Escapee?

[craftgirl]

When I checked on my crabs after school today, I could not find Snowflake, one of my three hermies. My dad and I each dug through the subtrate, but did not find her (although she might still be in there somewhere). She is definitely not in the tank above th esubstrate. The screen top has two clips on it and they were on. Do you think she could have pushed her way out? If so, is there a way I should try to trap her? I have turned my room upside-down. But I can't find her.
Thanks!

[spidtat]

She could still be in the tat but if not a couple of suggestions would be to look in dark warm places, like under the bed, under the fridge, near a heating duct. Some crabs like to climb as well so you may want to check in drapes if you have any. Also one thought is to put a piece of aluminum foil down on the ground and put some salt water down or some stinky type of food in the middle of it and when they walk across it the foil should make some sort of noise and hopefully you can catch them. Hopefully this helps but more importantly hopefully your crab is still in the tank

[CrabbyJo]

Spidtat is right - and I think one person said that the salt water did the trick for her, it helped to darken the room, too. Maybe you can play some gameboy and turn off your lights and do the aluminum foil (or wrapping paper I hear works as well, or newspaper) down like Spidtat suggests.

Good luck!

[emmac350]

You should never dig through your substrate to find a crab. This is very bad and can stress a hermie to the point of death. If the crab buries itself, there's a reason it wants to be buried, either to destress or to molt. Digging them up in either situation is very bad for them and can have very bad, if unintended, effects.

If you think a crab is out, by all means look for it and put food and hermie-safe water out to try to keep it alive while you're looking for it, but don't dig through substrate.

Also, to prevent future breakouts, cover your tank and, if that isn't enough, weight the lid.

[Wai]

Make sure your hermit crab cannot escape outside your house. Once they do, there's a fat chance that you'll never see them again.

As you're searching through the house, walk slowly and keep an eye on what is in front of you. The last thing you'd want is to step on your hermit crab.

In the wild, hermit crabs use the stench of dead sea snails to locate shells. You could try putting some dead snails or other stinky dead creatures in a dish to lure your hermit crab out. Good luck.

[craftgirl]

She showed up in the tank yesterday! Thanks for all of the advice. My mom and dad and i did a lot of reading here and elsewhere before buying. We wouldn't have dug around. But she had buried a few weeks ago and she disappeared from the spot she was buried in all that time.
Thanks for the help!