New Crabber and Struggling ALOT

[lexy_loves_hermits]

Hi guys, I am a new crabber here and I am having a difficult time. I have had my one PP, small sized in a natural shell named Hermes whom I bought from petsmart for about a month, he is doing good so far.I recently bought one new PP hermie from Petsmart. He is in a natural shell. About small in size. When I was bringing him home, and at the shop, he refused to move. I brought him home, gave him a nice bath, checked for mites, etc. He still did not come out of his shell during this time. I set him in the tank (20 gal) with about 6 inches of forest bedding (FB) in the bottom, 80 degrees, 85 percent humidity. I replaced the food with a bit of honey, freeze dried krill pieces, and a fresh organic raspberry then replaced the water in both my distilled, non-chlorinated water dishes and marine salt water dishes. I turned on the light in the tank and misted it lightly to keep humidity up a bit. When I came back upstairs about 20-30 minutes later, her was no where to be found and there was a small burrow/hole in the bedding. I assumed he was distressing and such so I wanted to see if he would come up at night for food or water etc. I lightly pressed down the bedding around the burrow/hole and left it alone until this early afternoon. I noticed it had not changed, and no tracks had been left. I do not know if he is molting, since I know the pet store conditions were not good for molting, and mine are I think (if not, tell me!) so maybe he was ready to molt and now has the good conditions for it? Or is he simply distressing? Or is it PPS? Also, my other hermie I have had for about a month has been quite active lately and digging a lot. Is he getting ready to molt? His coloring is more ashy and dull lately. Is there a reason for this?Thanks in advance for the help!Lexy20 gal tank: 2 PPs7 gal ISO tank: Coming soon

[Crabber85]

First let me say hello and welcome to the forums and the family here at LHC.com.Secondly let me apologize for the lateness of this reply and for there not being one from someone else I promise we are usually pretty good about catching new members and addressing their questions relatively quickly but most of us have been pretty busy lately which has been interfering with our forums time.lolNow to your questions, yes it is completely normal for newly purchased hermitcrabs to burrow down and molt soon after being brought home this is to be expected so no worries.The ashy look to your first crab is also a common pre-molt sign the hermitcrabs outer skin is turning ashy much the same way a snakes eyes will turn milky looking just before it sheds this is just a normal part of the molting process but doesn't always indicate an impending molt as in the crab will burrow down to molt in a few days on the contrary it could take a few weeks from now before the crab is completely ready to begin the second stage of the molt as its in the pre-molt stage now and that can last several weeks while the crab prepares itself for the long stay underground.It has often been said that hermitcrabs wont burrow down to molt unless they feel comfortable enough with us and their new surroundings to do so, so its good sign that the newbie has burrowed down so quickly for you.The crab could come up and go back down several times over the next few weeks this is also normal basically each crab has to find its own sweet spot to molt that offers the best conditions to do so and each crab will have differing standards for its own sweet spot which is why the up down game is played.Its actually recommended to give newly purchased hermitcrabs at least four weeks of Iso time before we handle them or introduce them to new tank mates this is done in an effort to maximize the chances of survival in the first couple of months with us, you can still do regular food and water changes just please refrain from digging up the crabs, holding, bathing or otherwise disturbing them for the next four weeks they'll thank you later for it. If you have any more questions please feel free to ask as that is what we are here for.

[crazycrabber]

yeah sorry, i just finished a busy stretch, traveling, etc......, i am normally more involved. i love questions from newbies and anyone anytime. i am not busy right now, so ask as many questions as possible if you want to.