HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Hi everyone....I'm a worried crab mommy.

I've been very very ill the past few days. So I have been in bed and sort of not tending to my crabs (bad mommy)!
Today I have been feeling better and came down to see what is going on with them.
Well they have not eaten for days. The food is in nice neat little piles, and I can tell when they have been into it because there is usually substrate in the bowl, and it looks like a bomb hit it.

So I'm a little worried. Do they sometimes go a few days without eating?

One of the guys in the tank has sort of gone about an inch under the substrate, I can see him but I don't know that he has come out at all....I haven't seen him for days, and he's sort of under a leaf, and nothing looks disturbed as if he's been going in and out.

The other two just hang around the UTH, which makes me think that it's not warm enough in there but my other heater is on the other tank that has my molters in it. I'm so worried....don't know what to do.

My crabs have been known to not eat for a day.

Is it possible your crab is trying to molt? If you know he's not, if you lightly touch the shell does he wiggle a little (as in alive) and not smell really bad? Do you have a temp gauge in the tank?

Just make sure you temp checker is right and make sure the humidity is good. I know I had a jumbo that would just sit in the same spot for days to the point that I was starting to freak out, but then for no reason he just starting going crazy,eating, changeing shells and climbing all over the place. As long as your conditions are right you should be ok. But I would change there food every day or at least every other day. They roam a lot in the wild and tend to shy away from food they have already tried.

Some crabs don't eat every day, or go a while without eating (I know most of my crabs usually don't eat every single day). Just keep an eye on them. If he still hasn't eaten for a around a five days or more I may then start to get a bit worried...

Thanks for the responses....my humidity is right....so my gauge says.
The heat is not so great, so I just got back from getting another UTH, so hopefully now it will be nice and warm in there for them.

I moved the leaf to check on my half under big guy, and he moved so he's not dead. I'm not sure if he is trying to molt.....maybe, but if so I do hope he goes under a lot more than he is....because I can see him, and if I can, the other two crabs can.

The other two seem active but not sure why they are not eating. Now that I am feeling better I can watch them a bit better and see what's up.

I also got some moss.....and my cholla came in, so I'm going to do a bit of a makeover on the tat, and hopefully they will get moving around a bit, and eat.

That's good. Good luck for now! I have a feeling they are probably just not hungry right now and that they will eat when they are ready. I also hope that Big Guy that may be molting pulls through and has a beautiful molt!

I'm like a new parent wondering why their child won't eat....lol
I remember those days, and the doctor telling me he will eat when he's hungry.
I'm sure that is all that is going on.
There is always food there so I am sure when they are hungry they will find it.

I moved some stuff around and put the moss and cholla in the tat and Crabcakes....well she got to investigating, and apparently loves to crawl under all the moss....it's funny seeing the moss move like it's alive....lol