HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Well I'm super excited because I've just come home to discover that my first molting crab, Amy, has surfaced! She'd been down for 5 weeks and I was getting worried, but I kept checking the forums here and made sure not to disturb her. And lo and behold, there she is! And much more red colored than before (I think because I feed them carrot slices)
My one question is how long should I leave her alone before returning her to the main tank? She seems pretty hardened up already and is moving around, but should I wait a day? I've put fresh food and water out.

Congrats on the first molt
I would give her a day or two to eat and do her thing, then just give her a dip in the main tank's freshwater dish (so she doesn't smell like an easy snack after the molt) and she should be fine in the main tank.

As soon as she is active and everything she can go back to the main tank. Just be sure to give her a dip in the fresh water to wash off any remaining molt smell and make her neutral smelling again.

Awesome I will make sure to do that! Don't want her smelling tasty to the others haha

Exactly!