HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Hi- within a short period of time, I went from having 0 crabs to 9 crabs. 8/9 came from pet stores, 1 came from poor conditions with a different owner. I first had them in a 20 gallon tank, and 7/9 buried. I meanwhile turned my 44 gallon tank into a crabitat and moved my 2 "up" crabs to that tank. Those two are still up and about. The other 7 are still buried in the 20 gallon tank. I am patiently waiting for them to come up so they can move to their much larger crabitat. The first few have been down for 9-10 weeks, and all the rest for 8 weeks. About a month ago I filled out the tank conditions questionnaire and posted it, verified my conditions/food etc were all fine (other then them all being in a small tank which has since been rectified). All my conditions are still the same, both tanks are set up the same as far as heat/humidity, substrate etc.
I am pretty sure they are all alive, there have been no dead smell from the tank. I have multiple fish tanks and so am familiar with the smell of dead snails and fish The tanks just smell like moist warm air.
I have read about the post stress syndrome, and saw that new crabs can stay down for quite a while, I am just curious because every single one has been down for so long. I am 99% sure they aren't sneaking up at nite because there are no tracks in the sand, and the food is not moving. I have been photographing the tank before bed and comparing in the morning in case I do have an awake one.
So is what I am experiencing normal? Considering they came from pet stores with no humidity, 1" subsrate etc and moved into the correct conditions? I am in northern WI so these guys had to travel a long way from when they were taken captive in the wild.....I am just getting impatient to see my little guys. I have poored a crazy amount of money into these two tanks and all I want is to see the little buggers once in a while!

In my experience, almost every single crab that is coming either from a private owner with bad conditions or directly from the pet store will bury down within hours or days (sometimes minutes!) of being placed into correct conditions with proper substrate in order to molt. Two to three months down is perfectly normal, although boring as heck!

Once they come up prepare to have a ghost tank again in a few months as their cycles are synced at the moment. They will start swinging around into their own groove over time based on size and age and it won't be as bad after these first few mass molts.

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destahays wrote:Hi- within a short period of time, I went from having 0 crabs to 9 crabs. 8/9 came from pet stores, 1 came from poor conditions with a different owner. I first had them in a 20 gallon tank, and 7/9 buried. I meanwhile turned my 44 gallon tank into a crabitat and moved my 2 "up" crabs to that tank. Those two are still up and about. The other 7 are still buried in the 20 gallon tank. I am patiently waiting for them to come up so they can move to their much larger crabitat. The first few have been down for 9-10 weeks, and all the rest for 8 weeks. About a month ago I filled out the tank conditions questionnaire and posted it, verified my conditions/food etc were all fine (other then them all being in a small tank which has since been rectified). All my conditions are still the same, both tanks are set up the same as far as heat/humidity, substrate etc.
I am pretty sure they are all alive, there have been no dead smell from the tank. I have multiple fish tanks and so am familiar with the smell of dead snails and fish The tanks just smell like moist warm air.
I have read about the post stress syndrome, and saw that new crabs can stay down for quite a while, I am just curious because every single one has been down for so long. I am 99% sure they aren't sneaking up at nite because there are no tracks in the sand, and the food is not moving. I have been photographing the tank before bed and comparing in the morning in case I do have an awake one.
So is what I am experiencing normal? Considering they came from pet stores with no humidity, 1" subsrate etc and moved into the correct conditions? I am in northern WI so these guys had to travel a long way from when they were taken captive in the wild.....I am just getting impatient to see my little guys. I have poored a crazy amount of money into these two tanks and all I want is to see the little buggers once in a while!

I have 5 and 3 have been down since I think the end of September. 1 has come up I think and another gone down.

Awww.... invisible pets are the worst! :roll:

But yeah, I'd also say it's pretty normsville. That first captive moult can feel like it's taking forever - but two months isn't a super long time by crab moultin' standards.

Ok, thank you. It is very hard to wait...they are so intriguing to watch, so to see them for just a few days and then they all disappear is hard for an impatient person
This morning, my smallest one (the one that came from a home) was up! So I just had to get impatient enough to post about it for him to decide to show himself! One down, six to go!