HCA: Hermit Crab Association

First time posting so hiii yall!!
Afternoon, i have had hermit crabs for about 6 months now. I have a deep substrate, plenty of things for them to crawl in/on a temperature and humidity gauges in my tank. I have a huge 25+ gallon fish tank. I think i have done all that properly, however a few months ago one of my hermies passed away during molting. I got another addition on Sunday since i didn't want my other one to be lonely. He immediately buried himself as usual for a new crab. My other crab has been caught trying to dig where the new crab dug. i keep moving him i dont want him digging up the other crab and eating him incase he is molting. What should i do?

lesleyalena wrote: ↑

Tue Jul 14, 2020 2:30 pm

First time posting so hiii yall!!
Afternoon, i have had hermit crabs for about 6 months now. I have a deep substrate, plenty of things for them to crawl in/on a temperature and humidity gauges in my tank. I have a huge 25+ gallon fish tank. I think i have done all that properly, however a few months ago one of my hermies passed away during molting. I got another addition on Sunday since i didn't want my other one to be lonely. He immediately buried himself as usual for a new crab. My other crab has been caught trying to dig where the new crab dug. i keep moving him i dont want him digging up the other crab and eating him incase he is molting. What should i do?

Welcome! How deep is your substrate? What are you using for substrate? How many crabs do you have? When they dig they often tunnel in all directions. So it's very likely where the crab is digging isn't even near the one below. And constantly moving him will stress him out. What does their diet consist of?

I have over 6 inches of substrate easy, coconut fiber with a little play sand (not much sand im just starting to slowly add it) i have 2 crabs now. I didnt know about the tunneling and moving so thank you for the information. I also feed them alot of fruits and vegetables but have been adding trying to add alot more protein and calcium over the last 2 weeks. I feed them a variety but the protein is dried blood worms, meal worms and egg shells. Fruit and veggies are mainly coconut (non sweetened), Almonds, spinach, green peppers, banana, strawberries, grapes, organic honey, some other types of dark leafy greens. I will take any suggestions you have to offer. I just want to be the best hermit crab mom i can be. I keep them in a 29 gallon long tank fyi.

oh so 3/4 of the 29 gallon tank is 6+ inches of substrate the other is where i keep food and water so its lower. Is that okay?

lesleyalena wrote: ↑

Tue Jul 14, 2020 3:38 pm

oh so 3/4 of the 29 gallon tank is 6+ inches of substrate the other is where i keep food and water so its lower. Is that okay?

It should be a minimum of 6 inches across, then you can slope upward from there. By keeping one side low, you are depriving them of much needed molting space.

So them crawling under their food or water bowls isn't bad? That's what scares me is that they will crawl under a water or food bowl and it will make it collapse. Maybe this is me being to scared