HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Bought 4 crabs in 2013. 5 years ago one went to Molt and never came up. Found empty shell months later when cleaning the tank. 2 years ago same thing happened to another molter, no smell, no bodies, just empty shell.

3 months ago one of my last 2 went down. 2 weeks ago I noticed the food dish turned over and when I picked it up he was in a hole under the dish. I only could see a little bit of his legs so I just put the dish back. Next day I picked up the dish to change the food and dispose of spilled food and found a body that looked kind of dried up but had no smell. I covered it up again. 3 days ago I saw his shell in the hut and got all excited. Yesterday i found it was empty and the body is still there no smell and my last crab seems very interested. I don't want to get more crabs if my last one is killing and eating them, they were pretty big too. Any suggestions?

A few questions to help. Other than the time they went down to molt and didn't come back, had they molted other times? Has the one remaining crab molted multiple times?
What do you use for substrate?
What are your temp and humidity?

They all have molted numerous times. The last one molted around 4 months ago and is really big (at least to me). The temperature and humidity are both in the yellow range and my substrate is Eco Terra Coco husk 8" deep. They get a variety of fruits, oatmeal, peanut butter, shrimp besides the regular food and mineral supplements and always have instant ocean salt water and spring water.

What is the yellow range on your hygrometer? Humidity should never drop below 70%. I always try to shoot for 80%+ though.
Also, if your crab dropped it's shell, that means it was too weak to carry it. You should always try to reshell a crab asap if you find them naked. Maybe you could fill out the emergency template so we could get a better look into your tank conditions.

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Humidty is a constant 80 & the temperature 75 in a 30 gallong tank. They were pretty large, last time I bought shell sizes 1 1/8 and 1 1/4" opening. My tank is in perfect condition, I've have never seen any of them drop their shells or be naked, but I'll complete the emergency template anyway. The last one, who has always been the largest, possibly got to the others while they were molting and vulnerable and the only reason there is still some body left is because the molter was too large to be completely eaten. I know the last one was the one to dug up the molters shell and move it into the hut, maybe to test it out. I'm hoping the body I found is actually the exoskeleton (doesn't smell) and the molter will show up soon in a new shell. My concern is getting more and them getting eaten also.

Your conditions do sound good. I'll check out your emergency template too. Wish I could help more.

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