Would they disappear so quick?

[MusicalRose]

So two weeks ago, I rescued two teeny hermits from pretty horrid conditions - silica sand not even an inch deep, small pools, crab pellets. Their previous owner had them just over a year. The shells provided as "extra" are too big even for my two Medium Hermies to fit. They've never molted, but a prior friend tried and did not make it.

I brought them home and put them immediately into my tank with optimized conditions - 8" of 5:1, 76 degrees, 90% humidity, deep pools etc. The one teeny changed shells in the last week and has been hanging out topside with the two larger hermies in the tank. The other, well, I haven't seen since the day I brought them home. Like...poof...they've disappeared.

So, what I'm wondering is this - has anyone else had a new crab immediately bury themselves to molt?

Any thoughts?

(Ps - my profile pic is the one teeny, who's now in a lovely Jade Turbo since changing from their West India Top snail shell)

[hermitcrablover2]

It's possible the one teeny immediately went to molt after being in conditions with shallow sand. If he is molting then I would keep an eye on your larger hermies to make sure they don't try to dig teeny up or anything

[ROSIEonFIRE]

I would say this is pretty normal. After what these crabs have been through, they certainly need to rest, destress, recharge, and probably molt. It may be a while before you see that one again but try not to worry about it too much