HCA: Hermit Crab Association

We got our two new hermies yesterday (36 hours ago) and put them in their new crabitat, fully equipped. About 4/5 of crabitat is sandcastle sand and about 1/5 is jungle mulch like they were in at the pet store - I wanted to do this so they would feel comfortable. They almost immediately found their way to the mulch and burrowed in it and have not been out. I took them out once but they went right back in. They have food and water don't seem interested. Is this common? I smoothed the sand and plan on checking in the morning to see if there are tracks, but I am worried about them not eating. Please let me know your experience with brand new crabs. Is this typical behavior or will they ever walk around the crabitat and be more interesting? Thank you.

Its very common. They are under a tremendous amount of stress from the pet store. This is a way of destressing for them. Its best to leave them be for now. And also remember they are a nocturnal animal so even of they do come up you probably wouldnt see them.

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^ Yup. Agreed. Crabs like to dig.

Just never, never dig them up... it is super risky to them. Resist curiosity!

Agreed to all of the above!!
Just remember hermies know better about being a hermit than we do!!


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i find its a good sign when they dig down. the only crabby that ever passed away on me was the one that never dug down after we brought him home. i agree with everything everyone has said. You are learning the first lesson of the crab : patience

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similar thing with mine. I got one a couple of weeks ago from the pet store and for 3-4 days it seemed not to move from a spot where he dug himself and all I could see was the shell. When he is not moving, I find it helps to smooth out the sand or substrate between him and the food so I can tell if he was up at night. Finally he did move around for a night or two, and then he dug all the way down so I'm assuming he's molting.

Thanks everyone.

One crab "wakes up" around 7pm and is pretty active from about 7-midnight or 1am. Then he burrows down again. I even saw him go the the food dish and eat. The other one was active at night for the first two nights - but now i haven't seen him at all in about 48 hours. I haven't disturbed him at all.

But how do we tell if he is molting or was maybe sick and he died? How long do we wait before we know if he's dead?

Thx everyone!

You can usually tell if a crab is dead by a fishy smell coming from the tank, if you haven't put any fish-like food in their tank. This won't always work though.

I Am brand new myself and my new Pals shot straight down into a deep moss pit and I don't think they resurfaced much if any for 2 weeks wait for them to get their bearings and normalize chances are they are anywhere around 10 years old. Theyre from the wild so they will get used to their domestic life in a couple months. Keep your humidity and temperature correct and do your best not to bug them until they start popping out themselves a little bit more. One of the best exercises in patients i have found. The reward is just getting a glimpse