HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Crabs do not leave their shells to molt. As Angelbear stated, a naked crab is an emergency - a crab will die without a shell. The link that Angelbear gave to the care sheet, gives all the information you need to try to get your crab to take a shell, and to manually re-shell him if he will not.

I would not be worried at all. Crabs eat very little when they are small. I swear that for the first couple of years I had my two crabs, the only way I knew they were eating and drinking is that they were still alive! It seemed like I put in and took out the exact same amount of food every time. Jus...

Hmmm....okay. If he's underground, you wouldn't know where, so pushing the pop bottle down into the sub far enough to protect the molting crab might cause a problem for the one under. In that case, it might be better to use the Tupperware.

Personally, I would iso him where he is. That way, you don't need to disturb him at all. You could use a 2L pop bottle, lid off, bottom cut off. Push it into the sub deep enough that he is protected from your other crab. That is assuming that your other crab is above ground. Your other crab is top-s...

Welcome to crabbing! Many (if not most) of us started the same way you did - got the crabs, then realized we didn't know how to care for them.
Be sure to look through the Care Sheets, it can be a bit overwhelming at the start, but start with the 'basics' one and go from there.

A naked crab is an emergency. They drop their shell when they are too weak to carry it. The first thing you need to do is to get the crab back into a shell, if it is still alive. Here is the care sheet that explains how to do that: http://www.hermitcrabassociation.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=1223...

UTH's should never be mounted on the bottom (ie- underneath) a hermit crab tank. They are not meant to heat through the amount of sub we have, and are a fire hazard if used that way.

I would say that if the powdered peanut butter is just peanuts and maybe a bit of salt, it should be safe. Some people will probably say it should be organic. I would avoid any that had any artificial sweeteners or preservatives.

I am totally spitballing here, but would think 48-72 hours would be fine to be sealed up.

Wait.
It could be that he comes up while you aren't looking. If you don't have an emergency when the risk of digging outweighs to risk of being under, then don't dig.

If your UTH's are on the back or side of the tank, you don't have to unplug them when you cover with plastic wrap - my first two tanks only had plastic wrap for the covers. Are your flooring guys working during the days? You could seal it up really well for the day, then let some air in at night. Th...

....Bueller?....

Hahaha love it!

Can you seal up the tank? Like with plastic wrap and tape so nothing gets in there?

Or maybe he came up for a few minutes when you weren't looking and went back down. It happens sometimes.

My thoughts are that if the crab is dead and moldy, there is nothing to be gained by digging it up.
If it is exo getting moldy, or just the color of the exo (new or old), and the crab is alive - you could risk harming/ stressing/ causing damage to the live crab.

Higher humidity is not a problem for the crabs. Mine routinely runs over 90%. Food and other items can mold faster with higher humidity, but you can just remove the mold, it isn't harmful to the crabs. But your humidity is perfect at 89%!