Crabs won’t dig?

Where we discuss the behavior of our hermit crabs, as in fights, pecking orders, shell swaps, etc. Please post all naked-crab posts in the Emergency forum.
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Da_Stos208
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Joined: Tue May 10, 2016 5:59 pm

Crabs won’t dig?

Post by Da_Stos208 » Mon Nov 21, 2022 12:03 pm

Ever since moving my crab to a new 50 gal, and acquiring a new roommate for her, I’ve noticed neither of them have dug at all.

The one i moved from an old tank was digging all the time, and was in the process of tearing up her old tank when i moved her. She is very active, climbing and exploring her new space constantly, but has yet to dig.

The newcomer is much smaller, missing the ends of most of his legs, and doesn’t seem to be healthy enough to climb, and has mostly just been hanging out in the moss pit, also not digging.

Should i be concerned?


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sundewgirl
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Re: Crabs won’t dig?

Post by sundewgirl » Mon Nov 21, 2022 6:36 pm

Personally, I've found my crabs go through phases of digging/not digging. Also I re-did the aboveground portion of their tank this summer and they spent weeks just exploring it, not digging at all. They eventually started to burrow again and now the sand is everywhere lol. Since you got the little guy recently, he might still just be de-stressing from what I would imagine to be a very hectic trip for a small crab. It's great he found the moss pit! How long has it been since you moved them into the bigger tank?


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Da_Stos208
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Re: Crabs won’t dig?

Post by Da_Stos208 » Wed Nov 23, 2022 9:43 pm

sundewgirl wrote:Personally, I've found my crabs go through phases of digging/not digging. Also I re-did the aboveground portion of their tank this summer and they spent weeks just exploring it, not digging at all. They eventually started to burrow again and now the sand is everywhere lol. Since you got the little guy recently, he might still just be de-stressing from what I would imagine to be a very hectic trip for a small crab. It's great he found the moss pit! How long has it been since you moved them into the bigger tank?
It’s been about three weeks. I haven’t seen the little guy since last week, hopefully he dug down to molt.


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wodesorel
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Re: Crabs won’t dig?

Post by wodesorel » Sat Nov 26, 2022 8:34 pm

Did the substrate change in any way? Members have noted crabs throwing hissy fits over the substrate being different! They tend to settle down in a month or so if that is the issue.
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Topic author
Da_Stos208
Posts: 141
Joined: Tue May 10, 2016 5:59 pm

Re: Crabs won’t dig?

Post by Da_Stos208 » Mon Nov 28, 2022 10:50 pm

wodesorel wrote:Did the substrate change in any way? Members have noted crabs throwing hissy fits over the substrate being different! They tend to settle down in a month or so if that is the issue.
The lower soil is new, but I purposely moved the substrate from the old tank and added it on top of the additional deeper soil so it would still smell like home, have the same germs, etc.


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