What is Crusty doing?

Dad-One · Post by **Dad-One** » Fri Oct 30, 2020 1:06 am

For the last week or so Crusty has been flipping her shell over, upside down and half hanging out of it. She also went from her bright colors, to an ashy appearance.

I’m pretty sure she’s molting, but I want to be sure. She is active, I can see her tracks in the sub every morning. Though, if her tank light is on, she hides either her shell or in the hide, in her shell.

We do have gauges in the terrarium, temp is near 80°f, placing the tank near the room heater and humidity is around 80% most of time. We also have a heat pad, but I stuck it to the bottom of the tank, not knowing it should have been on the back.

She’s got a fresh water source (in the process of rearranging her terrarium where she’ll have both water sources), we didn’t know until tonight when we found this forum that we needed two different source types.

She’s got a log bridge, a cactus chunk and a grass/wood/teepee looking thing for a hide. She climbs all three.

We live on the SW Washington coast, so we collected and processed beach sand for the sub. I’ll be adding more sand and mixing in some coco fiber here as soon as we know what’s going with her. I don’t want to disturb her too much right now.

Overall, are we doing ok, besides the relatively barren terrarium?

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jonathon1989 · Post by **jonathon1989** » Fri Oct 30, 2020 7:56 am

Ive seen my hermit crabs putting their shells in different positions and hanging out, though not like this. How many shells do you available in the tank?

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Dad-One · Post by **Dad-One** » Fri Oct 30, 2020 8:32 am

jonathon1989 wrote:Ive seen my hermit crabs putting their shells in different positions and hanging out, though not like this. How many shells do you available in the tank?

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She has a few tucked away in there. I have more on the way since they are almost all to small now except for a couple.

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jonathon1989 · Post by **jonathon1989** » Fri Oct 30, 2020 8:38 am

I would try fliiping her over and see what happens and if she does that again.

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Dad-One · Post by **Dad-One** » Fri Oct 30, 2020 8:40 am

jonathon1989 wrote:I would try fliiping her over and see what happens and if she does that again.

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She flips it right back over, shovels out most of the sand and just hangs out again.

She is active at night, I can see her little tracks all over the sub in the morning.

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jonathon1989 · Post by **jonathon1989** » Fri Oct 30, 2020 8:42 am

She probably enjoys being like that then. She sounds healthy.

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Dad-One · Post by **Dad-One** » Fri Oct 30, 2020 8:52 am

jonathon1989 wrote:She probably enjoys being like that then. She sounds healthy.

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Well then. Silly crab!

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Post by **curlysister** » Fri Oct 30, 2020 9:57 am

You will need to remove or unplug the heater under the tank, it is a fire hazard.

When a crab molts, it digs underneath the sub, and stays there. It will shed it's exoskeleton, and eat it. It will stay under ground until the new exo is hardened, and then will come up. Crabs can be down for a couple of weeks or a few months!

Dad-One · Post by **Dad-One** » Fri Oct 30, 2020 10:08 am

curlysister wrote:You will need to remove or unplug the heater under the tank, it is a fire hazard.

When a crab molts, it digs underneath the sub, and stays there. It will shed it's exoskeleton, and eat it. It will stay under ground until the new exo is hardened, and then will come up. Crabs can be down for a couple of weeks or a few months!

It’s a terrarium heating pad. Sticky backed, designed for that purpose. We live in pnw, so she is going to have to stay warm. Without the pad on, crabitat is room temp, about 65 degrees, far too cold for her.

I’ll be moving the pad to the back terrarium wall, as it will be more effective there.

As for Molting, I’ve heard various things. Most common is to dig down, but some don’t. It seems that the consensus is that she’s comfortable being upside down?

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Pumpkincrab · Post by **Pumpkincrab** » Fri Oct 30, 2020 12:56 pm

Most crabs molt underground but can surface molt. From the pictures it doesn't look like she is molting. Maybe she likes being silly? My crabs do tons of odd stuff, like climbing on each other's shells, trying to climb the glass,ect.

