molting or dead crab

[kbrigman]

Just got new hermit crabs 3 days ago. This particular crab has been very active climbing all over the tank and seemed very interested in changing shells. It changed shells last night. Climbed to the top of the tank on some greenery and some time last night changed shells again to one that seems too small for it. The crab was fine at 9:00 this morning and at noon it fell out of the shell when it was picked up. One leg fell off in the process. Do you think its dead or molting and what do I do with the crab not being in a shell?

[curlysister]

If it is alive, it needs to be reshelled asap. Is it totally limp? Is it moving at all?

[kbrigman]

It doesn't look like its alive. Its limp. It was just so active yesterday and this morning. It changed itself into a smaller shell and was laying amongst some other shells. It looked odd hanging out of its shell a little more than usual so I picked it up to check on it. When I did, it rolled out of the shell. Right now it is isolated from the other crabs but not in a shell. I put him on some substrate in another tank with some food and water. I misted the tank and partially covered the top with a wet washcloth to give it some humidity. I don't know if its alive and how to take care of it. How do you reshell a crab?

[The Crab Maid]

You can only provide shells for it and hope it goes into one. But if limbs are falling off, that sort of sounds dead. Though always wait to be sure.

I'd go to the Emergency section and fill out the questionnaire for more in depth help to see if anything cause the death and if it can be prevented in your other crabs.