Fresh Molter making bad life choices?

[RebsCritters]

Hi guys!

I'm really new to all this (had my 3 PPs for 7 weeks today!), and my second molter has come up today She wasted no time at all changing into a new shell and made her rounds to the food and water, and ran around and climbed everything for a bit (she's the most outgoing of our new friends) before digging back down.
Now, this leads to my concern. She has obviously molted recently and her legs still have that soft looking shine to them. When she buried herself again, she chose to dig right on top of the last guy who molted successfully 2 weeks ago. He's been up and about every night so I'm certain he's fine, but will she smell tastey to him if she's still so fresh from a molt? Should I be concerned or trust that she knows what she's doing?
BTW, this site is incredible and I attribute our successful molts to the wealth of information provided here. Thank you for all the hard work put in here!

[emmac350]

Your post title made me laugh - I try to tell my crabs they're making poor decisions but they just don't seem to listen! If your crab is dug in for any reason, I'd recommend letting her do her thing. Digging around can collapse crab burrows and kill crabs, so it's best to let her figure it out on her own. If you see bullying on the surface, though, then you absolutely should separate the crabs.

[RebsCritters]

They are pretty stubborn! Haha.
Thanks! Yeah, I made the mistake of accidentally digging up my first molter while I was fixing something in the tank. It was a pretty dramatic scene because I initially only found two crabbies and then a slew of body parts. I had no idea that was the exo until I finally found the third crabby alive. My daughter and I were practically in tears xD
I've been keeping an eye on them and listening for any signs of trouble. Both my recent molters have been up and about making a mess of things so I think they're going to be fine Now, hopefully my biggest guy who is still under for his first molt makes it out ok. We're feeling pretty confident!

[Wai]

They're generally not a threat to each other once they have fully hardened. However, I must mention that they are incredibly vulnerable to falling victim to shell fights prior to hardening after a moult. I've lost many crabs over the years due to crabs finding buried moulters in the sand and stealing their shells. There isn't a lot that you can do to prevent this besides offerring more spare shells in the tank, but hermit crabs still seem to believe that occupied shells are better than unoccupied ones.

[RebsCritters]

Thanks for the info, Wai. Currently I have 3 differently sized crabs so it hasn't been an issue yet, but that is useful information for when we expand in the near future. All three appear to have finally finished hardening. The difference in color is astounding. I regret that I didn't think to take good pictures of them when I brought them home for comparison..