Hermit crab moving tanks

[giannaw]

Hello! I need to move my hermit crabs to a new tank but they’re under the sand and have been there for a while. Im really nervous that the sand collapsed on them but only one hermit crab has been coming up. All hermit crabs successfully molted and I want to dig the sand up to look for them but I don’t know if I should. Please give me some advice because all of their stuff is in that tank and im afraid to get it without collapsing tunnels or such.

[curlysister]

If you are able to maintain heat and humidity in both tanks, then the ideal situation would be to move them over to the new tank as you see they have come above ground.
If you can't do that and have to move them, you will need to carefully dig them up. Be prepared to isolate each one, in case they are molting when you find them - or to be cautious and isolate until you know they are strong.

[wodesorel]

How long is "a while"? How do you know if they all molted if you haven't seen them? They can remolt fairly quickly and could be down doing so again! What happened that you think the tunnels collapsed, that won't happen unless the tank gets moved or the sand dries out?

[giannaw]

They all molted in August and September and has showed signs (new leg hairs, color changing). I believe that they’re still adjusting to the tank because two of them are new. And I’m worried the tunnels collapsed because the top layer of the sand has been drying out and I have to mist it very often. So maybe they’re under the sand for the moisture, that’s why I got a nee tank to prevent this issue.