Molting Crabs

[HermieGuy]

As far as I know, both of my crabs are underground and molting. I haven't heard any movement in a few weeks. I've been taking care of my tank as I normally do, and my heat mat is working fine on the Medium setting even though I was warned before that it can overheat. So far it's been working well.

I was fluffing up the substrate in my tank and accidentally found a crab tunnel with a shell inside. Instead of putting more substrate on top of the opening, I moved the coconut hut over it for protection.

Now, I don't know how to tell if one of my hermit crabs die while they are underground. I do know that they start smelling really bad after a while, but would I be able to smell that while they are underground and surrounded by a few inches of substrate? I'm just curious.

[curlysister]

If you have any crabs underground, you should NOT be fluffing up or disturbing the substrate in any way - you are just asking for trouble if you do.
If a crab dies underground, you will often not smell it. The only way thing you can do is wait for them to come back up. Eventually, if one doesn't come up and you are absolutely certain it has not come up and gone back down, you can dig for it - but this shouldn't be done for at least 4 months, and only if you are certain (ie- if you have cameras 24/7).

[HermieGuy]

Ah, my bad. I won't fluff up the substrate again for now. I'll be monitoring my tank more often, though. Thanks for the extra info!