All of my crabs buried a few weeks ago

Menders · Post by **Menders** » Wed Apr 19, 2017 12:27 am

A few weeks ago all four of my crabs buried themselves. They have all molted at least twice since I have had them. Before going under, they all looked very healthy and were normal crabs. I can see one of them is at the bottom of the tank in a little cave. He still has long black nails and hairy legs, but he is definitely getting ready to shed his exo. Tow of the other crabs are buried somewhere else in the tank. And the 4th has been buried during the day and coming up at night to eat, drink, and do his regular crab stuff. He used to climb more. Now he just wanders around and then rests in his coconut tree house for a while before he goes under for a while again. Like I said, every one but him is staying under and the fourth is coming up every night then going back under. Should I be worried? Do they molt back to back like that? And why would a once active surface dweller suddenly start burrowing daily? Again, all of my tank stats are on point and my thermometer/hydrometer is calibrated, so no hidden issues there.

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soilentgringa · Post by **soilentgringa** » Wed Apr 19, 2017 12:31 am

Menders wrote:A few weeks ago all four of my crabs buried themselves. They have all molted at least twice since I have had them. Before going under, they all looked very healthy and were normal crabs. I can see one of them is at the bottom of the tank in a little cave. He still has long black nails and hairy legs, but he is definitely getting ready to shed his exo. Tow of the other crabs are buried somewhere else in the tank. And the 4th has been buried during the day and coming up at night to eat, drink, and do his regular crab stuff. He used to climb more. Now he just wanders around and then rests in his coconut tree house for a while before he goes under for a while again. Like I said, every one but him is staying under and the fourth is coming up every night then going back under. Should I be worried? Do they molt back to back like that? And why would a once active surface dweller suddenly start burrowing daily? Again, all of my tank stats are on point and my thermometer/hydrometer is calibrated, so no hidden issues there.

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They like to dig. Some crabs have molted back to back but many just like to tunnel around under the substrate.

I had a few crabs that I would see randomly for a year or so. Now all of them are up.

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Menders · Post by **Menders** » Wed Apr 19, 2017 12:51 am

Ohhhhh!!! Some super exciting news! I went to check on Biggie Claws. He is the one who recently molted a couple of months ago. He was the one I mentioned above, who was at the bottom of the tank in a cave and might be back to back molting. I checked on him yesterday morning and he was still down there hairy legs and black nails, but in his cave. He has been there for a few weeks. Well, after I read your response I went to check to see if maybe he was coming up at weirder hours of the wee morning and I was missing it. He was not! I looked under and my stomach dropped and I was heartbroken. His shell was laying in the cave to the right and a crumpled up body was to the left! I could even see the little legs on what looked like part of a shrunken abdomen. It was still moist and I thought maybe he got too hot under there (maybe my meter was broken) or was sick and left his shell. I was trying to decide if I should try to dig re-shell but the body looked fresh and lifeless. I decided to look a little closer at the shell and so I shined a small led light in the direction and saw a huge light purple claw sticking out a bit along with a pale pink leg!!! He molted and it must have been just minutes ago. I noticed that with his last molt he had an indention in his big pincher. It worked fully, it was just cosmetic. It looks like his new pincher is nice , shiny, and round! It also looks like he is 3 times larger than before!!! Im so excited

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LadyJinglyJones · Post by **LadyJinglyJones** » Wed Apr 19, 2017 1:31 am

YAAAAAAAAAAY!
That is so cool! Congrats!

And if he's way bigger, that sounds like a great excuse to go SHELL SHOPPING!

Edit - oh, and you could keep a log of how quickly he eats his exo, and which parts of it dissappear preferentially. .. if it wouldn't mean bothering him too often.

Menders · Post by **Menders** » Wed Apr 19, 2017 3:49 pm

LadyJinglyJones wrote:YAAAAAAAAAAY!
That is so cool! Congrats!

And if he's way bigger, that sounds like a great excuse to go SHELL SHOPPING!

Edit - oh, and you could keep a log of how quickly he eats his exo, and which parts of it dissappear preferentially. .. if it wouldn't mean bothering him too often.

He is tons bigger! I was surprised by the size of his PP. it is easily 3 times bigger! I'm so glad that his new one grew nicely. I have no idea why his last molt produced a dented one... even though it was fully functional. He has been munching away at his exo all day! If I had to guess I would say that he'll have it eaten by Saturday evening. This is his second molt with me. All of the others have molted 3 times and are on their fourth as we speak!!!

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annedow9 · Post by **annedow9** » Fri Apr 21, 2017 6:01 pm

Menders wrote:A few weeks ago all four of my crabs buried themselves. They have all molted at least twice since I have had them. Before going under, they all looked very healthy and were normal crabs. I can see one of them is at the bottom of the tank in a little cave. He still has long black nails and hairy legs, but he is definitely getting ready to shed his exo. Tow of the other crabs are buried somewhere else in the tank. And the 4th has been buried during the day and coming up at night to eat, drink, and do his regular crab stuff. He used to climb more. Now he just wanders around and then rests in his coconut tree house for a while before he goes under for a while again. Like I said, every one but him is staying under and the fourth is coming up every night then going back under. Should I be worried? Do they molt back to back like that? And why would a once active surface dweller suddenly start burrowing daily? Again, all of my tank stats are on point and my thermometer/hydrometer is calibrated, so no hidden issues there.

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How do you calibrate the hydrometer/thermometer?

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daws409 · Post by **daws409** » Fri Apr 21, 2017 7:37 pm

annedow9 wrote:How do you calibrate the hydrometer/thermometer?

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Calibration link: http://www.hermitcrabassociation.com/ph ... hp?t=92540

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HCA: Hermit Crab Association