HCA: Hermit Crab Association

we havent seen our PPs for a long time now. we got them in July. I made this nice terrarium with fun stuff to climb and places to hide etc. and they choose to be underground!

is it possible that all 4 are molting at the same time? and how much longer will this take? i smell nothing which makes me think they're alive.

i hear no movement or digging in there. we got these for my 9 yr old and she is totally bummed.

It is normal for them to have dug down to destress and then molt, once brought home to good conditions. Mass molts are also not unusual. Unfortunately, this happens when keeping hermit crabs. At times it may feel like your caring for an empty tank. It's important to try to remain patient and allow them to do their thing. Just keep conditions right, keep refreshing food (you could stick to mostly dried while they're all down so not as much goes to waste) and both fresh and salt water. It'll all be worth it when they do resurface.


If you're worried something's off with your crabitat, you can copy and paste the questions found here and we can double check for you.

New crabs almost always want to molt soon after coming home and having proper substrate. When I first started out I had 12 of 13 crabs down molting. I kept getting more because the tank was empty, and they would go straight down, too! It will get better once they get through this first one, as their cycle will normally stagger based on their size and age. My same-sized crabs would also go down in groups though, since they came in and had their initial molt at the same time. Molting is the absolute worst part of owning hermit crabs because it's so boring!

yes, i feel like i'm caring for an empty tank.

LOL Will13, i did, too, and felt that way for a while. Fresh water and food daily, that was all the action i got, and it all went untouched. It went on for 2 months, then everyone came up and it was FANTASTIC! Then 2 days later everyone went back down except for 1 guy. Waves if this activity rollercoaster has proven normal in the 4-5 months I have been crabbing. Don't worry, there will be action soon! Just take lots of pictures and videos so you can enjoy what you can before they go back down


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ok

My 4 crabs all molt at the same time every time, and I end up caring for an empty tank for about a month or so, before they start coming back up. Its worth it once they show up again

They'll be back up eventually, I had 4/5 down for the past month. One just came back up today and promptly lodged himself in the chola before I could tell who it was. At least Banshee will have a buddy up again, he was getting lonely.

Is there a point at which where I should be concerned? It's been probably 2 months for the one down the longest?

I hear digging. First time in multiple weeks!

Molting can take up to 8 months according to my reading here. I'm sure this is on the far outside of the norm but I'm sure your crab is fine at 2 months. I have yet to have a molt go on for more than a month or so but my big guy hasn't molted with me yet (he came home with sharpened toes and setae so I'm thinking he got picked up fresh after a molt). I'm pretty sure once he goes down I'm gonna be missing him at least for a month or two. He's on the verge of being a large. Oh and size doesn't always matter. My smallest took 6 weeks to do her first molt with me and she's tiny, almost small.


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It can take awhile, but once they do come up it's part time!

One came up last night! Probably down around 2 months.

Great!

Congrats on your first resurface! Does he/she look molted?


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