Crab digging up molter?

[happyhermies33]

One of my bigger hermit crabs Seamore went down to molt on december 30th. when he went down, he was wearing a brown banded tapestry shell, and i only have one of that kind of shell. When i went to check on the hermies tonight i noticed that shell and thought seamore had come up from his molt because the shell was covered in sand, and when i picked him up it was not seamore, it was my other hermit crab shelly (I could tell because Shelly is smaller and the only crab in the tank with his back left leg more red than the rest of his body) so I figured seamore came up and changed his shell and shelly moved into his old shell, but I looked for nearly an hour and couldn’t find Seamore anywhere, and suspicious thing is, I can’t find the shell shelly changed out of anywhere on the surface. my question is did shelly dig up seamore and take his shell mid molt? do hermit crabs do that? i’m really worried about seamore. and the weird thing is too is that shell is extremely large on shelly. and i’m also confused because there is no reason for him to hurt seamore or take his shell i have tons of shells, all measured to the right sizes for all my hermies and they are all turbo seashells, and they all eat a very well balanced and high protein diet. i’m not sure what to do:(

[JoeHermits]

It can happen. Sounds like you did what you could but sometimes things just happen

However, it’s also possible Shelly simply passed away and left behind the shell, as well


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[happyhermies33]

yeah seamore could have passed before shelly dug him up, it was his first molt with me after being in poor conditions for a year and a half, i adopted him in early december. Update on shelly, i found him digging exactly where my other hermie clawdia is molting so i moved him into a temporary tank because im worried he will do it to my other molters, and there may be something wrong with him because i’ve had him for about 9 months and he’s never done this before.

my question is when is to safe to start digging for seamore? this morning i took out all the decorations that wouldn’t disturb my other molters and looked everywhere hoping for the possibility he came up and changed his shell but there’s no sight of him and none of the larger shells that would fit him are missing. I still haven’t found Shelly’s old shell, i’m guessing it’s down where seamore was under that sand. I have 2 other crabs i am sure are molting, 1 that i suspected is molting because she changed her shell and i haven’t seen her up in awhile, and one crab that is always hiding and i can never seem to find him. Also i have never dealt with this type of situation, should i wait until everyone is up and move them all to a temporary tank then dig for seamore and replace the sand? and as for shelly i’m not sure how long to keep him separated. I loved seamore so much, he was my largest crab and he had such a personality:(

[JoeHermits]

Whoops, got the names mixed up. Sorry!

I would wait for at least two months from start of disappearance before trying to dig. With other crabs underground you’ll have to wait longer, I would not risk disturbing them for this. Note that hermit crabs can decompose fairly quickly so you may not find much


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[happyhermies33]

it’s ok!!

ok, i’ll wait a few months and until my other hermies come up. i’m sorry i have so many questions but how long should i keep Shelly isolated? and if Seamore has passed under the sand when i dig him up in a few months how should i go about cleaning? I just did an entire substrate change in October, and my tank takes a lottt of substrate it’s 150 gallons, do I just take out and replace the part where he was molting or all of it? he was molting near the left end of the tank should I just take out the entire side?

thank you

[JoeHermits]

I’d keep Shelly isolated until you’re sure that diet or shell choice isn’t an issue and then reintroduce. If this has never happened before in the several years the crabs have been together it may just be a one time thing. I’d recommend dipping everyone who’s not buried in the same freshwater so they all smell similar

You probably don’t need to replace everything, just poke around in the general area and remove anything that looks or smells funky


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