Molting or just playing around?

[HeriocZebra]

My smallest crab recently didn't survive his molt. This was mostly due to a number of issues with my crabitat. In order to make sure my other two quater sized crabs didn't suffer the same fate I completely revamped my crabitat. One of the biggest improvements was adding enough substrate for them to bury themselves in. About 15 hours after I had put them in their improved home the now smallest of the two ( Henry ) started digging. I thought that he was just doing it to cuddle up and take a nap or something, but a few hours later he was completely buried, shell and all. Even almost six hours after he disappeared I could still hear him digging. So I let him be thinking maybe hes just exploring his new home. Sure enough though about 24 hours after Henry went down, my largest crab ( Hippo ) started digging too, in a different spot. Now Hippo has always been a digger, hence his name, but a few hours after he started he also had completely buried himself, shell included. Even 36 hours later I heard him under there excavating, and theres a giant pile of sand where he's buried himself.

Now I know that this could mean their molting, but I didn't think that they went down with their shell as well?
I guess they can't dig without it, but still I'm left wondering if they're just enjoying their new home, or I've actually done something right and they're molting.

I've been spraying the areas where they're at with water regularly just in case they are molting, but does anybody else have any thoughts on what they're doing?

Thanks!

[HermitCrabingrid]

Your doing a good job theya reprobably molting

[HeriocZebra]

What are the updates on this? Mine dig all the time, especially Yoshi. He digs down and I can hear and sometimes see him excavating a complicated tunnel all day long.

Then he comes up and digs another one somewhere else. I think he just likes digging.

Yoshi kind of sounds like my Hippo. Hippo has always liked to dig. I even recorded a video of him once.
I haven't heard either one of them digging since Hippo was moving around at 2 in the morning. The last time I heard Henry was about noon two days ago.

Here is the best picture I could get of where Hippo dug. There's more underneath the plant leaves.


Henry was a lot neater when he buried so his is more like a small mound.

[Muffincrab]

My smallest PP, Dwible, loves to dig. The tank has plenty of sand mounds and holes because of him.

[Squeaky]

Unless the sand is drying out you'll want to avoid spraying water near where they are buried. If you need to raise the humidity try an all-over light misting of dechlorinated water. You don't want there to be too much water that runs down into their cave, just enough to not let it dry out.

You won't know if they molted until they come up, so be patient - it could be weeks or months before you see them again or it could be tomorrow. They know how to get back up when they're ready.

[HeriocZebra]

Unless the sand is drying out you'll want to avoid spraying water near where they are buried. If you need to raise the humidity try an all-over light misting of dechlorinated water. You don't want there to be too much water that runs down into their cave, just enough to not let it dry out.

You won't know if they molted until they come up, so be patient - it could be weeks or months before you see them again or it could be tomorrow. They know how to get back up when they're ready.

I usually mist the whole crabitat every few hours just because my room is in the basement and they're right outside my door in the hallway. The temperature is always good but their humidity isn't always where it should be. I wasn't sure if they'd suffocate down there or not. I know they breathe with gills though so thats why I've been misting their areas every once in a while.

[wodesorel]

Now I know that this could mean their molting, but I didn't think that they went down with their shell as well?
I guess they can't dig without it, but still I'm left wondering if they're just enjoying their new home, or I've actually done something right and they're molting.

The only time a hermit crab should be out of it's shell is when it's changing between shells. Any other time you see a naked hermit crab it's an emergency!

It does sound like they're molting. It can be hard to tell what they're doing, but when they're new and haven't molted yet, and the conditions are changed for the better, they nearly always decide it's time to molt. It's the best possible thing for them as once they have molted they'll be clear of the Post Purchase Stress (PPS) window and you'll know you have healthy crabs.

[HeriocZebra]

Just wanted to give everyone an update that was listening. Henry came up to play a few hours ago.
He looks very healthy and happy!

http://imgur.com/mB2Ks
The hole he came up from.
Kind of hard to see.


http://imgur.com/KA1c3
Happy Henry!


He ate an entire piece of popcorn in a little under 4 hours!
http://imgur.com/FrNjC
He took the popcorn and ran under the log with it.
This is taken looking into the opening.

Looks like I did good with the new crabitat!
Now I'm just waiting on Hippo!