HCA: Hermit Crab Association

So, I got a little issue, with some partial good news- I had 3 crabs ( 1 died back in june sadly ) and I've had all of them for a little more then a year ( they are Odin, Iwao- ( who passed ), and the female, Tukiyo. I've only got two now, and ever since I got them last year, Tukiyo being small has never molted with me, and with it being a little bit more then a year since I've got them, Tukiyo has never tried molting and it was starting to get concerning, but I believe she's finally trying to molt now! She's starting to bury and she hasn't done that really since I got them and they were trying to de-stress.

However, I'm a little worried about Odin since he molted back at the start of the year, and he's the only one on the surface- I don't want him to get lonely and potentially sick from depression due to Tukiyo being underground and being by himself, should I be worried about that and possibly look into trying to get another crab, or will he be ok/ be aware of the other crab being buried?

He’ll be fine. He’s not going to suffer while his tankmate is underground.


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Thank you!

I think they know when they have a friend underground

She was digging in really inconvenient locations and I had to make sure there was a tunnel of air going down. ( not digging her up, usually sticking sticking my finger done until I touch the tip of her shell ) What was mainly bad about the areas is where Odin actively walks around at and constantly pattens up substrate back up- after being down for roughly 12 days she's hiding behind a padoga I have in the tank. I really thought she was molting because due to her size, and the fact it's been more then a year since I've gotten her- she hasn't molted and with how long it's been, is really concerning. Should I be worried?

GotButterflies wrote: ↑

Mon Sep 02, 2019 2:40 pm

I think they know when they have a friend underground

That's cool!

Xenpurgisnachttt wrote: ↑

Thu Sep 12, 2019 1:40 pm

She was digging in really inconvenient locations and I had to make sure there was a tunnel of air going down. ( not digging her up, usually sticking sticking my finger done until I touch the tip of her shell ) What was mainly bad about the areas is where Odin actively walks around at and constantly pattens up substrate back up- after being down for roughly 12 days she's hiding behind a padoga I have in the tank. I really thought she was molting because due to her size, and the fact it's been more then a year since I've gotten her- she hasn't molted and with how long it's been, is really concerning. Should I be worried?

As long as your substrate is minimum 6 inches they will dig and tunnel all over. No reason to stick your finger in there and touch her. 12 days is not long to be under. 4 months is the beginning of worry time.

I only did it to create an airway because she dug in extremely bad area where there was things like the food bool, etc, and mainly because of the large crab odin that tended to walk all around the area and compacted the holes

They don't need air holes when they are under the surface. Poking around with your finger could cause tunnels to collapse or otherwise disturb a molting or de-stressing crab. It is not recommended.