Is my hermie molting?

[RYANDM]

I've noticed that he was always digging around and comming back up, he was quite inactive a week ago just sitting around, then all of a sudden became very active. I didn't expect he would go down and stay, it's been 2 days already and i know that he hasn't came up.. Is he molting? His skin was surely pale from the others, It is a PP. And comparing him to the other PP, he was a bright-ish purple/lavender kind of skin color. What should i do? Is he really molting?

[emmac350]

You'll find out...that's the worst part about a molt - if they dig down, you don't even know if it's happening, and you most likely won't until he comes back up.

If your crab was pale, he may just be destressing, or he may be molting to show off some new more colorful exo. This doesn't mean he will necessarily be more colorful, but if his diet has been sufficient, he may very well have better coloring. I have a crab (PP) who is still fairly pale, even though all of his tankmates have gotten much brighter with their latest molts. Just keep offering good food and hopefully at some point it will take effect on their coloring.

Molts generally take a few weeks up to several months, depending on the crab's size pre-molt. Those are only guidelines, though, and my tiny crabs regularly stay down for a month or more when they molt. Be patient, keep the tank's parameters (temperature, humidity, which side is cool/warm, etc.) the same and offer lots of nutritious foods and both fresh and salt water for when he comes back up!