Lack of molts. Should I be worried?

[kadynadair16]

I bought two crabs on may 31 of this year so about 6 months ago. They are both close to being medium sized. I also have a small crab that I got in 2014 on June 28. But anyways ever since I bought the two crabs, these three hermies have not molted at all! Should I be worried? Sebastian(the small crab) has molted with me before but idk why he isn't now. What should I do?


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[kadynadair16]

I also may add that my other crab Oswald is molting rn. He had been under for about a week. He is also a small

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[landlubber]

I don't know.......what are your conditions like? What's the temps and humidity? What is the substrate and how deep is it? They might not molt if conditions aren't right for a molt......

[kadynadair16]

I don't know.......what are your conditions like? What's the temps and humidity? What is the substrate and how deep is it? They might not molt if conditions aren't right for a molt......

She's almost a medium crab. 1. Ecoearth and plays and both 6 inches deep
2. humitity is 99% and temp are usually around 78-83
3. Heat source: two uth heaters with insulation
4. Both fresh and salt water are in the tank.I use Tetra dechlorinator and api stress coat. Instant ocean salt and 1tbsp to 2cups of water
5. I feed them Hermit crab patch supplements and surf and turf and a few others. Cuttle bone, organic coconut . brine shrimp blood worms etc. Ocassional veggies and fruit . replaced every other one or two days depending on what's in there
6. Ive had them for 5-6 months. All are Pps.None have molted yet
8. 29g tank. Mesh lid with cardboard wrapped in saran wrap taped on with duct tape for the lid.
9. In tank: 4 crabs all pp. 2 smalls 2 close to medium size
10. 10-15 shells in tank rn getting more soon.
12. I clean the surface substrate when food spills which isn't very often and if need to pick up something that the crabs have knocked over or destroyed I will pick up the poop and moss that's spilled I'll do this about once a week.
13. No sponges
14. Just added a waterfall last night, some cholla wood was added about a week ago.
15. I've been doing the waving figure method of training with them. I like to watch them before I go to sleep?

This is all my info. I'm pretty positive all my conditions are correct. I've always kept a close eye on that. Apparently I can't count.

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[landlubber]

Humidity a bit high at 99%, but you do a nice job caring for them. How deep is the substrate? What conditions did you get them from? Of course the bigger the crab gets the less often they need to molt, but I also would have expected them to molt by now.

[Mr. Crabs]

What I've learned about my hermit crab is there is a pattern to molting. He first molted on April 19 then he molted a 2nd time on October 19 that is a 6 month gap. Which shows me he molts in the spring and autumn

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[kadynadair16]

Humidity a bit high at 99%, but you do a nice job caring for them. How deep is the substrate? What conditions did you get them from? Of course the bigger the crab gets the less often they need to molt, but I also would have expected them to molt by now.

Substrate is 6 inches all throughout the tank. I got them from pet smart. The conditions there are okay, very over crowded tank with no shells . pellets for food . 2 inches of substrate.

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[landlubber]

I wouldn't say it's critical, nor I am sure what I could advise you to do because everything sounds ready for their molts. Maybe someone else will have something to add, but if they aren't molting it doesn't sound like anything you are doing.......I would suspect it has to do with happened to them before you got them. I hope they molt soon for you!

[me n my hermikids]

What I've learned about my hermit crab is there is a pattern to molting. He first molted on April 19 then he molted a 2nd time on October 19 that is a 6 month gap. Which shows me he molts in the spring and autumn

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This is an interesting study, Mr. Crabs. I recomend that you continue monitoring your crabs' molting cycles to see if they stay in that pattern.

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[wodesorel]

Time spent molting and time between molt is based on their age. Each molt should take a little longer and be a little more spaced out. In general:

Micro/Teeny - 1 week (but can stay underground for up to 4 weeks), every month
Small - 2-3 weeks, every 1 to 3 months
Medium - 3 to 6 weeks, every 2 to 5 months
Large - 4 to 8 weeks, every 4 to 10 months
Extra Large - 6 weeks to 8 weeks, every 10 to 12 months
Jumbo - 8 weeks to 16 weeks, every 12 to 24 months

They aren't really all that far off, especially if you're underestimating how big they are.

Have they disappeared for even a week or so at all? I've had almost large crabs perform speed molts in the moss pit and be back up and moving within a week. If I hadn't found them mid molt I never would have realized it happened. In almost all cases your crab will disappear for a couple of months when it molts, but sometimes they don't.

You're also double treating the water when you don't need to be - the Tetra products all come with a stress coat and it gets any heavy metals. If you have chloramine treated water (call the water department and they can tell you) then you need to use something else that will take care of the leftover ammonia on top of that.

[kadynadair16]

Time spent molting and time between molt is based on their age. Each molt should take a little longer and be a little more spaced out. In general: They aren't really all that far off, especially if you're underestimating how big they are.

Have they disappeared for even a week or so at all? I've had almost large crabs perform speed molts in the moss pit and be back up and moving within a week. If I hadn't found them mid molt I never would have realized it happened. In almost all cases your crab will disappear for a couple of months when it molts, but sometimes they don't.

You're also double treating the water when you don't need to be - the Tetra products all come with a stress coat and it gets any heavy metals. If you have chloramine treated water (call the water department and they can tell you) then you need to use something else that will take care of the leftover ammonia on top of that.

I am not sure. If they have I don't remember. So do I need to just stop using the stress coat and only use dechlorinTor?

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[CallaLily]

Take a look at their leg tips, do they have sharp pointy nails? Also, are they very hairy looking? These are clues to if they have recently molted.

[kadynadair16]

Take a look at their leg tips, do they have sharp pointy nails? Also, are they very hairy looking? These are clues to if they have recently molted.

Ariel and Dory are both pretty hairy. Sebastian is some what hairy not as much as the other two though. All of them have pointy nails. Sebastains are duller though.

Also, I think I might have found either a molting sack or eggs on dory. I'm not quite sure yet. I'll research more to find out. I resized them all and they all seem to be med-large. Idk what I was thinking last time.

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[kadynadair16]

Looks like it's a molting sack.

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[IBlab crab]

What I've learned about my hermit crab is there is a pattern to molting. He first molted on April 19 then he molted a 2nd time on October 19 that is a 6 month gap. Which shows me he molts in the spring and autumn

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I have kept a molting log of my crabs for the past 6 years and can usually predict their molts down to the day they surface.They get on a schedule after awhile.I write the date they go down and the date they come up,what number molt it is and how many weeks it took and how long since last molt.You can adjust it as they get bigger, it will take longer to molt and be longer between molts.