HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Gilligan came up from a molt a few weeks ago. He's never been a very dark color, but even now he's still pretty pale. And today when I looked closely, I saw both tips of his big pincher look like they've been chipped off. Could something missing in their diet be keeping him from darkening and hardening up? I don't think it was caused by a fight. He's very submissive to the others and usually tucks in his shell.

Early on, I had a crab, Sunshine, who would come up from a molt and promptly break off the tips of her walking legs. She came to me like this and it happened with two consecutive molts. The third time she molted, the legs held and she's still doing well today. I think the big difference is a lack of calcium/chitin that is lost during shipping, harvesting, and pet store conditions. Even if you give your crab lots of calcium and chitin after you get him, remember his exo may still have suffered and when he eats the old exoskeleton post-molt, he isn't necessarily getting the best nutrients even though you did everything right. Molting is cumulative and it may take another molt or two to fix him so his limbs are strong and healthy.For now, give him daily access to a dish full of only calcium sources (Calci-Sand, crushed oyster shells, cuttlebone, crushed eggshells, etc.) as well as routine feeding of shrimp exo, krill, dried baby shrimp, and so forth and hopefully he'll catch up to the point where he won't damage his limbs with routine activity.I think he'll be fine until the next molt, though.

Thanks Nicole, I was hoping it wasn't too serious. Thank goodness I still had some scallop shells and loaded one up with dried eggshells, calci-sand, cuttlebone and Heidi's Calci Cookie (THANKS Heidi!) That hadn't occured to me that even though they eat the exo, it may not be very nutritious after coming from bad conditions. I thought about putting him in the iso with three tiny's, but I think I'll leave him in the 55.

Damaged exo could also be caused by overly damp conditions that interfere with hardening, or premature moving/movement of/by a still soft crab. (If someone's digging nearby and they try to relocate themselves or their pocket collapses and something gets pressed against them.)As Nicole suggested though it's likely chitin related. What cellulose foods do you offer?