Digging up crabs

[Jaydick484]

Hi!
I am going to give my two crabs another week until I go searching for them. They have been down for about a month and are small-med. It was my first time with crabs, and I had what the petsore sold....the cement stuff. I heard them scratching on the way down, but nothing since. I also had placed more eco earth on top since, and slightly packed it. I had no idea what I was doing, the pet store gave no advice when handing me these crabs. I'm worried they are trapped, and would like to rescue them, if possible. I've tried scraping some of this sand out from another area of the tank, but I can barely scratch the surface off. It seriously is like cement! Is there a safe method for digging through this stuff?
I am moving my third crab to a bigger tank with better substrate, and want to know if I need to keep this old tank running. Also, if they are trapped, I'd like to get them out to a safer tank. Any advice?

[JoeHermits]

I don’t have any good advice other than go slow and be careful, especially if using tools like a hand shovel or pick


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