How long does de-stressing take?

[ShinyDragonfly]

I bought two crabs, one on Augusts 10th (Connor) and one on August 11th (Shakespeare). On the 13th I put them into a bigger cage with more appropriate substrate than what the store provided when I purchased Connor. After playing a little Shakespeare promptly burried himself in a corner. I can see him from the side of the cage, he is alive, moving a leg or feeler every now and then. I'm not sure if he is de-stressing or molting- I mentioned it in my "hello" post and most people seemed to think he was de-stressing. It's almost been a week now and I'm 99% sure he hasn't left his corner. I check multiple times a day for anything new and all the rearranging seems to be Connor. I'm also up late and frequently thought the night so most nocturnal activity is also observed. I try to place food not far from Shakespeare so he can smell it and be given the option to eat it. But he doesn't seem to take the option. Also, the temperature and humidity is perfect, I check it frequently.

So how long does de-stressing take?
Is it okay that he doesn't seem to be eating?
I'm also worried that Connor might be lonely. I often find him making a little hole to sleep in right next to Shakespeare.

[kip.rogers357]

It can take days, weeks, even months! It all depends on just how stressed the crab is, and what conditions they were in.
I know it's though to see an empty tank but it's better for them to do their thing. When you least expect it he'll come up and be a happy/active crabby.

[ShinyDragonfly]

Okay I'm glad it's not unusual then. Should Connor be okay even though his friend isn't up for playing?

[kip.rogers357]

Connor will be fine, most of us have made the mistake of buying a new crab to keep the lonely crab company, but the new crab ends up burying down as well to destress...it's a vicious cycle with these creatures! No matter how many, there will always be a time where someone is down.
It's been said that they know when a crab is buried. Just be sure to feed protein and calcium to avoid Connor coming after Shakespeare.

[Crys_Crab]

I'm glad to read this as my 3 guys have all buried and I haven't seen them for about a week.
I was getting worried....but I will be patient.

[Nate the great]

Would it be unusual if I said that none of crabs buried themselves to destress?

In the 2 months I've had the crabs only one (out of a dozen) has decided to molt, even though they all have plenty of substrate. The rest seem happy to just hang out in the crabitat.

[ShinyDragonfly]

Connor will be fine, most of us have made the mistake of buying a new crab to keep the lonely crab company, but the new crab ends up burying down as well to destress...it's a vicious cycle with these creatures! No matter how many, there will always be a time where someone is down.
It's been said that they know when a crab is buried. Just be sure to feed protein and calcium to avoid Connor coming after Shakespeare.

I'm more worried about Shakespeare coming after Connor! He's a bit bigger. Which shocks me because he was the smallest one where I got him, while Connor was on the small side but far from being the smallest. I'll keep the food in mind for if the ever decided to eat lol

[ShinyDragonfly]

I'm glad to read this as my 3 guys have all buried and I haven't seen them for about a week.
I was getting worried....but I will be patient.

Connor buried himself yesterday. Can't even see him. At least Shakespeare choose a corner so I know he's alive lol
Good luck on waiting. It's been 1 week for Shakespeare now.

[Crys_Crab]

Connor buried himself yesterday. Can't even see him. At least Shakespeare choose a corner so I know he's alive lol
Good luck on waiting. It's been 1 week for Shakespeare now.

I think my largest and my smallest are in the same hole (at least it looked that way the last time I saw them.....the other one, I can't see at all.

What if they die or are dead? How would I know if I am not suppose to dig them out?

[ShinyDragonfly]

I keep wondering that too. People say wait a month-4 months?
I dunno.

Connor resurfaced yesterday but when I woke up he was buried again

[Crys_Crab]

I stayed up quite late last night and saw two of them.
I guess they are just hiding.
I think one of the 3 is molting though.
Guess I will just wait to find out.

[ShinyDragonfly]

Good luck! I didn't see Connor at all yesterday or this morning. He's leaving holes all over the place!

