HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Good afternoon friends!

Wanted to ask a question regarding one of my crabs, Corentine.

I got her in January of this year, and she molted in September. Since she's come up, I've noticed that her limbs are far skinnier than when she went down. I know that crabs will "change shape" to some degree between molts, but her limbs seem extra thin. Perhaps this was because she seemed particularly chunky before she went down. She has been up from her molt for a few weeks now, and remains active and feeding.

As far as I can tell, she was / is getting the same raw and natural food as the rest of the crabs, who are also active and molt with no troubles. Before her molt she did change into a smaller shell, but it is really only slightly smaller. It is much lighter than her original shell. Could she had bulked up naturally from a pervious molt just from carrying such a heavy thing around?

Is this something anyone has experienced before?
Is part of this from stress?
Does anyone know if this is a potential future problem from her? And if so, is there anything I should be doing directly for her?

It's happened to me. I actually have had crabs seem to shrink entirely post molt.

If your crab is healthy and active, I wouldn't worry about it

Thank you! Just saw her briefly and she looked happy enough.

One of my crabs, Felix, has been with me over 6 years, molts periodically but has not gotten significantly larger since his first few molts. He's still slim, thin-legged, such a pale pink he's almost lavender and has only changed shells twice -- I swear it's because he loves his particular green turbo and just refuses to outgrow it !

Must be a really nice turbo! I just checked Corentine again and she looks better. Maybe I am imagining it all. I don't know! I feel a little nuts with how closely I track them.

Most of my crabs are all still above ground right now too. I checked the terrain out, but it all feels nice and the temps/heat are great. ? I guess they are all still having a post-Thanksgiving party? It is fun to watch, as they are all interacting with each other and running around and climbing.

Sadly a lot of times with jumbos and older crab, as they get to the size of a jumbo or have been in captivity for years it's often to start seeing them shrink like your crab. After they start shrinking they usualy die not too long afterwards. I'm not quite sure what causes it. Possibly a lack of something that we can't provide, is all I can guess.

Does she look smaller overall or is it just her limbs? Is it possible she's lost and regrown some of them? Newly regrown limbs will be smaller. Niphredil looked smaller to me after her last molt and I realized it was due to regrown limbs. The size of her abdomen did not change. Plus the shell they're wearing can really make them appear smaller or larger sometimes. So that's another possibility.

Here's what the molting article says on shrinking:

I Think My Crab Shrunk!

For several weeks after a molt a hermit crab can appear to be smaller than before, although as time passes it will normally return to the same size as prior to the molt, or slightly larger. There have also been cases of crabs permanently shrinking from a molt, and we are still unsure why this happens.

viewtopic.php?p=852624#p852624

My Mallorn shrunk after back to back molts. He did eventually pass but there was obviously something going wrong with him. If she seems otherwise healthy, I wouldn't worry too much.

I've had crabs have skinnier legs when they pull back to back molts really quickly.