HCA: Hermit Crab Association

My rescue crab, Humphrey, spends all day every day in an elevated moss area. I have never seen him come down on his own in a week. He wakes up after dark and has been seen eating moss and occasionally some grape. But he never comes down for water unless he is doing it late at night without my knowing (possible I guess, but he is rarely more than a few inches from where he was when I go to bed).

I do not think he is sick but could he be getting ready to molt or was he just so abused that this is how he is. If I take him out he will crawl around mostly looking for a place to hide. As soon as I put him back in the tank he heads straight back to the moss.

I do not think I have to worry but would like to check with more experienced crabbers.

He is missing one leg third one back on his BP side and seems very easily toppled by it when he tries to climb or move about.

Thanks,

Rick

I don't have a direct answer Rick, but I can share my experience with you. It may freak you out, but it's so eerily similar... It could be a number of things. It could be that his missing leg is creating issues with movement, but typically they adapt without it pretty quickly. Also, it could be that he is 'de-stressing' which is typical of new crabs, more importantly those that came from a bad environment. He may just be 'resting' from the stress. If he's eating the moss, then he's getting some sort of nutrition and moisture (since the moss is damp) so that's a sign of appetite which is a plus. It also could be that he is trying to molt in the moss pit. This is not the most favorable of the possibilities, but some crabbers have had successful molts in the moss pit, but my experience was not so good. I have been crabby for 3 years and in that time have only lost 2 crabs, both to unsuccessful molts in the moss pit. My loss could have been a number of things as well, it was both of the crabs first molt in captivity which is always the hardest, but it could also have been a bad batch of moss, and I did end up replacing it with no further issues. My suggestion is simple, I would just keep an eye on him/her and would handle him as little as possible. If he/she is trying to molt, the last thing you want to do is disturb it. I will also add that worrying is usually useless, although hard not to, they typically know what they need better than we do and he is probably just de-stressing

Thank you so much you have been a great help!!

I agree about not handling him for a week or so to let him settle in and destress a bit. I had some straws doing a similar behavior. I knew they were not getting in the water because there was't a single grain of sand in the dishes and they aren't that neat about things. What I ended up doing was every 2 days I would take them out of the moss pit one at a time, set them in the water dish, then step away. They would drink, sometimes stop at the food, then go about being crabs for a while, then it was back to the moss pit for 2 days until I did it again. When I moved them out they acted normal. Another thought is to leave him alone in there, but be sure the moss is moist, that way he can get water from the moss. Also, you could put some dry food if you have it, in the moss pit. If you can get some pesticide free maple leaves and/or small twigs those are normally a favorite. I have to call on a friend who has a place out of town to get mine because I know they spray for bugs in the suburbs.

Thanks Crabby I will let him be and see what happens.

Caught the little bugger up and around this morning at 4:30. When I got up half an hour later he was right back in his normal spot giving the impression he never moved. Very nocturnal is he.

Lol. As I read that's what I was thinking. He could very well just have a favorite spot! I have had some that seem to designate a spot as "their spot". They go about their usual business at night and then return to the same place each day! Funny guys

yup. I have several that have 'their spot' and if someone else in it, they will push/plow them out of the way. It's so funny

Daughter reports today that part of his exo is coming off one leg. Time for ISO I guess. He does not dig so I hope to make him a moss pit with food and water and cover him with some type of cave. Any other suggestions?

It doesn't sound normal that it's only coming off of one leg. When they molt it's like a perfect mold of their front half, and it slides off in one solid piece: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=82577

Well I got home and inspected and there does not appear to be anything at all on the leg. Don't really know what they were looking at but...

I isolated him anyway he came up out of the moss walked around rearranged his bed and dug down again. So we will see.