had honey in there, but he got moss in it so added more this morning. He was back in his little hut and it looks like he may have eaten a little of the food I gave him (mealworms, green sand, fruit smoothie and an exo-skeleton mix…and his tiny plate of honey).

His backstory…he came to me last November with 2 more (Sandy & Gary)from a nice lady who had had all 3 of them together for a couple years in a big tank. I already had my big girl (Hermione) and medium guy (Flash) in the 40g breeder and when I brought home my 3 new adoptees, that’s when I added the 30g tank topper. I then added my smallest (Ruby) and adopted another small one (Truffle) a couple months later. Turbo has had some run-ins with Gary (actively pursued his shell and successfully hijacked it from him), but it was a while ago and I’ve seen him active since. He is usually my busy-body, least shy and loves to climb and dig and get in the water.

Reviewed my WyzeCam videos and it’s a little hard to tell but I think it happened yesterday morning around 9:30…this is just based on his positioning. So strange his shell was just sitting in front of him like that. Poor thing, I hope he can recover and wasn’t hurt in the process. I tried to be as delicate as possible with his tiny little body. He was pitiful when I picked him up to dip him, getting the sand off. Still can’t come up with a solid “why”…

Should I continue to keep it dark for him in there…or let him have his natural day/night cycle? He’s in his hut where it’s dark at the moment and I have a small towel draped over the back and side. I don’t feel like this is molt related, but obviously want him as comfortable as possible.

Still open to any other feedback as well, thanks again everybody


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I'd give him the option to be in full dark, or to come out into light, if you can arrange that; he may need to molt again for some reason and they need dark to do that. It is possible that he did go down to molt and that got screwed up hormonally because the window let in too much light. I know you said he had just molted recently, but sometimes if they have an injury they will molt pretty quickly back to back to try to repair it. This could be the case even if the injury was something you could not see.

I can't help here but I hope Turbo feels better!

It sounds like you definitely had some resource-based aggression, caused by increased competition/crowding (which is one reason not to add new crabs to established pairs or groups in captivity, even one additional crab will change all relational dynamics). Even though Turbo seemed to "win" the one aggressive interaction you observed, he still could have been injured in some way, requiring the back-to-back molts. It is still possible that the injury was bad enough that he may not be able to repair it; only time will tell with that. The hopeful thing to remember is that some captive crabs have been able to survive what seemed like catastrophic injuries and still repair themselves and come back to live normally again, so literally anything is possible. Best wishes, and let me encourage you to come back to this thread and update now and then so we can know how this turned out; it could be very valuable for future crabbers in similar situations!

Thank you all for well wishes and insight! I am staying hopeful that he pulls through. I have him set up so that he can be in complete darkness or come out into the light.

He didn’t seem to move all day yesterday or last night…still in his little hut. He hasn’t dropped his shell again, so that’s good at least. Fingers crossed he gets a little better each day .


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Sounds like you have done all you can do; now is just the waiting. He may need to molt again, in which case leaving him undisturbed and in the dark (in good conditions) is the best thing to do. May take days, weeks, or months. Let us know how it goes!

As of last night, Turbo still had not moved and none of the food was touched. His food was fuzzy and when I went in to replace it, I decided to gently lift his little hut to check on him…and there was a pile of white legs in front of him. I know they’ll drop their limbs when they’re sick/suffering from PPS…so I lifted him expecting he’d passed. What I saw was a whitish pinkish claw blocking the shell hole. There was no fishy smell and now I’m thinking that maybe he molted! Maybe once he was back in his shell and in the dark and safe, he molted that quickly…?! Would love some info to help me decipher what I saw…dropped limbs with a deceased crab all backed into his shell…or a freshly molted crab tucked back in there and hasn’t gotten through his exo yet? If it was a molt, what damage could I have done when I picked him up to look at him? Really worried about this now. I gently laid him back down under his hut and recovered the tank so it was dark again. I had the light on when I went to change his food so he was exposed to the light for a minute until I saw what I saw and then switched it off real quick to finish up. REALLY hoping this turned into a successful molt


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Okay, the "pile of white legs"--did they have "meat" in them, or were they hollow? Considering that you saw a pale claw blocking the shell, I expect those were hollow molted exo. In the future, and for anybody else following this, it is best not to handle a crab that may be molting AT ALL; it would have been better to pick up one of the "pile of legs" and check to see if it was just exo or a dropped limb.

For now, again, I would just leave him strictly alone. I know it is SO hard to resist "peeking," but that can only cause him trouble. Just be patient and maintain conditions. Again, it could take days, weeks, or MONTHS. If you start to smell a very strong "dead fish" smell, then you can worry. Otherwise, don't uncover him anymore, don't handle him, TRY to be patient and just let him do what he needs to do. (I KNOW it is hard; I've been waiting for Major Tom to come up for almost two years this time; I DO sympathize!!!) Hang in there, and "let crabs be crabs!"