How long is it normal for a large hermie to molt?

[ladybug15057]

Please do answer the questions Wai has asked. To be in this same position this long, he may of not been able to completely get out of his exo. Doing what you have done has NOT cause or effected what is going on now... If he is still alive and still attached to his exo, he very well may need you to intervene at this point.

Edited to add:
You mentioned you already had a picture of this, have you uploaded it anywhere and if so where.
At this time, please do not try to take any other pictures.

[jeskalyn]

I took a picture about a month ago on an old phone - When I get home I will try to get it off of the micro SD card and post it on here.

[jeskalyn]

It isn't clear how much of the exo is still attached to him - not much, though, as far as I can tell. When I tipped him back, most of the exo was separated from him, including the head and most of the legs. I couldn't see his new big claw or anything (that is what disturbed me). All I saw during my quick peek was a bit of leftover debris (unidentifiable) leftover from his old exo that I assume he is still shedding. The good news is this morning, I opened up the top lid and smelled nothing bad. I had one hermit crab pass away, and I remember what that smelled like - unmistakeable. I am hoping that he will make it. I did separate him a bit from the glass though - that was my main concern earlier, that he was too weak to push himself away from it or away from his old exo. Hopefully he makes it!!!

[ladybug15057]

I am a little confused? Left over debris from the exo? As in he has eaten the exo and pieces are left? Was not it his exo you were seeing as in my Clydes picture?
http://s187.photobucket.com/albums/x276 ... r-Dead.jpg

or was it the hermie himself?
If it was his exo, and you are seeing something still attached, could it be he is free from the exo but the 'slime' is attached?

http://s187.photobucket.com/albums/x276 ... -shell.jpg

http://s187.photobucket.com/albums/x276 ... 0_0430.jpg

Could it possibly be that he is so far down in the shell and this is why you're not seeing his large pincher?
I am sorry for all the questions, but trying to really determine if his leg/legs are stuck in the exo.
Did you upload the picture somewhere?

Edited to add:
I see where you did another post...

I took a picture about a month ago on an old phone - When I get home I will try to get it off of the micro SD card and post it on here.
Last edited by jeskalyn on March 1st, 2011, 1:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Not many have had much luck uploading photos from their phones on certain web sites. But one can create a free photobucket photo album and it will let one upload most photos.

[jeskalyn]

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/l ... directlink

This is a very fuzzy picture - did the link work? I just used my Picasa web album because I already had a username. This is a photo about a week into his molt - this was probably taken about two and a half months ago.

When I say debris, I think it was a mush of fluid from the molt, as well as some other "muck" that I'm not sure I can identify - I hope it was all part of the fluid. I did not see his big claw or anything. I think it was covered by this "muck."

He is still alive (at least no odors as of 15 minutes ago) and I am hoping that my slight adjustment of his position will help him to complete his molt a bit more easily.

[ladybug15057]

Question, are the eyes hollow looking? (from the blurry picture they do not look hollow)
http://s187.photobucket.com/albums/x276 ... e-Eyes.jpg

or are they still a solid dark looking color?
http://s187.photobucket.com/albums/x276 ... 0_0500.jpg

I am assuming that you did not note an abdomen attached to the part that is outside of the shell? The molting fluid is one of the first things the molter will eat/drink after molting and is the beginning of the recovery process.
On rare occasions there have been some who have written that when their hermie passed it did not give off an odor. For how long this has been, if he has passed it maybe beyond the odor stage. 2 months in this position partly molted even does not sound encouraging.

[jeskalyn]

That picture was from a while ago, but the eyes still don't look quite "hollow." They have a lifeless look. The whole of his old exo is disconnected from him now. It even has a reddish tinge to it. I'm not sure what this means. I didn't even think of the possibility of him having passed since there was not an odor. I may have to check again to get a better idea of what might be going on. I personally had heard of bigger hermit crabs taking months at a time to molt (I just got nervous about mine seeming to be in this stage for so long). For now, I don't want to give up on him. Maybe I will just take a closer look and report back. I don't want to discard him if he still has a chance.

[CrabbyJo]

Generally, when a hermie takes months to molt, he is buried under the ground. From what I understand, the actual molting process itself, wherein the exoskeleton is shed, can take a very short amount of time.
Please do correct me if I'm wrong Marie, doesn't the actual shedding only take a few hours if a day?

[ladybug15057]

From what I have actually watched, once my jumbo's start to shed they are totally out of their exo within 45 minutes. My one straw I had the pleasure of watching took 30 minutes and our smaller hermies took about 15-20 minutes if that long. (which were numerous observations)
Those that take a few hours or a day (above substrate) are those that are having a difficult time shedding their exo's. Longest recovery time for even my Jumbos is 2 weeks, usually a week and they are back in the main Jumbo tank. Majority of our smaller hermies are back in the main tanks within a week. BUT each hermie is different, but to be in this position for a couple months molted, none of the exo eaten no trips for water....

[jeskalyn]

Thanks for your responses guys. I am thinking you are probably right. It breaks my heart. But to think it over, I have had several large hermies molt successfully and you're right - they did it within about a day or two after I put them in isolation. All have been surface molts, and they're up and moving about within a few days of the molt. Ugh. It makes me so sad that Corduroy didn't make it. He was so pleasant and prepped himself well for the molt. He was never afraid of me and wouldn't hide away from me. Thanks so much for your help in this. I appreciate it fully.