HCA: Hermit Crab Association

So as some of you know i got a crab nearly 2 months ago now and it still hasn't resurfaced but a couple of weeks ago at the pet store they had 2 hermit crabs in (they ordered them for me as my single crab would need a friend) so i bought them and they never dug down and have been changing shells like crazy so here we go! Also the tank has changed a bit (just moved some things around)

So here are some pics of my hermit crabs and there current tank. The tank they are in is a 20 gallon but I am upgrading them to a 33 gallon soon with 8-10 inches of coocnut fibre and play sand substrate hope you enjoy:

The tank:


Hermit crabs eating coconut:

Awesome! I just got some new crabs and they are dragging their broccoli everywhere. It is great your crabs are in good health!

Cumba wrote:Awesome! I just got some new crabs and they are dragging their broccoli everywhere. It is great your crabs are in good health!

Thanks but i forgot to add when i got them one was missing a leg and the other was missing part of a leg but boy are they active and little devils that like to make super loud noises but they are so cool! Do you have any pictures of your new crabs as I would love to see them

Sorry about their legs.

I currently am having trouble with posting pictures, but I'll keep trying.

Cumba wrote:Sorry about their legs.

I currently am having trouble with posting pictures, but I'll keep trying.

Ok

They're really going to town on that coconut, smacking their crabbie lips and sighing contentedly !

Crabinski wrote:They're really going to town on that coconut, smacking their crabbie lips and sighing contentedly !

They loved it but because there is only two of them it was a huge waste of coconut but for 80 pence in the supermarket it was a nice treat for me to buy them on the way home for school

Just found third crabby under the moss pit I picked him/her up and it is alive but I don't know if it molted or not what should I do??

Third crab is newly molted i put it in the salt pool for a while then I checked on them maybe half an hour later one of the new ones was on top of it so it is now in an area with a container around it and some freshwater and peanut butter ao the newer crabs don't attack it for now

Sounds like you're doing everything right! Sometimes, new crabs will go underground for a long time to de-stress, but won't actually molt. Missing a leg or parts of a leg is normal. It'll grow back after their next molt!

(Now I need to go out and buy a coconut.)

emceedi wrote:Sounds like you're doing everything right! Sometimes, new crabs will go underground for a long time to de-stress, but won't actually molt. Missing a leg or parts of a leg is normal. It'll grow back after their next molt!

(Now I need to go out and buy a coconut.)

Thanks I just take it a day at a time with the crabs but now my first crab that I got (about 7 weeks ago) is up I had him with a container over him and some food and water but it was restless so I let it out and now both newer crabs have both hung onto the lip of the shell but thankfully I scared them and got them off the shell so hopefully it wont happen again

When a crab resurfaces after molting it is a good idea to give them a quick dip in the freshwater bowl. They still have the molt smell and this will attract other crabs sometimes. Also pecking order is reestablished after a molt.

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soilentgringa wrote:When a crab resurfaces after molting it is a good idea to give them a quick dip in the freshwater bowl. They still have the molt smell and this will attract other crabs sometimes. Also pecking order is reestablished after a molt.

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Okay I thought it was the saltwater pool (facepalm). I have also been at school all day and I'm not home yet to see whats gone down as I separated the one that had molted using a plastic container, gave it some peanut butter and some freshwater and left for school but just before leaving i saw it digging out so lets hope it isn't dead

my old crab is now buried somewhere and I have no clue where in the tank... this is turning into a bit of a catastrophe

Lol they tend to do that and make you worry in ways you didn't think that you could .
They go up and down. They do tunnel for fun so it doesn't always mean that they are molting. How is the new lil guy? When you iso your lil guy he may have dug down to start/finish his/her molt. Just keep an eye out for that fishy smell, really the only way to tell that something has gone wrong. Try not to stress ( I know it is easier said than done).