What am i doing wrong?

[IamSam]

I had two hermit crabs. One died a few months ago for unknown reasons. Seriously i have no clue, if curious read my older post or ask. But my remaining crab went down for her molt just over nine weeks ago.

I keep track of their molts and her last one took just over five weeks. Currently shes been down for going on nine weeks. I know that their molts take longer as they get bigger but its been much longer then i feel it should.

She could have passed on, and my other crab died and im baffled by why. The humidity is good, 80-90%. And i checked and it is working correctly.

I did get a new heatmat a couple months before my first crab passed. And it covers 2/3 of the back of the tank. Its a Fluker's heat mat set at 84 degrees, so the temp should always be between 81 and 84. The heatmat is on the back right of the tank. And the temperature probe is on the right side wall in the middle.

The heatmat does go under the substrate. I was told that that isn't good. But i also feel like someone told me that was fine before i bought it.

The foods ive given them are all on the hermit crab safe foods list. Thay always get calcium and protein. Though the dried turtle treats they get are getting a little old but i feel they should still be fine.

Their water pools are changed weekly. And the salt water is instant ocean made according to the instructions. The fresh water is well water. No chlorine so no need for a dechlorinator.

Any insights as to what im doing wrong would be appreciated.

[curlysister]

Your tank conditions have always sounded really good. I wouldn't panic about the crab who is under, just keep being patient.
It's hard because we can't do any diagnostics on crabs, so really can't know what is going wrong.

[IamSam]

Ive recently been told that having a heat mat that goes down past the sand is dangerous for them.

Thoughts?

[JoeHermits]

That’s been going around a lot, but it’s not necessarily dangerous. Main downside is the substrate absorbing the heat so it’ll dry out faster


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[curlysister]

I agree with JoeH, it might just dry out the sub in that spot. It's not dangerous. I've always had mats that go below the level of the sub.