Molting/Behavoir Questions

[capemay]

Hi Everyone,

On Saturday (09/13) I woke up to find that I couldn’t see my Hermit Crab; Crabbie anywhere. It appeared that changed his shell (old one was by the water dish) and dug under the sand and didn’t come out for the whole day. Crabbie is the only crab in the tank (see below for details) I didn’t disturb the sand and just put home raw honey and food in the tank along with salt/fresh water. Last night he finally came out (around 2 in the morning) and I saw him in the water dish with the sponge. A little bit later he was in the Salt water dish (also with a sponge). He then went under the coco hut. This morning he was back under the sand. Now this afternoon he was on the Branch Vine and is currently just in the corner of the tank.

My question is, is this normal behavior?
Is he stressed or is he getting ready to molt?
Should I be worrying???
Do Molting crabs go under and then come up each day for food & water or once they dig under the sand do they just stay there until their molt is complete?

Here is some history:

I got two hermit crabs; Hermie & Crabbie on 8/22 from a Beach Shop in Cape May NJ. Once we got back home (the next day after getting them). Being new to Hermit Crabs, I purchased a bigger and what I thought at the time better “all in one” crabitat that was made of plastic with painted bars on the side, it came with sand, some toys, a sponge and a water/food dish. I also purchased salt water, natural shells as I read the painted ones weren’t a good idea and a dual thermometer to monitor the temperature and humidity and a small heating mat.

I had a very hard time keeping the humidity higher than 60 in the new tank, so after a week of trying to find out everything I could about Hermit Crabs I decided to purchase a 5 gallon plastic aquarium with a screen lid. This really helped with the humidity and the crabs seemed to be doing okay. During this time, Crabbie remained very quiet and shy and would only come out if misted or moved. Hermie, the complete opposite of Crabbie was very friendly and personable. A few days later I noticed Hermie lost a leg. He was able to walk around and seemed the same as before. Two days later Hermie lost another leg and one of his claws, this time he didn’t move from his area for a day but was still alert.

I immediately went out and got yet another tank, this time a 10 gallon aquarium (see tank set up below). When I got home I gave him a quick bath to see if he was moving (he was, but very little). After the bath I didn’t want to stress him more by moving him into yet another tank so I put him back in the 5 gallon tank. I did a minor cleaning of the sand and removed all toys. I just kept a hut, salt and fresh water, sponges, shells, calcium crunchers, raw honey and a cuttlebone. I kept the tank warm and covered the sides so that it would remain dark. I then put Crabbie into the new 10 gallon tank (see tank set up below). In his new tank, Crabbie has become the complete opposite of when we first got him. He now walks around the tank and is always climbing and isn’t afraid when he sees us. Since I set up the new main tank, he has changed shell around 4 times.

After 5 days Hermie didn't move at all. There was a musty fishy smell in the tank but it wasn’t overwhelming as I had read everywhere. On the advice of a forum admin from another site, yesterday I picked him up to see if he would drop from his shell. He didn't, however the fish smell was then overwhelming and he had gnats on him. This was extremely hard to see as I had hoped he would pull through. I tried to do everything I could for him but he didn't make it.

.
Also, with my son being so upset over Hermie, we got two new crabs today from Petsmart. I gave them a quick bath with stress coat and have put them into the 5 gallon tank that Hermie was in (I thoroughly cleaned it and boiled all the accessories) I have read the following two articles and plan to follow these steps for our new crabs. http://crabstreetjournal.com/xoops/modu ... storyid=22& and http://crabstreetjournal.com/xoops/modu ... storyid=23&

Below are the set up of both tanks. Is there anything else that I can do (or that you think I need to change) to ensure that Crabbie and my two new ones do well and survive?

Thanks for all your help!!!

