HELP!!!!!!

[johnny]

how long should i let my hermie be barried he has been under for a mounth and so has my small one has been down longer . i am in deffinent help the biggone has molted but i think he got stuck down there i dug him up to day and he is not moving the little one is but he is not and he wont fall outa his shell so does that mean he is dead? any help would be great

[Wai]

how long should i let my hermie be barried he has been under for a mounth and so has my small one has been down longer .

You shouldn't be overly concerned until three months has passed. Someone's tiny hermit crab took three months to surface from a moult.

the biggone has molted but i think he got stuck down there i dug him up to day and he is not moving

Uh oh. VERY bad move. NEVER dig up a moulter. You may have stressed him out a lot and he may die. Every moulter that I dug up in the past has died, whereas I've had a 100% survival rate when I left them alone. Hermit crabs rarely get stuck in the substrate alone, unless there are some large objects in the way.

he wont fall outa his shell so does that mean he is dead?

Not all dead hermit crabs fall out of their shells. Some die in a position that helps prevent them from falling out. For example, Venus died in her shell.

[CrabbyJo]

Johnny,
Wai is right, you should never ever dig up a crab for any reason.

Did you dig up the little one, too?

What did you do with the big one after you dug him up, where did you put him?

If you dug up the little one, where did you put him, too?

[johnny]

ok sooo thank u for all ur in put i did in fact dig the big one up he took a while to come outa his shell but he is cruzing around and he seems to be ok he has fur on all his legs and on his big and small pincher but the little one is gone back down why do they stya dug for so long does any one know? i am a little concerned my habitat is what i think ok but they luv to dig in the sand alot does this digging mean they are stressed? i am so new i am scared that i will have another death i dont want it and i am running on empty about the food i am feeling like i have totaly lost them as freinds but i am trying to get them back they are so shy to sounds and movment

oh i also gave the bigg one a bath when i dug him up he luved it

[emmac350]

They stay down because they need time to rest and recover. They just pulled off their skin (essentially) - it's a VERY tiring process and they're weak and tired for a while (depending on size). Then your crab has to wait for its new exo to harden - they're EXTREMELY soft when they finish the molt and they have to wait a few days just to harden enough to be able to eat the old exo. This can take longer depending on how wet their sand is - getting wet when they're soft keeps them from hardening as quickly or as well. When your crab first molts, if you just touch their big pincher lightly, they'll have your fingerprint imprinted on their claw until next molt - that's how soft they are. So you should leave them down for at least three months (mark the day on a calendar - it's hard to remember how long it's been) before you try to find them. Also, they could come up while you're asleep and dig back down to where they were before, making you think they haven't moved.

The best advice is at least 3 months before you try to find them.

Also, for your other question, some crabs just enjoy digging. I thought that was how mine were, but now that I have a much nicer tank setup with better temperature regulation, I see all of them in that tank every night.

What exactly do you mean with 'you are running on empty about the food'? What do you feed them, especially now that you have a recently molted crab?

[johnny]

i have broken egg shells and a hbh variety bites and hermit crab food and i am going to marrow to get some fruit today scooter the big guys name he burried himself agian i tiink that gramitor and temp gauge is broken they go up and down but it does not make any sence the tank is the same way as when i brought them home well i am going to have to sit back and wait and see what happens

[Wai]

HBH Cookies contains ethoxiquin, so Variety Bites might have ethoxiquin as well. To be safe, I'd recommend against the use of any HBH products.

[ladybug15057]

HBH Variety bites do contain ethoxyquin as well as 3 different food colorings.

http://www.petco.com/product/13658/HBH- ... Bites.aspx

If the above link takes you to HBH Variety bites on Petco's site, scroll down about 1/2 way and click onto "Ingredients".

[johnny]

ok so hbh products are bad ok i will trash them and is it ok to introduce 2 or 3 new crabs tonight do u think that they would be ok ?????

[emmac350]

Where are those other crabs? If you have molters who have freshly come up/been dug up, you shouldn't until you're sure those crabs are okay. The new crabs may try to eat your molters because they smell the molting smell.