Post by **curlysister** » Fri Oct 30, 2020 5:56 pm

Dad-One wrote: ↑
Fri Oct 30, 2020 10:08 am
It’s a terrarium heating pad. Sticky backed, designed for that purpose. We live in pnw, so she is going to have to stay warm. Without the pad on, crabitat is room temp, about 65 degrees, far too cold for her.

I’ll be moving the pad to the back terrarium wall, as it will be more effective there.

As for Molting, I’ve heard various things. Most common is to dig down, but some don’t. It seems that the consensus is that she’s comfortable being upside down?

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If it is sticky on one side, unfortunately those aren't supposed to be removed and re-stuck because the little wires inside can break and again be a fire hazard.
Even though they are called 'under tank heaters', we use them on the back or side of the tank for hermit crabs. The ones that don't have a sticky side (like UltraTherm or the ones from the Bean Farm) actually give off a lot more heat than the sticky ones. You just need to tape them on with Gorilla or Duct or Electrical Tape. And those ones can also be insulated over top, without being a fire hazard, which can help hold in the heat!

Yeah, I think the consensus is that crabs are strange. Keep an eye on her and hopefully she isn't doing this for any other reason.

As for molting, crabs should dig down and molt under ground. Most times when they surface molt, it is because there is something in their environment that needs to be improved. Surface molting is not the normal, the crabs are very vulnerable during a surface molt so it isn't something they would do in the wild or they would be killed by predators or other crabs.

Dad-One · Post by **Dad-One** » Fri Oct 30, 2020 9:06 pm

Well!

She molted today!

She’s already consumed her old exoskeleton by the time I got home from work, according to my husband.

She’s now moving about her crabitat and enjoying the cactus log.

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Dad-One · Post by **Dad-One** » Fri Oct 30, 2020 9:14 pm

curlysister wrote: If it is sticky on one side, unfortunately those aren't supposed to be removed and re-stuck because the little wires inside can break and again be a fire hazard.
Even though they are called 'under tank heaters', we use them on the back or side of the tank for hermit crabs. The ones that don't have a sticky side (like UltraTherm or the ones from the Bean Farm) actually give off a lot more heat than the sticky ones. You just need to tape them on with Gorilla or Duct or Electrical Tape. And those ones can also be insulated over top, without being a fire hazard, which can help hold in the heat!

Yeah, I think the consensus is that crabs are strange. Keep an eye on her and hopefully she isn't doing this for any other reason.

As for molting, crabs should dig down and molt under ground. Most times when they surface molt, it is because there is something in their environment that needs to be improved. Surface molting is not the normal, the crabs are very vulnerable during a surface molt so it isn't something they would do in the wild or they would be killed by predators or other crabs.

I’m going to replace this one as it is too low of wattage to make any difference in temperature even at its maximum.

That’s what I get for buying cheap I guess.

She Molted today, so that a plus?

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Post by **curlysister** » Fri Oct 30, 2020 11:12 pm

How deep is your substrate?
What are you feeding her?

If you had more than one crab, and one of them molts on the surface, you need to ensure that the molter is isolated from the other crab(s), because they are vulnerable when they have shed their exo and before they have hardened. So it's good that you only have the one crab!

Yeah, not all UTH's are created equal, and many of us learned that by trial and error. My tank is in a room where the temp varies greatly depending on the seasons. I actually have four UTH's - one on each side and two on the back. I can plug or unplug as needed to keep the temp in a good range. It's not an ideal situation, but it works for me LOL.

Pumpkincrab · Post by **Pumpkincrab** » Fri Oct 30, 2020 11:26 pm

It appears your substrate is a thin layer of calcium sand. Crabs need 6 or more inches of coconut fiber, play sand or a mix of both. This is so important to a crabs health. I would recommend getting substrate as soon as possible.

HCA: Hermit Crab Association