Hermie is molting?

[Ricky]

Hi, I'm new here and to the world of Hermit crabs. My son had been wanting a hermit crab for a couple of years so this past Christmas, he found Hermie under the tree. Hermie is about golf ball sized and we picked him because he was very active and seemed more friendly than the others. Everything went well. We found out that they are not really solitary creatures and want company so we picked out Anchor who is a little smaller and not friendly along with Sebastian, the smallest crab in the tank. Sebastian was only about a 1/4" and we learned from him, that little crabs can climb up the aquarium seals. He escaped and we found his empty shell in another room several days later...we were very sad. Got a nice, tight fitting lid so no more escapes for any of them.

About the time all this was going on, we noticed Hermie not being as active and when my son would take him out of the tank for floor exercise, he seemed stiff with one of his walking legs barely working at all. Ilovehermies helped me by telling me to isolate him and give him a choice between ecoearth on half of the ISO and sand on the other. Got everything set up for molting and put him in the ISO. He immediately dug down in the ecoearth and disppeared while my son was at school. My son got home and, scared that Hermie had gotten out like Sebastian, dug Hermie up. I didn't know this was going on. This was last week. Hermie ate and drank a little, then dug himself partially back under the ecosoil and right up against the water bowl. You can see his shell mostly on the surface with his body out of sight beneath the ecoearth. He hasn't moved, not even to eat or drink. There is no odor so I can only assume he's ok. My son now knows to leave him be. We have put a blanket over the ISO so he is in darkness and we only take it off to mist the ISO to keep the humidity up. He never moves at all when we do this. My son feels very badly and is very worried about this sweet crab. So am I. Any thoughts? Is there anything else we can do? Wow, the waiting is TOUGH!

Thanks
Rickys mom

[krabby_katie]

From what I can gather, he's not dead if there's no fishy smell coming from him. He could be under for a few days or weeks. Shouldn't be that long if he's that small. I haven't had a molt yet, but I've read a lot on them. I like to know what's going to happen before it happens. He also COULD be destressing. I think he's molting though. As long as he has heat, humidity, food, and water, he should be fine. Just look out for any fishy smells. Hope all goes fine!

[HermieLove19]

The waiting is extremely tough. i had one of my larger crabs molt and he took about a month. he was smaller than golfball size though.

[krabby_katie]

Oh wow. Mine will be down for quite some time too then. My hermies are golfball size. That's not going to be fun. I'll be paranoid the whole time.

[iluvhermies]

The first times are the hardest when your hermies are molting. No matter what though you HAVE to LEAVE THEM ALONE. Here is a chart to go by it is no way a guarantee that they are gonna do this and only this. Just some guidelines to go by.

Size How often How long
Micro 2-4 weeks between 2-4 weeks under
Small 4-8 weeks between 4-6 weeks under
Medium 2-4 months between 5-8 weeks under
Large 6-12 months between 2-3 months under
Jumbo* 12-18 months between 3-4 months under

*It is VERY stressful on jumbos when molting so make sure not to bother them.

[Ricky]

Oh, the waiting is excruciating....although we did have a sign a life that occurred sometime last night. This morning we noticed his shell seemed to be laying a little flatter and it looks like he pushed just a little further into the trench/hole he has dug. We're not sure what this means but at least we know he's still with us. It's really amazing all the things we don't know about them. Ricky wants to stop at the petstore this weekend and see if they have anymore micro-crabs. He really misses Sebastian and now that Hermie is buried and Anchor is a crabby crab, he wants something he can hold. We are finding that hermit crabs are not hard to find but the tiny ones are pretty rare...especially as small as Sebastian.

[krabby_katie]

That's good that everything seems to be going fine. You'll have to let us know when he is done his molting, and is walking around like normal again.

[Ricky]

Ok, here's an update and some questions. Hermie molted on Monday in the trench that he dug up alongside the water bowl. At one point his shell had tipped almost straight up and then we saw his transparent, kinda whitish exo in front of the shell. He was in the shell, farther back than he was ever able to go, premolt. He was pink at the time. We didn't mess with him at all except to mist the ISO through the vented holes at the other side of the tank which we have to do to keep the eco moist and humidity up. About a day and a half later, he started eating the exo which took him about 2 days to finish. He never moved much but made small adjustments here and there. One day his shell would be tipped a little this way or that and at one point he turned and faced the water bowl for a while, then turned back again.

It's Sunday now and he hasn't eaten anything but the exo and he hasn't gone for water. His shell is at a normal angle now but today we found what looks like a complete leg laying behind the shell along with the molt of his BP. I haven't seen any exo at all for about 2 days now and I don't think he is big enough to cover the leg that we see. Is this normal? How long after eating the exo does it take for them to regain mobility?

I'll be sooo glad when this is over....
Thanks
Rickys mom

[iluvhermies]

just keep it moist and dark as possible. It can take a week or more for them to get back to normal. Are you sur eit is a whole leg and not just a part of the exo? It is a very stressful time for them.

[Ricky]

Thanks Iluvhermies

I can't tell if the leg is exo or not...it is a faded red but Hermie is laying on the end of it and I am afraid to pull it out from under him. I am certain that the BP is exo...I can see in the end of it and it is hollow.

I have to admit, I am sooo strongly tempted just to pick him up and count his front sets of legs. I know, I know....I won't. I'm just saying I am fighting a big inner battle with my "gotta know for sure" self. It's the way I am after all my years with horses...you have to be very proactive when they have a problem. This wait it out thing just goes against the grain!

He is covered so he can't see anyone moving around the room and he is in Ricky's room which is pretty quiet. Ricky only goes in there to sleep, read or play on his computer. I really appreciate your help. I met a young girl at the pet store today when I went in to get stresscoat. She and her mom were talking about their new little hermie. We talked for a few minutes and I steered them away from the little plastic hermie box they were looking at and pointed them towards the 10 gallon aquariums along with advice I learned here about sand and eco earth, temp and humidity. They were very interested in doing this right so I told them about this website. Hopefully she will come to learn about her new hermie.

I'll be back to let you know how Hermie is doing.
Thanks again
Rickys mom