HCA: Hermit Crab Association

My group of crabs started molting in February. I didn’t think much of it since three of them went under all around the same time. One came up at about the three week mark. I didn’t find this odd at first, because he is smaller than the other two, but those other two still haven’t come up and it’s been over two months and I am staring to get worried.
Hannibal buried himself feb 13th, and Simon followed suit on the 21st. Hannibal came up once mid March, and then buried himself again. I haven’t seen Simon at all, and haven’t seen Hannibal since. There haven’t been any new trails in the surface sand either.
Neither of them are buried close enough to a side of the tank for me to see them, and I don’t want to just go poking around to see what’s up. I have been misting the tank daily like I always do, and changing food and water (eventhough it seems untouched). This is the first molt these two have had with me, so I don’t have anything to compare them two (they are also the biggest crabs I have had)
Does anyone have any idea why they are taking so long? Is it just molting or should I be concerned?
Any thoughts, tips of things I should do/look for would be greatly appreciated!

Sounds totally normal to me. Please do not dig them up. Crabs can be down molting for up to 6 months for larger crabs. Two months is nothing to worry about at all, even for small crabs.
Like you are doing, keep changing the food and water. Be sure your temp and humidity are correct, using gauges not just misting. What do you use for substrate? Is it at least 6 inches or 3x as deep as your largest crab? Is it sand castle consistency?

curlysister wrote: ↑

Wed Apr 24, 2019 8:00 pm

Sounds totally normal to me. Please do not dig them up. Crabs can be down molting for up to 6 months for larger crabs. Two months is nothing to worry about at all, even for small crabs.
Like you are doing, keep changing the food and water. Be sure your temp and humidity are correct, using gauges not just misting. What do you use for substrate? Is it at least 6 inches or 3x as deep as your largest crab? Is it sand castle consistency?

In the end of the tank they are buried in the sand is about 5 inches deep. I meant to put more in for them, but they went under before I could and I didn’t want to pile on top of them. Substrate is playsand. I just checked the sand and it is sand castle consistency.

They can move quite a bit under the sand, and very well may not be where they went down anymore. It is recommended that the entire tank be at least 6 inches, or three times as deep as your largest crab, whichever is deeper. You can add up to an inch of sand per 24 hours, as long as you don't pack it down, when crabs are buried. Many of us use playsand and Eco Earth (in a 5 to 1 ratio) because the EE helps hold moisture, and also helps with the humidity levels in the tank.