[Squeaky]

I have a crab that dug down in early June and hasn't come up yet. I know there's a chance he didn't make it, but I'm still holding out hope. In another month or so I'll be moving them to a larger tank, so I guess I'll find out then...

[wodesorel]

Any time a crab is inactive I think it's a worrisome situation. "Healthy" destressing usually involves digging or hiding. Sitting in corners is not what I like to see a new crab doing as it's usually a sign that something isn't right - either with them or their enclosure. Make sure to double check your temperatures in the tank and calibrate your hygrometer if you haven't already to make sure the humidity is right. Try to keep the stress low and not bother him more than once a day to swap out food and water and make sure he's still alive. (You'd know by the smell if he's on the surface if he has passed.) You can try smoothing the substrate around him to see if he might be moving during the night while you're asleep - they'll often favor one place in the tank and will return to it to wait out the day so it can be hard to tell if the crabs are actually moving.

Molting and destressing often go hand in hand when it comes to new crabs, so when they do bury they might be down for a few days to a few weeks and then come back up unchanged, or they might stay down for a month or longer and come back up all freshly molted. Many crabs never go through a destressing period and instead will stock up on food and water and then molt after a week or so. Others still will move right in and be normal from day one, taking months before they have their first molt. It all depends on the crab! As long as the tank is set up properly and the conditions are proper all you can do is wait and see what happens.

Molting can take any amount of time really, and it also comes down to the crab in question. Size plays a role, but it's not the only deciding factor. Generally most crabs will be down for 6-8 weeks, but some will molt much more quickly and others may be down for four months or more and still be perfectly fine. I've never found my new crabs to have destressing periods and instead they simply molt right away. (Although all of mine have been pity purchases and were not healthy normal crabs to begin with.)

If you have a group of crabs and you aren't having a majority of them molt within the first month or so, then I do think you have to step back and reassess the tank just to make sure that is the crabs being odd and that there isn't something off in their environment. Double check temp with another thermometer, calibrate the hygrometer again, check the substrate to make sure it's moist enough, etc. Small things could be preventing them from feeling comfortable enough to molt. If after good close look at their conditions nothing is wrong then you just have weird crabs. :p The only time I would continue to be concerned is if all the crabs came from the same place at the same time, as then something might have happened to them as a group before you brought them home that is causing them to not molt.

The only true way to know that any hermit crab is alright is for them to be able to have that first molt in captivity as it is absolutely the hardest on them. Any crab deaths (that are not due to home conditions) that occur before the first molt we attribute to what we call Post Purchase Syndrome (PPS). Basically it's a catch-all term for describing the high number of crabs that die before their first molt since we have no concrete way of proving what the cause of death was. All hermit crabs are wild caught so they go through a lot of stress after being collected from a beach and shipped to various warehouses and distributors and stores before they come home with us. That can lead to injury, illness, and probably parasite infections as well. There is currently no medical treatment of any kind available for hermits, so all we can do is feed them well and give them ideal conditions and hope that they are strong enough to make it if something is wrong with them.

[Nate the great]

Any time a crab is inactive I think it's a worrisome situation. "Healthy" destressing usually involves digging or hiding. Sitting in corners is not what I like to see a new crab doing as it's usually a sign that something isn't right - either with them or their enclosure. Make sure to double check your temperatures in the tank and calibrate your hygrometer if you haven't already to make sure the humidity is right. Try to keep the stress low and not bother him more than once a day to swap out food and water and make sure he's still alive. (You'd know by the smell if he's on the surface if he has passed.) You can try smoothing the substrate around him to see if he might be moving during the night while you're asleep - they'll often favor one place in the tank and will return to it to wait out the day so it can be hard to tell if the crabs are actually moving.

Thank you for your advice.

My crabs are moderately active - just usually not when I'm around. (Actually, right now I have several in the teeny tat going about their business - 7pm my time.) I'm pretty sure the conditions of my crabitats are good, but just to be on the safe side I could go fill out one of the checklist in the emergency forum. That way we can nitpick the details.