HCA: Hermit Crab Association

I've read before (and I can't find it, it's not in my books or the greenaway papers, it might have been from coenobita research or some other members) that in the wild, inland crabs (PPs, etc) don't always bury under substrate to molt. Rather, they simply bury under decomposing leaf litter, or otherwise hide under rotting logs or other forest litter. So surface molts themselves may not really be that unnatural for hermit crabs.I was wondering what other peoples experiences on this topic might be.In general, I only have surface molts when I dig up a pre-molt crab during a deep clean, and after putting them in the renewed tank they don't have enough strength to bury again before molting.But I've heard of people with moss pits who regularly have crabs molt in the moss pits, rather than burying in the substrate.Thoughts?

I only had one surface molt in the 1.5 years that I've owned hermit crabs, and it was right at the beginning when I knew nothing about crabs and kept digging them up He did survive, but now he has had about 4-5 more molts and all have been underground. Herb is a PP. Nobody else has had any surface molts. Nobody has molted in my moss pit or in the coconut igloos either. One of my PP's did molt inside this big cave thing I have - but he blockaded the entrances with tons of sand, so nobody else could get in unless they dug their way in.

I had a few surface molts in the beginning, when my sand was too dry and too shallow for the crabs to dig in well (and settle in for a month or more). Once I got my conditions better controlled, the surface molts stopped and so far have not returned (and I have a moss pit in the tank regularly).Interesting topic - will be anxious to see other responses.

With my second colony of crabs, after I learned how to take care of them, I did have one surface molt. I had only had them for a month, and I knew they were supose to molt under sand. Catreina was acting just fine and on day I woke up and saw he/her in the corner of the igloo where it was dark. I found the exco and Bob eating it and thought he/she had died but I looked in the shell and saw a pink crab tucked way up inside. I didn't know what to do other than put C into the KK and wait.But that was in the beginning when I didn't know as much about them as I do now. I'm not sure if it was because of me either because I don't remember her trying to bury. It was his/her first molt and now he/she had a second and is quite healthy.

I have had only one surface molt too and that was with my first crab when I only had the little kit with just the little sand and he was unable to dig. He came out ok but he was alone at the time so he didn't have anybody to bother him. Now that I know to have deeper substract they all have buried to molt. So I figure he molted on the surface because he couldn't bury.