HCA: Hermit Crab Association

I just want to make sure i have been seeing this right. When marshwan molted, it seemed like there were a lot of leg pieces spread out. Is it correct their exoskeleton doesn't come off as one thing like snakes and tarantulas? each leg, pincher, and other exoskeleton parts come off seperately? if so, then that is new. I couldn't believe what i was seeing.

Early on I had several who surface molted due to my lack of knowledge. All of them shed their exo in one piece, ate the body first, then the legs.

@CrazyCrabber, hermitcrabs do shed their exo in one piece just like when we slip a sweater off over our heads its the same idea and a hermitcrab will only shed the exo in segments if its struggling to get the old layer off.Prime examples of what can cause a hermitcrab to shed the older exo in pieces are, poor nutrition/diet, cramped molt pocket(this can be due to either not enough substrate, too many tank mates or the crab being in a tank that is too small), lack of energy this ties in to poor diet, the crab being overly stressed, the crab has been disturbed to early in the process either by us or another tankmate.Hermitcrabs require Nitrogen in their diet its a critical element to successful molts and without it the crab will struggle to cast the old outer layer of exo off this is a pretty common cause of poor molts or molts that have been staggered ie the crab has had to shed the older outer layer in peieces.You can easily address this issue by offering dry or rolled oats once or twice a week I like to drizzle a little raw honey on it as an extra nutrional boost.There is a major concern with hermitcrabs who shed the older layer of exo in peices because this uses up extra time and resources that the crab doesn't have it often ends up with the crab re-hardening while still attempting to get the older layer off its legs so the new soft under layer fuses to the older layer producing a tangled mess of legs or in some rarer instances can tire the crab out enough to kill it.I would encourage you to take a look at your diet plan make sure your including molt critical nutrients like Nitrogen and Cellulose at least twice a week, make sure that your tank is not overcrowded with to many crabs or that your attempting to house larger crabs than your enclosure can support, look at your substrate and make sure its staying sandcastle consistency this may require that you check it multiple times a week if you tend to have humidity control issues and you may want to start offering some healthy fatty acids like fish oil or coconut oil you can drizzle the oil on one food serving per week to provide a source of healthy fats and fatty acids as these are very benefical for supporting healthy molts.In twety some odd years of keeping hermitcrabs I have seen my fair share molts gone wrong where the crab either got tangled up in its own old exo during the hardening phase and died or came out a mangled mess but in the last five years of being back on this forum I have been able to drastically cut down on the number of molt related incidents by making sure that my enclsoure is the right size, that the crabs have plenty of space and that their diet is consistent but vaired and that it covers all the bases.Fresh fruits and veggies when they are in season, dried or powdered foods during the off seasons and a few little sweet goodies like raw/organic honey and mashed bananas goes a long way.

well my cage is a ten gallon. I have printed out one of the food lists from this site, which i refer to every feeding time. Geranium was the one who posted it, and it has calcium, protein, and all the categories. besides oats, what else for nitrogen? i at least feed them oatmeal a lot, which has oats in it.

before i cleaned the tank last week, the substrated wasn't deep enough, because i knew they could surface molt, and i would move the others when it was time. I changed that. I am feeding lots of cellulose. my humidity guage, even though it is digital has been acting up a little, will get a new one. I will only improve from here. Thanks for the advice, i will use it wisely. i didn't know they needed nitrogen.

i will give them some coconut oil. I am determined to do better next time!

@Crazy Crabber, don't beat yourself up your doing the best you can just take it easy and if you need help we'll be here.Nitrogen gets introduced into the soil via lighting strikes and all plants on earth need it to survive so it gets absorbed from the soil into the plant as the plant grows some plants will absorb more of it than others and it can be found in near all if not all decaying plant matter.You can offer it via rolled or dried oats, Oak leaves, Maple leaves just not Red Maple as its highly toxic and tree bark.As the plant matter decays it releases the nitrogen that it has stored up so the crunchier the better.Oatmeal is not the best idea especially if its prepackaged instant oatmeal as this kind will always have an excessively high amount of sugars and salts that the crabs don't need.

no i use the original kind with nothing but oats as the ingredient.