HCA: Hermit Crab Association

In the last two days, my crew has managed to completely destroy the tank. There are holes EVERYWHERE! Every time I turn around it seems someone has dug a new one. Now, Napoleon is the only one out and about on a daily basis and as much of a heathen as he can be, I know he can't possibly be the one doing it all. I'm really concerned about my kids that are dug down right now. I have several that have been down for more than a month. When do I start to worry? Are these holes "search" holes, one crab in search of another? I haven't heard any chirping or ruckus and Princess did come up from her molt just fine. I'm new to this whole thing and I'm rambling because my kids (aka: crabs) are driving me batty with worry.

OK, moment over. Back to your regularly scheduled programming.

I think I have a bunch of pet "holes" not a bunch of pet hermies.

You can gently smooth over some of the holes sometimes to straighten up. You have to be careful not to pack it down though and collapse a tunnel. I've only ever collapsed 2 tunnels with my smoothing and even then it wasn't fatal.

I definately say worry all ya want... but no digging allowed. Hehe... The crabbies are just being crabbies and no they aren't necessarily hunting for the other buried crabs.

I'm sure they'll be alright. It sounds like normal crabby behavior.

I've had crabs stay down for a molt for over 2 months. Granted, they were large crabs, but I think sometimes they just like to chill under the sand for a while. I wouldn't worry--they'll come up when they're ready.

It's very unlikely that some crabs are searching for the others. Tunneling is a normal crab behavior--part of their instinct.

mine burried to food dish and I had to use an alternative but i finally found it today..I didn't want to dig for it cuae I wasn't sure if one of mine is molting or afew actuall...so I seen a side sticking out the FB and I plucked it out and now I have a food dish again LOL