HCA: Hermit Crab Association

THIS WAS POSTED APRIL 4TH-------->quick question on my update on Hermie and Skuttles the other day Hermie buried himself right beside Skuttles well he came back up well yesterday Skuttles finally came back up after being buried a week I thought maybe he was molting I watched him unbury himself. well then later that day he buried himself again and I was showing them off to a friend so I sought him out. well this morning he is buried again?????? Molting or just goofing off?..... Also while Skuttles was buried the first time before he came up Hermie made what looked like a four wheeler doughnut in the sand lol.
TODAY------> Skuttles is still buried I want to change the tank around and add more sand but I don't know if Skuttles is trying to molt or not

I would wait if you're not sure where he is or if he's molting. Are you using all play sand?

I got the calcium sand from petsmart on one side and that woodchip molting stuff on one side I want to do all sand.....

I would wait until you see him, then do it with them both in a safe location.

it's weird he already buried himself and stayed under for a week and came back up the other day well he's buried himself again Idk what he's doing?

how long have you had him?

I got Hermie march 2nd and Skuttkes the 3rd so almost 2 months.

He could be either molting or de-stressing. Can you tell is he's coming up each night?

I haven't seen him come up but one time and that was during the day after he was buried for a week

I would wait then, he may be molting.

You shouldn't dig him up, just in case he is molting Crabs go underground for various reasons, to relax, to feel safe, to molt, or just because they like to dig. So he could be doing a combination of these things It's hard to not get to show them off, but the risk of digging up a molter wouldn't be worth it

it's not that I want to show him of I want to get the mulching stuff out of there and put all sand and kinda mix the sand up but he keeps digging so I don't know what to do.

Just gotta wait. I'm also waiting for my 2 to come up so I can mix the sand and level it out a tad more. But I have a feeling Uno is going to go down to molt just as they come up. SO I could be waiting weeks before I get to mix mine up again.

Also, you said you have calci-sand; that's not really good for crabs; it can harden and trap a molter. You can mix it with your EE for now, but when you finally do go to change out substrate, you should probably go with play sand instead (it is much, much cheaper as well as better for them--you can get a BIG bag of it at Lowe's or Home Depot for less than $4). You can use just play sand by itself; that's what mine just molted in and they did great. Most of the long-term crabbers here recommend a 5 parts play sand to 1 part EE mix, so you could try that, too, if you like (I just set up a 55g, and I just took a big plastic cup and scooped five scoops of sand, then one of EE, scattering it over the sand, then 5 more of sand, etc., to try the 5 to 1 mix; the EE is supposed to help process their waste a bit). But if crabs are dug under, leave them alone until they are coming up consistently at night. Disturbing a molter can kill them.