Almost immediate molt upon purchase?

[Alfielou]

Hi. We bought our three crabs last Saturday. They had all hidden in the shallow substrate at the pet store and didn't move there. Once in the car, two of the three were very active, and the third became very active once home. He played in the water in the tank after a quick splash bath with dechlorinated water before going in to double check for mites and climbed all over us. Atbthe 3-4 hour point, he went under a wooden arch, buried, and hasn't been seen again (4 days) even though we check off and on during dark hours, too. At the 6-7 hour point from arrival home, a second went under and also has not been seen since. The third continues to come out every evening around 9 but hides most of the day. Is it common for such immediate molts after being in a pet store and finally getting into an ideal tank with good temp, humidity, and substrate depth? There is no foul smell. My only other concern is that the active one keeps burying right on top of each of the places the other two went under. He seems to be staying fairly superficial, as there is just a hole and not a long tunnel left behind when he comes out. I just worry that he may be eating the others if he is going down right over them--especially since he started on one, used that spot for two days and then moved to where the other is and has used it for the last two days. Any ideas or input here would be great! Thanks

[Hermiearth]

Totally normal for them to molt after purchase, could also be simply de-stressing under the sand. How deep is your substrate?


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[Kermie16]

They could be just digging, de-stressing, or molting. All are very normal for new hermies, especially from pet stores. As Hermieearth mentioned, your sub depth is very important because u want to make sure they have plenty of room for digging and molting and decreasing the risk of them bumping in to each other. I have a 55g with 12-13 inches of sub. Typically u want the depth to be about 3 times of ur largest crab.


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[Alfielou]

Hi. We have a 10 gallon tank with three that are the size of a quarter or smaller. Substrate is about 6 1/2 inches deep. Thanks