It's Been a While...

[BlookittiePC]

[/quote] There's really no reason to dig at all. From the sound of your post, you just continually try to justify why you are wanting to dig.

I totally get worrying. I had a crab that was in smaller than a 1" opening shell stay underground for 6 months!! I thought for sure they were dead, all their other molts were only about 6-8 weeks. It makes no logical sense to us humans how they are surviving underground - but obviously they can! They're crabs! Think about it, they can eat their exo and even the substrate & pieces off their own shells! They breath through modified gills - they can obviously continue breathing underground (barring tunnel collapse, obviously).

I really encourage you to not dig. You say you have to because you can't have 2 tanks set up, yet you have room for your upgraded tank and a potential ISO? You say you have to dig because you need to use some of the substrate in the new tank...but you can buy sand/EE for easilyyyy less than $10. Is your crabs life potentially worth $10 in substrate savings for you? Just wait. You have nothing to lose in waiting, your crab has their whole life on the line...and they have no choice but to trust you to keep their best interests in mind.
[/quote]

I do understand that they can eat/breathe underground, but how would they store enough shell water to drink for that long? Also, I think I was maybe not the clearest with my wording... an iso for me would end up being a margarine tub that would be placed in the new tank, or a sealed kritter keeper. It would be very cramped with two tanks in my room. Playsand is cheap, but due to covid-19 concerns, I doubt my parents would bring me to the hardware store to buy any.
I will try smoothing out the sand, but I also have a camera that takes pictures every ten minutes and hasn't seen anything since Jarvis went down. I will wait until the end of June, maybe July if I can convince my dad. Thanks everyone for the advice. I will let you know what happens.

[relaxits4lex]

If you are that concerned then go for it. As long as you are careful you can go a long way. Though if he is still alive I would suggest moving him into the ISO. So he won’t struggle to come back up.


Thanks.

[AweStraws]

If I have the same situation like you, I'll definitely dig it, assuming your crab is considered small to medium, 6 months of molt is insane, if your crab still alive, I believe it already finished its molt, but just need some time to be more ready. When I change to a bigger tank a year ago, I have 5 crabs underground (all is small to medium size), and I wait just a month to dig all of them, I know its too fast and some of them still not done eating their exo (i feel so bad thinking about it) then I put them in iso to finish it. And all of them are still with me right now, super healthy and active!

[BlookittiePC]

Thank you everyone for the advice. I plan to dig and upgrade at the end of June, or when my other crab comes back up from his molt.