HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Hey guys. I just got back into crabbing. I bought three hermits from Petsmart on Tuesday morning. Camo is very skittish and shy. Joe is friendly. George is curious. Of them all George is in the best shape- he looks freshly molted with his black tipped and hairy legs.
When i put them in their new home they did exactly what i expected- sat still for about 5 minutes. Then Camo buried himself. Then Joe. George spent some time inspecting the place before he also buried himself. About 12hrs later Camo and Joe were up and about and I got a better look at them. Joe is missing a small part of one one of his legs. But Camo is missing a small part of one leg, a larger part of another... And then something I've never seen before- his big claw has a crack/dent in it. It looks exactly like two crabs held claws and the other one squeezed too hard. I was wondering if anyone has experienced this?
As a side note, I haven't seen George since the first day. I know he's probably destressing but i can't help but worry!

It is VERY normal for them to be missing pieces of legs and be beat up elsewhere. When they're transported, they're usually thrown into a cramped container together with no extra shells, and a mass of panicked and starved crabs is a recipe for injuries and shell jackings. The good news is that if they don't suffer from PPS and are able to molt, these injuries will heal quickly. Within a couple of molts you'd never be able to tell something was ever wrong.

Just to update- Joe spent last night buried, camo spent a lot of time exploring and eating. I even had him out for a bit and when i put him back he continued exploring. It makes me feel like he's happy enough. Hopefully he'll molt when he's got enough nutrients. George finally came to the surface to hang out and eat. I feel better now that I've seen them all up and about.

As wode said, normal. My crab is missing a leg too. He has a little stub where it was and quite frankly, it's kinda cute! In a few molts it'll be back to normal

Make sure that you provide them with a lot of calcium & protein for a successful molt, as well as the other nutritional needs in their diet
Food pyramid: http://hermitcrabassociation.com/phpBB/ ... 25&t=92554