Boromir disappeared

[fantasybookworm]

Okay, I'm trying not to freak myself out too much, but some reassurance from more experienced owners would help...or at least let me know if I have reason to freak out.

Boromir disappeared a couple days ago. He's already molted, so he won't be doing that, there's not a hole big enough that he would've gone down in (unless he filled it in behind him), and he seemed like he was perfectly fine before he disappeared. Acting normal, eating like a pig, climbing all over the tank.

So uh...is this normal?? For crabs to suddenly disappear underground again even when they're not molting or de-stressing & all is fine? One of the little guys (Pippin, I"m pretty sure, newly molted!) is up instead, which does give me some amusement (almost like they're taking turns being up top). But I'm kind of freaking myself out wondering if Boromir managed to escape without me noticing or something.

I'm planning on moving them all into a 10-gallon tank at least around the middle of next week (to prepare for moving), but I'm kind of wanting to do it this week now, just so I can find all three & reassure myself they're alive. Good idea? Bad idea? Substrate will only be deep enough in the 10-gallon for them to bury themselves, not really dig down, since it'll be a temporary situation until moving day. I know they won't like it, so I probably shouldn't have it last longer than necessary, I'm just getting so nervous.

[soilentgringa]

Very normal. They love to dig and tunnel. How many crabs total do you have (sorry if I missed it elsewhere)? A 10 gallon may be too small but if you are upgrading asap it would be okay for short term if you only have a few small crabs. You want their sub to be 3X deeper than their shells no matter what tank they are in and if they do bury, just wait until they come up to move them. We waited for 2 months for one to be out of the tote tat while we had our 55 set up. We'd almost given up hope then saw Drax roaming about in an empty tote of sand one day.

Sent from my LG-D850 using Tapatalk

[Crabinski]

As @soilentgringa said, Boromir's actions are very normal. At least one of my 4 PPs "disappears" at any given time: not molting, not de-stressing, just doing his crabbie thing somewhere underground, then Voila!, there he is in the shell shop or food dish as though he'd been there all along .

[fantasybookworm]

Thank you both, I'm so glad to know it's normal! It's the first he's disappeared since he came up from molting, so I was getting worried. I"m already way too attached to him.

I only have three, Boromir's a medium & the other two are smalls. It's only going to be a temporary thing - I'm not taking their 45-gallon tank with us (I have a tote set up that they'll be moving into when we get to our new place), and I need to have them out of it so I can (hopefully) sell it. Unfortunately I can't wait until they come up to move them - I don't have heating/humidity supplies to keep multiple tanks going, and I do need to have them out so I can get rid of the tank before I move. My moving day is July 6th. On the plus side, I know none of them are molting as they all just finished their first molt with me. So hopefully digging up won't be too stressful, even though I know it's not ideal.

I'll make myself calm down & wait until middle or end of next week to move them to the 10-gallon, so they'll be in it for maybe 4-5 days (at most) before moving day. Moving day, they'll each go into their own tall deli container (CallaLily suggested it, I think) stuffed with moss. Once we get to the new place, they'll go back into the 10-gallon just for the night, then I"ll be setting up their new tote the next day so I can get them moved in & leave them alone to de-stress. I can't have as much sub as what's typically best to provide in the 10-gallon since I need to be able to easily move it, and I plan to have it in the back of my car so that it's easy to grab out when we get there. The weight of the proper amount of sub may also be an issue - I'm already possibly getting close to the weight limit I can haul, so I need to be careful with that, unfortunately. I'm hoping to take the sub I have now with me (in cat litter containers), but I'll just have to wait & see.

[wodesorel]

How big is Boromir and when did he come up from his last molt?

[fantasybookworm]

He's medium & he came up on May 29th. So it's been less than a month, which is why I'm guessing he's not trying to molt again already. At least, I hope not, I was REALLY relieved to have Pippin come back up so that I know no one's molting or going to try to molt during the move.

[wodesorel]

I don't think it likely, but he could be going again already..

[fantasybookworm]

Boromir, nooooooo! Do you think I should try to move them into the 10g sooner & see if that makes him hold off...? Or just wait until next week & see what I find? I swear, these guys are almost the most stressful part of the move. :roll:

[kornchaser]

He's medium & he came up on May 29th. So it's been less than a month, which is why I'm guessing he's not trying to molt again already. At least, I hope not, I was REALLY relieved to have Pippin come back up so that I know no one's molting or going to try to molt during the move.

My Kaylee does her 'crabby thing' and resurfaces almost every night to eat and drink etcetera with a shell covered in fresh dug up dirt. I moved her to the 37 from the 20g tall a couple weeks ago after she surfaced from a molt.