HCA: Hermit Crab Association

I'm new to hermit crabs and everything, and I really need help with molting. Could someone please help? I have had my hermit crabs for about a month now.

sure we can help you out what questions do u have??

I really don't have any idea on when you know when your crab is about to molt and if you need an IOS tank. If you do what do you put in it

ok so im going throgh this now!! so you will see you crabs start to dig around alot and they will eat a love but not be very active, i have a 10g tank with 6-8in of play sand in it and 3 crabs, one just bured its selfa few days ago i did not iso her im letting her be a crab, the only time you really need to iso a molting crab is if its top molting..what size tank do u have and what kinda sub are u using and how much is in the tank?

I have a 10 gallon tank with sand and coco fiber. There is about 4 inches of substrate in it

ok so you will want to have a min of 6in of substrate in they can fully bury them selfs and be safe, what they say is twich the depth as your biggest crab. http://landhermitcrabs.com/eve...510198 ... 028438take a look at this thread it was from when i joined and didnt know much has a lot of good info

Thank you for your help

It's good for them to be able to stock up on nutrients before they molt. Calcium is good - you can give them chicken bones, coral, crushed sand dollar, cuttle bone. Some chitin since that's what their exo is made of - you can give them shrimp with the tails on. Plenty of protein. I give mine a mineral supplement from Hermit Crab Patch, dried leaves and bark. Honey is always good too!

We too are new. Jeremy & Brandee. We set up our crabitat 1 week ago and 1 of our 2 crabs buried himself about 4 inches deep in the back of our 5 gallon. The other crab is relaxing on the log (see pic). We thought the other escaped but weren't sure, so we discovered him buried....I didn't dig him up. He's still resting where he lay, so I put a clamshell over him. I don't want to move him to an ISO tank, without asking. 1. Should I leave him where he is? 2. Should I isolate this section of the tank? (please give good examples with pics if available.) 3.Should I put non-molting hermie in the ISO tank while molting hermie finishes his business?4. Do I dare dig up molting hermie and put him in ISO tank? ( I don't want to stress him out) 5 Gallon tankCalcisand w/ coconut fiberideal Humity @80% / Temp. @ 76 AlwaysSalt Water/Fresh Water baths w/ sea sponge.Fresh food daily.Any suggestions would be appreciated. [/IMG]facebook.com/jermit

No answer in the time I needed, so I checked on a facebook forum. Decisions decisions, so I chose to leave the molting crab alone and put the non-molting crab in the ISO tank. [/IMG]

you can leave him but i will say this you need to have at least 6" of sand or mix and get rid of teh cal sand its bad for the crabs, you can go to home depot and get play sand cheap one bag is good for a 10G tank....

Sorry there was a delay in someone getting back to you. I would move the non molter and leave the molter undisturbed. So, you did as I would have suggested. As a rule, I don't want to dig up any crab, especially molters. I would also suggest raising the temperature and being extra vigilant with the humidity, especially with an uncovered molter. Also cover the tank most of the way with a towel to provide dim and quiet for you molter.I agree with Miko, once the molting is done, add playsand to get your substrate up to 6 inches. That is the minimum recommended. You'll want more depth as the crabs grow, twice the depth as the height of your largest crab. Since you've mixed EE with calcium sand already, it will probably okay but calcium sand is not a suitable substrate, it is dangerous for them. Though as a food source, the white/uncolored is good. The only two recommended substrates are coconut fiber/EcoEarth and playsand from the hardware store or such.Oh, and get that sponge out of the water. They harbor bacteria that can harm the crabs. You can put dry ones in the tank if you want.

Update. The non molting crab buried himself in the ISO tank. It's a smaller critter cage with only coconut fiber. Just wait it out now?

Yes. I would just wait. Make sure conditions are good in both tanks. Will the KK fit in the larger tank so it keeps the same humidity and temperature? Unlikely in a 5 gallon but worth considering. It is much harder to keep a KK at proper humidity and temperature than a glass tank. Be prepared, you're going to need a larger tank soon, even with just the two, they will soon out grow this tank. I'd start looking on Craigslist or Freecycle or even second hand stores for people getting rid of old aquariums (you want an aquarium not a terrarium, if I remember correctly terrariums are not make to hold so much weight).I also dont see a heat source, how are you keeping the temperature consistently up?

We took the advice from our pet store to not purchase 1 earlier last week when both crabs were non molting, and our thermometer was reading 70-80 degrees & 70 to 80% humidity. Keeping the humidity in range in the five gallon has been challenging. (We have a glass cover, which we need either crack open or fully open frequently because it gets too humid at times.) Not so much a challenge on the KK over the past 48 hours since separating them. The temp in both the 5 gal. & KK since have been steady at 70 to 80 degrees. (We live near Sacramento where the hot temperatures have continued since bringing crabbies home, but it has been getting cold at night so we still use the A/C during the day/eveining for our comfort as well.) Currently we have pillow cases over their habitats for added darkness and protection from any drafts.So to answer the question we did not have any heat pads but I just bought 2 of them tonight to make the Hermies more comfortable. The temps in both are ideal at the moment so we are not going to use them. This brings up another question, (which I am getting mixed answers on other websites) about using a small heat pad on a Plastic Critter Tote. Should I or shouldn't I use on a plastic KK? We are trying our best to cope w/ this new challenge and will keep you posted w/ any updates. Thank you for your advice on the tanks, substrate, water etc. We are already planning to go larger for their comfort.Jeremy and Brandee