Dead Crabs?!?

[Sandlight]

Hello. Warning: dead crabs. I need some advice! I am a very confused, long-time owner of hermit crabs. I had six crabs, and I have owned them from 3-6 years, depending on the crab. They were all doing well and healthy, as far as I could tell. They were all fairly active and comfortable in their home. However, 6 months ago, I moved from California to Washington. I did my best to keep them comfortable and safe during the move, I kept the temperature and humidity mostly the same, and then I set up their tank in the new house. For the first couple months, they seemed to be settling in all right. A lot less movement, and a couple buried themselves for a while, but they eventually all got up and were being active at least sometimes. Then, a storm cut our power and it was out for 3 days, during the winter. I did what I could to keep their home warm, but we were freezing too, and I didn't have any way to get power in my apartment. Shortly after that episode, my largest and oldest crab (6 years) died. I assumed it was from the cold snap, and I mourned him but I didn't think much more about it. For about 2 months, the rest of the crabs continued their lives normally, but then some of them started going underground. I figured they were molting, and I kept an eye on the tank, but didn't do anything else. I provided new shells, and a lot of the crabs switched around. I honestly lost track of them at that point, because I kept seeing different shells empty and different shells being used, and I was only seeing one or two above ground at a time. Once the switching seemed to die down, I tried to keep track of which crabs were up and which were just molting, and I thought I had three molters, plus two more that were just hanging out. However, time kept passing, and none of the molters came up.

It has been about two months since the three seemed to go underground permanently and another has disappeared more recently, about two weeks ago. So I decided to look around and check on them. I hadn't until this point, because I was wary of bothering molting crabs. However, as I dug around, all I found were empty shells! I was worried at this point, so I actually went through the tank very carefully and found that I only have one crab left - the one who never went underground. I found the shell of the little one who went down about 2 weeks ago, and she was inside, dead. But I did not even find bodies of the other three! Their shells were empty and I found a couple body parts - not sure if they were molted parts or actual crab parts, but I really only found 3-4 pieces.

My best guess is that my last living crab ate all the rest. I am pretty shocked and sad, but I don't know what to think or do from here. Could they have all tried to molt at the same time, and gotten eaten? I have never had a crab eat or even bother a molting crab before. Or could the crabs have died of another cause, and the living one just took advantage and ate them? I am not sure if they could still be stressed from the move, it has been six months total, and they were fine in between, I thought. I don't think it was the cold, either, because they all lived for about 2 months after the first one died from the cold. I'm just not sure what went wrong, and now, I don't know what to do. Should I be worried about my surviving crab eat others too? I don't want him all alone in such a big tank, but I am afraid to put him in with new crabs, if he was the problem.

Any thoughts? Advice? Please tell me what you think!

[JoeHermits]

It’s possible that the cold snap did some damage that we can’t see. It’s hard to say since hermit crabs don’t like displaying obvious symptoms of sickness or injury. For all we know the stress of the move combined with the cold could have made things worse. There’s a lot going on here.

Additionally, you’d be surprised how fast a deceased crustacean breaks down in a tank. Your last crab eating the others is a possibility but I think it’s just a coincidence.


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[curlysister]

I agree with Joe, the cold may have done damage that was unseen, and the crabs just didn't have enough energy to make it throught the next molt. How cold was your tank for how long?