I accidentally picked up what I thought was an empty shell after my hermie Howl came out of the dirt

[Salemk555]

Hello! I am a bit worried. My hermie Howl, came out of the dirt after a week and has not molted, it’s been 24 hours and he’s just so far eaten vitamin mix, and food, and has not changed shells. I didn’t realize it was him, and thought he was an empty shell and picked it up, realized it was him and quickly put him back, (I had barely started to lift). And am
Now worried I disturbed any molting. He usually does not
Molt in a week and for him it takes on average 4-5 weeks. I think he may have just been buried and moving around in the dirt potentially coming up at night. Is there anything I can do? I hope I didn’t disturb him if he was molting as it was an accident. But so far for the past 24 hours he has not changed shells. Can anyone advise?

[curlysister]

To clarify - he was buried for a while, and came back up on his own? And now he has not changed shells?

A crab won't always change shells before or after a molt. Sometimes the shell still fits just fine, so they have no reason to change. If you didn't dig him up, and he came up on his own, then he is just fine. Sometimes crabs dig underground just for fun, not always to molt. Once they come back up, it's okay that you lifted him up, you will not have harmed him at all.