HCA: Hermit Crab Association

I have one fairly large hermie named Helix. I don't think he'd be considered a jumbo yet, but the shell he is currently in was listed as having a 1 1/16 inch opening when I bought it (I got it from The Hermit Crab Patch so I think it's a pretty accurate measurement). It was WAAAYY too big for him when he first put it on though, but he wouldn't leave it. Anyway, he buried himself at the end of August and almost two weeks later I accidently collapsed his tunnel on him. I didn't know he was under one of the water bowls and when I put it back down after refilling it I felt the sand give way. I wanted to dig him out before he suffocated, but I was afraid that if he was in the middle of molting I would kill him trying to move him. Eventually I decided to try digging him up. I found him easily and when I picked him up his exoskeleton was hard and he could move. I was just so happy he was okay! I put him back down by the entrance to his little cave and he disappeared back into the sand.He was down for not even three more weeks (I was kind of scared he wouldn't come back up) and just resurfaced yesterday. I picked him up today to measure his shell because I wanted to buy him one that fit him better. And he had molted!!!! He had a bunch of new setae on his legs and claws and he actually fits in his shell now. I was so surprised. I didn't think hermit crabs could molt that fast. Has that happened to anyone else before?And I'm still so glad I didn't hurt him by digging him up. I was really afraid I was going to lose him. But he seems to be okay. He's moving well and was VERY hungry last night. And I think his little brother Dome is happy to have him back. They're both chilling up in their moss pit right now. And, suffice to say, I just bought him bigger shells than I had originally been planning on.

"Actual" molting time is not very long at all. I think crabber said its a matter of a few days. However it takes them a while to find the perfect spot and prepare to molt, de stress, molt, then eat the exo. Typically the larger the crab the longer they will be down. Mine are about the same size as yours and they usually stay down for around 1 1/2 - 2 months.Congrats!

Thanks! And yeah, the last time he went under he was down for six weeks. I'm not sure he actually molted that time though.

This is just a follow up but yes hermitcrabs typically do the shedding portion of a molt cycle between a few minutes for small specimens around the size of quarter or less and up to an hour or more for larger specimens about golf ball and up.During the shedding phase of the molt the crab has to build up enough enternal or hydrostatic pressure to split the old outer layer of exo at the joints where its weakest then once the outer layer has been split sufficiently the crab will then wiggle free of the head, legs and pinchers all at one time like pulling off a sweater over their head, notice that the tail section of the crab which is soft and pliable does not get shed because it is so soft and pliable which allows it to swell and grow with the rest of the body.In a normal molt the crab will slip free of the old exo all in one go in a few minutes to a couple of hours but there are those rarer molt complications where the crab has to shed the old exo in stages which can result in the crabs new exo fusing with the old as it hardens up if it can't complete the shed quickly enough, this can lead to molt deformities such as bent or twisted legs or even death if the crab struggles to hard to free itself.Another common cause of molt deformities and death is the crab being a molt pocket that is much too small which leaves the animal in a cramped huddled position which leads to the legs hardening in weird angles and even death.Hermitcrabs have to stretch out to complete the shed and re-hardening phase properly so if their molt pocket isn't the right size because the substrate was not deep enough or the tank itself didn't offer enough ground space they will likely suffer limb twisting, exo scarring or other damage and even death.When a hermitcrab has severly tangled or twisted limbs and still has the energy available it will normally opt to drop the effected limbs and then re-harden, re-surface and almost immediately go back down to begin the limb regenerative process which takes on average three molts back to back to complete.The first regen molt will result in a gel bud forming where the old limb used to be, the second molt will result in a marked growth of the gel bud and the third molt will result in a newly formed but typically much smaller replacement limb.Hermitcrabs actually loose the ability to move once the old outer layer of exo has been shed this paralysis typically last for two days for smaller specimens and up to four days for lager ones.This stage of the molt where the crab is paralyzed is necessary to allowing the crab to harden enough before it moves again because any contact the soft new exo makes with anything including the substrate typically results in scarring, deformitites and even limb loss.

Crabber85 wrote:This is just a follow up but yes hermitcrabs typically do the shedding portion of a molt cycle between a few minutes for small specimens around the size of quarter or less and up to an hour or more for larger specimens about golf ball and up.During the shedding phase of the molt the crab has to build up enough enternal or hydrostatic pressure to split the old outer layer of exo at the joints where its weakest then once the outer layer has been split sufficiently the crab will then wiggle free of the head, legs and pinchers all at one time like pulling off a sweater over their head, notice that the tail section of the crab which is soft and pliable does not get shed because it is so soft and pliable which allows it to swell and grow with the rest of the body.In a normal molt the crab will slip free of the old exo all in one go in a few minutes to a couple of hours but there are those rarer molt complications where the crab has to shed the old exo in stages which can result in the crabs new exo fusing with the old as it hardens up if it can't complete the shed quickly enough, this can lead to molt deformities such as bent or twisted legs or even death if the crab struggles to hard to free itself.Another common cause of molt deformities and death is the crab being a molt pocket that is much too small which leaves the animal in a cramped huddled position which leads to the legs hardening in weird angles and even death.Hermitcrabs have to stretch out to complete the shed and re-hardening phase properly so if their molt pocket isn't the right size because the substrate was not deep enough or the tank itself didn't offer enough ground space they will likely suffer limb twisting, exo scarring or other damage and even death.When a hermitcrab has severly tangled or twisted limbs and still has the energy available it will normally opt to drop the effected limbs and then re-harden, re-surface and almost immediately go back down to begin the limb regenerative process which takes on average three molts back to back to complete.The first regen molt will result in a gel bud forming where the old limb used to be, the second molt will result in a marked growth of the gel bud and the third molt will result in a newly formed but typically much smaller replacement limb.Hermitcrabs actually loose the ability to move once the old outer layer of exo has been shed this paralysis typically last for two days for smaller specimens and up to four days for lager ones.This stage of the molt where the crab is paralyzed is necessary to allowing the crab to harden enough before it moves again because any contact the soft new exo makes with anything including the substrate typically results in scarring, deformitites and even limb loss.

Thank u so much Crabber for sharing these details!!! They soft stage you spoke about at end sounds like my crab. He was down only 3 weeks n seems to have come back up but to soft to really move much....n now trying bury down n doesn't have space he needs to do so.....thinking I may need to ISO.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk