HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Curiosity was happily crawling around last night in his ISO, and now he's dug a hole and it looks like he came out of his shell underground! He's still alive, but why did he do that? And what can I do?

OK, now I'm getting scared. He's not moving anymore, and he's on his side! Does he even have a chance???Oh yeah, and here's the questions:1) How long have you had your crabs and how long have you been caring for this particular crab in distress?I've had this crab for a week.2) What size is your tank and what kind of lid do you have?It's a 5 gallon or so, and it's a plastic lid with wrap on top. 3) What are you using for heat? Please be specific and include fixture type, watt or mat size and where the heat source is mounted.No heating for the ISO, but I have a small lamp that is providing heat. 4) What kind of substrate do you use in your tank and at what depth? Is it dry or damp and sand castle consistency?Mason sand from Home Depot, and in ISO it is 6 inches. Yes, it is sand castle consistency. 5) Do you dechlorinate your fresh water and if so, with what product? Do you offer aquarium salt water in addition to fresh water? Again, what product?Yes I do. I dechlorinate with API and give salt from Instant Ocean.6) What do you normally feed your crabs?Popcorn, corn, and fish.7) Do you bathe, mist or handle your crabs at all?Haven't done any of that for Curiosity-EVER!8) What are the temperature and humidity readings? Please be specific and include high low fluctuations if you're aware of them.Umm... kind of embarrassing, but I don't have temperature or humidity gauges for ISO. It wasn't in my budget...

First I highly recommend getting a dual gauge for the temp and humidity in the iso as not having a way to accurately monitor these parameters can lead to the crab dieing.It sounds like PPS or post purchase stress as a hermitcrab will never abandon its shell and lay on its side willing unless it is sick/weak.Just keep the iso dim and make sure to keep the temp and humidity around seventy-five and just let the crab do its thing as there really isn't anything else that can be done at this point.

Thanks, Crabber85!I did exactly what you said, and he's back in his shell!

How's it going?

Still in ISO, is going in and out of his hole at night.