HCA: Hermit Crab Association

So, my hermit crab Hermione has been digging and overturning shells in the tank. She has been digging rather deep, and I am assuming that she is going down for a molt. What are some important things that I should know? how much food for her? Is there anything else I can do? How long will she be down? I have done a little bit of research on molting, and I have found out that you should leave the exoskeleton alone.

@Obba, typically hermitcrabs who are pre-molt and are looking for the right spot to carve the molt pocket will go up and down several times in an effort to find the sweet spot in the tank that meets all of their needs.During the molt process the hermitcrab will not be interested in food or water completely relying on the fat and water stores it has built up to get it through the whole process.When you see the hermitcrab go down and not resurface for a few days then the odds are high that it has begun the molting process and depending on size will likely not be up again for at least two weeks.You can continue to leave food and water in the enclosure for the crab just as a precaution because when the crab finishes the molting process and sufficiently hardens it will have a massive appetite and will come up looking for food and water so they both need to stay constantly avaialable.I usually put out two table spoons of dry or powdered food but I have several hermitcrabs who are baseball size so depending on the size of your crab you might be able to get away with a couple teaspoons of dry food as hermitcrabs eat very little and digest their food very slowly.

@Crabber85She is making weird clicking noises. I do not know what those are. Someone please help me!

Those noises are just the crab's way of communicating. Perfectly normal.

i have as 3 of mine down for some time now and my small one shell shock just came up last night, he was down for about 2 and a half weeks, hermie has been down a month today,and im still waiting for her, and sharky has been down about 2-3 weeks, again still waiting on him.

The only thing is that it is more of a scratching noise, as if she was digging. Only she was in her shell.

Your crab is probably still moving around underground trying to find a spot. In doing so if it is close to the sides or bottom of the tank it will make scratching, bumping, knocking, thumping noises (think I listed them all ). Just think of you in a mirror house with a shell you would bump into stuff too. My crabs come up and go down at first those noises worried me but now they don't it kinda cheers me up cuz I know they're there and alive and moving. This also means that if they are going to molt it will be a little longer before you see them cuz they're having to much fun below since your hearing yours move it probably hasn't molted yet.

@jenok I think that she is down deep. Kinda concerned. It looks like the tunnel collapsed over her. It looks like she is at the bottom of the tank, too. I can still see her, and she is in one of her absolute favorite spots. Thanks!

Its possible your crab closed the tunnel up and just left the pocket. If you can see it and its moving any part of its body and is not pink or white it'll be fine it will redig a tunnel out when ready. The white would be the exo/shed and pink is supposed to be what color they are before they harden up and get their full color back. The danger comes when the crab is starting to molt thru the after molt hardening process when it is not strong enough or hard enough to move the sand out of the way. From what I've read this is only a few day process that it is unable to dig.I started putting on the calendar when I noticed a crab down for a couple days then again when I saw it come up. That's a lot of writing if you've got one that likes to "roller coaster" up/down-up/down.

Whatever you do, don't go digging for her... I also am new, and after 5 weeks of not seeing my crab, I thought, 'Yup, dead'. Wellllll..... Nope. He was alive when I went digging for the 'body', freshly molted and mad. I read somewhere that it only takes them about a day to actually burst their exo and shed it, the rest of the time is preparing/ recovering. Hope this helps.

Thanks everyone for the advice! She made it through last night!

quote:Originally posted by jenok:My crabs come up and go down at first those noises worried me but now they don't it kinda cheers me up cuz I know they're there and alive and moving. MIne too! Curiosity has been in ISO for almost two months now, and every time I hear a sound, I want to celebrate! (I've also found myself lying on the floor with my ear pressed to the tank. )Oh, and good luck!

LOL!!! I thought I was the only one to press my ear to the tank!!! I get so excited when I hear little scratching sounds! Being on the new side, I always think 'Whew, still alive!!'

Sometimes it takes a while! and sometimes they just dig because they are tired and need rest and you are right jgfceit! its very dramatic.

In coordinance with my last post it is true that he might be molting, but you'll never really know. but is it a matter of time? is a matter of time!