HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Hiii, I'm posting again, but i was wondering, since I get worried

I have this bigger hermit crab that use to not move around like at all, and eventually would start moving around alot

As of recent, this big hermit crab has been underground for a couple of weeks now, and I havent seen him molt since I got him, and I've had him for about 4-5 years

The smaller one has molted twice within those years

As of right now, the big one, hes been under ground for a while, is he okay? Is there something going on? The little one is pretty active.

I wanna dig up the big one but I'm way too scared to stress him out and what not, the moisture in there is decent, but I need to put more moisture in soon

So is he sick? Dying? Or is he just fine?

Crabs bury to molt, and can stay down for a number of months at a time. They know what they are doing and it is best not to disturb them.
If your substrate is dry, you can either mist the top of it, or can add some along the edges and it will seep into the rest of the sub.

curlysister wrote: ↑

Sat Jul 15, 2023 10:40 am

Crabs bury to molt, and can stay down for a number of months at a time. They know what they are doing and it is best not to disturb them.
If your substrate is dry, you can either mist the top of it, or can add some along the edges and it will seep into the rest of the sub.

See I domt know if he is molting! Bc not once have I seen him molt! Does it take big hermit crabs alot of time to even build up to molting?

Oh my god! Good news! The big one JUST reemerged and is on the surface now! I'm so happy to see him!

DragonWolf wrote: ↑

Sun Jul 16, 2023 1:52 pm

Oh my god! Good news! The big one JUST reemerged and is on the surface now! I'm so happy to see him!

Does he look "sharper"?!

DragonWolf wrote: ↑

Sun Jul 16, 2023 6:52 am

See I domt know if he is molting! Bc not once have I seen him molt! Does it take big hermit crabs alot of time to even build up to molting?

You definitely should not see the actual molting process itself. Larger hermits spend more time under both before and after a molt, but no hermit crab only molts during what we refer to as its molting time. They go down to settled in for a few weeks to moths depending on the size, then molt for a few hours, then spend a couple more weeks or moths eating their exo and recovering. At no point should you see any crab do any actual molting. If you do, that is a surface molt, and necessary steps should be taken

Glad this crab made it out alright tho!!

myllkti wrote: ↑

Mon Jul 17, 2023 5:49 pm

You definitely should not see the actual molting process itself. Larger hermits spend more time under both before and after a molt, but no hermit crab only molts during what we refer to as its molting time. They go down to settled in for a few weeks to moths depending on the size, then molt for a few hours, then spend a couple more weeks or moths eating their exo and recovering. At no point should you see any crab do any actual molting. If you do, that is a surface molt, and necessary steps should be taken

Glad this crab made it out alright tho!!

When they said see they meant seeing them go down and not come up for weeks at a time and come up with the "freshly molted look", and going down with the "about to molt look"!

KyMart wrote: ↑

Mon Jul 17, 2023 9:32 pm

When they said see they meant seeing them go down and not come up for weeks at a time and come up with the "freshly molted look", and going down with the "about to molt look"!

oh it appears I misunderstood, thanks for clarifying!

Apologies to dragon for the confusion <3

myllkti wrote: ↑

Mon Jul 17, 2023 11:51 pm

oh it appears I misunderstood, thanks for clarifying!

Apologies to dragon for the confusion <3

You're welcome, I figured it would help you understand a little better!