HCA: Hermit Crab Association

I have read a lot of posts on here so I'm thinking this is normal, but here is the story.

My 11yo son bought a crab at the beach (they shouldn't be allowed to sell them to kids on the beach!) about 2.5 weeks ago. The first 48 hours were great. The crab (Billy) was very active and my son was thrilled. When we got back from the ocean, I took my son and Billy to Petco to get what he needed after looking on the internet and realizing this little guy needed more care than we were led to believe.

Well, the Petco salesgirl dropped him from hip height onto a hard tile floor! My son was in shock. He had already bonded. Billy didn't peek out or move the rest of that day or the next day. At 2AM that night, my son woke us up to joyously tell us that Billy put out a claw. I had hesitated to set up the new habitat since I thought Billy was no longer with us. The next day after he put a claw out, I set up the habitat - a 10 gallon aquarium with humidity gauge, coco fibers which I soaked in dechlorinated salt water and play sand which is what I read on here. We set up two water dishes and food. He hadn't moved all day but once he was in the habitat, he moved back and forth across the sand several times (my son was overjoyed).

The next morning, my husband and I watched him make his way to the side and bury himself and his shell. We have not seen him since. That was 2 weeks ago.

My son is religiously watching the humidity and changing the food and water every day. But I can tell he is getting frustrated waiting for his friend to come back.

I know from posts on here and other sites that we shouldn't dig him up. But at what point do I start prepping my son for the possibility that his friend has died? Today he asked if, while he waited for Billy, he could put another crab in. I didn't know what to tell him as I am not sure if it would be good for Billy (assuming he is alive) to come to the surface after all that previous stress to have another crab there too.

I probably wouldn't be as concerned if not for the trauma that surrounded Billy's homecoming. Did he just bury himself to die?

So my questions are: how do I tell if Billy is still alive? Would adding a crab to the habitat be something we can consider now, or should we wait until we are sure of Billy's status? And is it necessary for us to change his food and water every day while he is buried? When he surfaces will he need food and water immediately or can we take the food and water out while we wait?

I haven't smelled anything unusual other than the smell of the coco fibers. But I also wonder if the sand could be holding in a smell.

I am just very sad to see my son hope every day for Billy to come back.

It is very normal. Digging Billy up will hurt him much more than the fall to the tile. I got my first crabs when I was nine, and still have them to this day, so tell him I know just how he feels.

How bug is billy compared to different types of balls? (Ping pong, tennis, golf, ect) if Billy is a large crab he could take up to six months to molt (what he's doing underground), but this is unlikely.

Feel free to ask any questions, and welcome to the forums!

P.S. landhermitcrabs.com is also a good site.

He is a little guy. Honestly, all I have seen is a claw but my son says probably a ping pong ball. His shell is pretty tiny.

Do you think adding another crab would be stressful on Billy when/if he emerges? And if he is dead, will I definitely smell something?

He should take about a month-two months to de-stress and molt, since he's ping pong size.

Adding another crab would probably just result in the new crab going down to molt and de-stress, too. How many shells do you have?

We only bought one extra plus the one he buried himself with. I will tell my son not to worry for a few months. I know he (my son) is worried because of the fall and the inactive period right before he buried himself.

Does he need to keep the water and food fresh every day or can he wait until Billy re-emerges?

I wouldn't add another crab until you have a few more shells. I suggest 3 for each crab (at least).

Tell him that the inactive period was probably just because he was scared, but he could be hurt a little bit.

I would just put some food in (it's dry, right? Also, what food do you have for him? Most foods marketed marketed for hermit crabs have copper sulfate or ethoxiquin in them and that is bad for them.) and leave it, as for water, leave it until it starts to evaporate alot and then take it out, dump it, and refill.

Okay, we will get more shells for Billy. I read that they also prefer natural ones so we'll try to find unpainted ones. I will tell my son that we need to wait on adding more crabs. I won't worry about the water and food being fresh for now, and I won't worry about boiling the dishes every week like I have been doing. Until he comes back up, we'll just monitor him without actively caring for him. We will continue to watch the humidity though.

The food came from the boardwalk store (grr) - I just checked and it does have copper sulfate. I will replace that next time I am out.

Keeping my fingers crossed for Billy. If he re-emerges, my son will do backflips.

Thank you for your help!

http://www.hermitcrabpatch.com/ and http://Www.hermitcrabaddictionstore.com are the best places to buy food for Billy.

It is always awesome to see that they've come back up and see their new bright colors and nails (they have little sharp finger nails.). Never gets old!

Would also like to add that if you can scoot the tank off the edge of the table a bit, he may have left an air pocket you can see him through. (Be careful doing this, and do it sparingly, because they need lots of darkness to molt) You can shine a flashlight at him if there is an air pocket, and try to see feeler movement.

Good to know about the darkness. I have been worried because my son's room is somewhat dark and the tank is on the floor (no room for a table in there right now) so it is getting even less light since the window is blocked by the bed. I thought they needed light so even when my son was away for a few days, I made sure to turn his light on. However, he did cover the tank with a towel (I put saran wrap on to keep in moisture with an air hole but my son felt he also needed the towel) so that is keeping it dark. I made sure the towel isn't blocking all the light, but now I won't worry about blocking it.

Be sure there is enough airflow for air to get in. If theres not enough airflow things mold really easily.

It's really hard to tell how they will do when they fall. Internal injuries are slow killers on hermit crabs and they can live for weeks before finally succumbing. Even if he hadn't been dropped there's always risk with their first molt in captivity. I think that since he was moving around and he had buried himself is an excellent sign that he's got great chances, but it's not a certain that he will be okay. On a crab that size 6 to 8 weeks would be normal, but it could take 3 or 4 months as they're all different.

I've got my fingers crossed here that he's okay! I've dropped a couple of mine accidentally from about that height onto our wood floors (they took off a at a run and I wasn't prepared for it ) and they've all been okay.

I hope he shall be ok. I am sorry he was dropped. As has been said before, the fact that he successfully buried himself is a good sign. He could be down a while to molt and or to take away stress. Keeping his conditions really good is essential as well as peace for him. I would look at it like isolation for a hurt crab, so I would wait until he is back up before adding a new one. You DO want to get him at least one species buddy (the amount of crabs depends on your tank size and they do grow).

I hope everything shall be ok. Crabs are pretty tough little guys, I've seen mine get through some pretty incredible things. I hope this helps. I am still new to crabbing, so I'm glad more experienced users have already posted.

May be "de-stressing". Whenever I get rescue crabs they dig for days/weeks and come back up. But I have had some that dig and R.I.P Hopefully, you have a happy ending this time though

I hope he will be okay, my hermit crabs are allways digging around. My big pp suddenly molted without me even realizing, he is currently finishing off his exo. Pineapple (one of my hermit crabs) is somtimes gone one day and appears the next day. But there is also negative, he might have dug down and maybe even dropping his limbs. (that happened to one of my crabs, we got a new hermit crab and he dug down and dropped all his limbs and died the next day )