HCA: Hermit Crab Association

I've only been a crab owner for 3 weeks so I don't know if I should be worried or not. I brought them home from a beach gift shop. Myrtle went underground 2 days after going into their new crabitat. It's been 2 weeks so I don't think she's de-stressing. I think finally having enough substrate triggered her to molt. But at least we still had Ian to watch. He was most active between 11pm and 2am. He was eating the fresh food in the bowl and drinking fresh water but I never saw any evidence he was soaking in either water pool. The thing that has me worried is he climbed the net ladder and discovered the moss pit cup, which is a good thing. He crawled around in the moss for a little bit then dug straight to the bottom of the cup and hasn't moved for 4 days. I've lifted the moss a few times to check on him and he's in the same spot tightly pulled in his shell. There's no smell so I don't think he's dead. Is this normal? Should I be worried? The temp stays around 80 in the tank with the humidity hovering between 80-90%. I've been misting the moss to keep it moist while he's buried in it. Is this a sign of illness or is this normal behavior? How long will he stay like this without moving?

That’s fairly normal, it sounds like he’s probably just de-stressing in the moss cup. Alternatively, he might have decided to molt in there, which isn’t ideal but isn’t detrimental. Crabs sometimes decide to just molt in the moss pit if they feel safe!

If the cup doesn’t have any drainage I would stop spraying the moss for now, just in case the excess water begins to pool around him.

As well, it’s best to stop removing the moss to check up on him. Whether he’s molting or de-stressing, you won’t want to disturb him.

Thank you so much! I'll stop being a nervous Nelly and leave him be. Before I mounted the moss cup I drilled several holes on every side plus the bottom for ventilation so the moss wouldn't mold. There shouldn't be any water pooling around him.