Main Tank Set Up:
•10 gallon glass aquarium with a dual mesh lid (I keep one side covered with Press N Seal)
•5.5” Zilla Dome Light with Exo-Terra Night Glo, Moonlight light bulb (I keep this in the other side of the mesh top (haven’t used it much as I just got it).
•Play sand (got from Lowes) and a mixture of ZooMed Hermit Crab Sand I have it approx 6 inches in one corner with it sloping into the rest of the tank reaching approx. 4 inches. Sand is sand castle consistency.
•ZooMed Hermit Crab Heater Mat (it is on mounted on the side where the sand is deepest)
•2 Temperature gauges (both read 80, one is in the center near the top, the other on the side near the bottom)
•2 Humidity gauges (one in the center near the middle/top of the tank reads 80, and the other on the left side of the tank closer to the bottom of the tank reads 75-80)
•Bendable Branch (Bend A Branch)
•T-Rex Crab Shack Coco Hut
•Glow in the dark, Palm Tree water bowl – I used this for Salt Water (with a small sponge in it)
•Small ZooMed Repti Rock Water Dish – I used this for Bottle Spring Water (with a sponge in it)
•Sea Shell Food dish
•Small Water Dish – I used this for Bottle Spring Water (with no sponge)
•Hermit Crab Calcium Crunchers (I keep on in at a time)
•Crabworx Hermit Crab Health Block
•Half of a Cuttlebone (Found in the Bird section, I broke it in half and keep half in the tank. I also scrape some off into dust and put it on top of the food)
•Coral Replica Ornament
•Beavertail replica Cactus
•5 different sizes of Natural Hermit Crab Shells
•Reptile Rock Stand (has one level)

ISO Tank Set Up:

•5 gallon glass aquarium with a mesh lid
•Play sand (got from Lowes) and a mixture of ZooMed Hermit Crab Sand I have it approx 5 inches in one corner with it sloping into the rest of the tank reaching approx. 2 inches. The Sand is sand castle consistency.
•Temperature gauge
•Humidity gauges (following the article PPS (Post Purchase Stress): Minimizing the Impact, link above)
•T-Rex Crab Shack Coco Hut
•Plastic Sand Castle Hut
•Small ZooMed Repti Rock Water Dish – For Salt Water (with a sponge in it)
•Plastic Pool – For fresh water and have a sponge in it.
•Sea Shell Food dish
•Hermit Crab Calcium Cruncher
•Half of a Cuttlebone
•Several different sizes of Natural Hermit Crab Shells
•Fake Jungle Plant Leaves (Since this was in the Pet Store’s tank I thought it might help them feel more like their home)


Food:
Commercial crab food from the Pet Store
Organic Raw Honey (from a Health Store)
Hermit Crab Cookie Treats
Hermit Crab Dried Fruit
Organic Dried Mango (from a Health Store
Hermit Crab Shrimp in a can
Jurassi Diet Krill Treat for Hermit Crabs

[Chermo]

Everything sounds good to me, I would add tons of fake plants to your main tank they love to climb, I would also not worry about feeding them any foods from the pet store, just feed them what you buy for yourself and your family. I always make a seperate piece of chicken with no spices and other foods with no spices on it and keep it chilled in the fridge and then feed it nightly. Your iso should be a replica of your main tank, less stress I hear. Also, the only reason you should iso them is if they are straight from the petstore and you should bring their humidity and temp up slowly and also make sure they don't have mites. You can read that on other threads here about that. Don't ever worry about iso a molting crab, they can molt in the same tank with the other crabs and if you see another trying to dig the molting crab up you can always coke bottle the molting crab. I know this is off topic but I figured I would let you know some molting tips. Like I said though your set up sounds great, let us know how everything goes with the new ones.

[capemay]

Thanks for the helpful information. I will let everyone know how things turn out. I just pray they turn out okay this time.

Can you offer any advice or help on my questions (below) regarding Crabbie (going under the sand for a day then coming back up, drinking a lot, going back down and now staying above again in the corner)?

1. Is he stressed or is he getting ready to molt? Should I be worrying???
2. Do Molting crabs go under and then come up each day for food & water or once they dig under the sand do they just stay there until their molt is complete?

Thanks again for your help!!!