Successful Molting! Plus a question

[DancingCorgi]

Well I'm super excited because I've just come home to discover that my first molting crab, Amy, has surfaced! She'd been down for 5 weeks and I was getting worried, but I kept checking the forums here and made sure not to disturb her. And lo and behold, there she is! And much more red colored than before (I think because I feed them carrot slices)
My one question is how long should I leave her alone before returning her to the main tank? She seems pretty hardened up already and is moving around, but should I wait a day? I've put fresh food and water out.

[hermitcrabdc]

Congrats on the first molt
I would give her a day or two to eat and do her thing, then just give her a dip in the main tank's freshwater dish (so she doesn't smell like an easy snack after the molt) and she should be fine in the main tank.

[KellyCrabbieLove]

As soon as she is active and everything she can go back to the main tank. Just be sure to give her a dip in the fresh water to wash off any remaining molt smell and make her neutral smelling again.

[DancingCorgi]

Awesome I will make sure to do that! Don't want her smelling tasty to the others haha

[KellyCrabbieLove]

Exactly!