HCA: Hermit Crab Association

A few weeks ago I found one of my crabs had died. He presumably went down for a molt and something went wrong. It would have been his first molt since I got him. My tank is set up to standards and I feed a variety of fresh food and mixes. I have dechlorinated fresh water and marine salt water available. Temp is always around 80-84 and humidity runs 85%+.

It’s kind of been driving me nuts because I thought I was doing everything right and was anxiously awaiting him to come up. I had one other crab go down at the same time and he eventually surfaced and is doing great!

So I guess my question is, does this occasionally happen during first molts or is there something additional I could have done to prevent it?




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Sorry for your loss. Unfortunately this happens all of the time. We recently lost a strawberry we purchased about 3 weeks ago. It also happened to a PP we purchased in early July. Sometimes they just can't take the stress of being taken from their natural home, shipped to a holding cell, shipped to a store, then moved again. Even though we give the best possible care we can to them we can't tell what they suffered before our care. They could have been in extreme hot or cold conditions, No proper water, no correct humidity levels and whatever else could have been too much for them. Sometimes they hold onto life a lot longer than a normal creature would and it does not surface until they molt. I know I beat myself up all the time on what I may or may not have done with their care. Unfortunately we can not tell what a crab has been through until after they have been in our care for several weeks or months to know if they are healthy.

It’s commonly referred to as Post-Purchase Syndrome (PPS). Any new crab is at risk until it can molt successfully.

Sorry for your loss! You did the best you could.


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