Moulting or destressing from pps?

[abegie]

Hi all, I'm new to crabbing. Just a quick history on my situation. I got started by babysitting my sisters 2 PP crabs. She had them in a tiny plastic crabitat with just a touch of colored gravel as a substrate and had bought them from a kiosk in the mall. They are a touch smaller than a golf ball including their shells. Intrigued about them I started doing some research online and quickly realized how horrible their living conditions are. I upgraded them temporarily to a 6 gallon tank that I had and replaced their substrate with a sand coco fiber mix deep enough for them to bury themselves in. Added a temp guage and hygrometer (sitting at 74 degrees and 80 percent relative humidity.) Added a dish with salt water and fresh water and switched them to fresh food. They immediately responded with increased activity and I provided new shells and was lucky enough to witness a shell change. So I made the decision to increase the size of their habitat (got a 10 gallon on order) and went to the pet stores to get them a couple new friends. I bought 2 from the local pet store, and I believe these are Ecuadorian as they are more of a tan color with oval eyes but similar size maybe a touch smaller. My two PP's immediately went over to greet them, I watched as they had their feeler greetings but they seemed to get along quite well.
Now this was about a week ago, before I discovered this forum and read the pps information that you have here so I didn't know about slowly getting them used to their new living conditions. One of the new crabs is still doing great, fairly active, eating and cuddling up to the original 2 PP's. The second one on the other hand buried himself that first night, and has stayed buried since. (5 days and 5 nights ago) So obviously I won't be digging him up because if he is moulting that would be disastrous. I believe he is either down there de stressing or moulting. I'm a little concerned he may die down there due to pps. How long should I wait before I check on him based on his size? 1 month? 6 weeks? Longer? Is there anything else I should do like misting the area where he dug down? Or just be patient? Thank you in advance for your suggestions.

[CrabbyJo]

Hi Abegie, welcome to the forums!
It's so great that you rescued these little guys. They are incredibly addicting, aren't they!
First, i want to reassure you. New crabs will often dig down to de-stress, and may stay there for up to two weeks. So don't worry too much. As for molting, based on his size, I would hazard it may take him 3 to 4 weeks for a molt. It could take longer though, I've heard of small crabs taking a few months sometimes!
It's hard to wait, but do be patient.
It does sound like you may have Equadorians. I have 7 of them, and love them to death. They are so cute with those little eyes, and they sure skitter faster than the PPs! The PP's seem like lumbering beasts next to the E's lol.
It sounds like you have a really good setup for your crabs, so things should go fine.
Just one question, is the salt water your offering made from a mix for salt water aquariums, or is it a "hermit crab salt" water?
When I bought my last two E's, rather small little guys, they had hermit crab salt water in their tank at the store, but when I got them home and gave them the marine salt water, they literally DRAINED the bowl twice. I was astounded that two little crabs could drain so much water so quickly. But they did it. A testament to the ineffectiveness of the hermit crab salt, and to the value of a marine salt mix. I also had one go down for a molt within the first week as well. Seems not to be unusual for E's, happened last time I got two E's too.

Congratulations on your new little crab family!

[abegie]

You are right they are addicting! I already want a bigger tank and more crabs haha. And thanks for the reassurance, its gonna be hard to be patient especially if he takes upwards of a month under the surface of the sand but I wanna do whats best for him.
As to the salt water I'm currently using a hermit crab salt water by zoo med. But I have "Oceanic sea salt mix" on order and I just plan to use the stuff I have until I get the Oceanic which should be any day now. I figured since that was all I could get my hands on immediately that it would be better than no salt water. Or should I discontinue using it immediately? I'm using distilled water for my fresh water supply.

[CrabbyJo]

It's not bad for them, but it's good you'll be getting some Oceanic soon. The distilled water contains no nutrients whatsoever, and is considered "dead" water for drinking. This is one reason we stress the ocean salt water over the hermit crab salt water. The hermit crab salt water, when measured with a hygrometer, contains no salinity at all! How is that possible for a salt water? Definitely not what the hermit crabs need.

Do you have pictures of your little guys and their home yet?
We love pictures!

[abegie]

That is bizarre that the hermit crab salt water when measured contains no salinity at all. Is it possible the zoo med stuff is better than some other brands? I only ask because I first introduced it when I just had my 2 PP's and the next morning the water bowl was almost dry, and there is no way it got tipped over so I know my PP's really liked it and when I look at the ingredients it states natural sea salt. In any case as soon as my other stuff comes in I will stop using it because it bothers me that they also feel the need to put a dye in there. Makes no sense.

And the pictures are coming but it may be a week or two as I don't have my digital camera right now but as soon as I get it back I will snap a few.

[CrabbyJo]

Hmm it might be okay as far as the salinity - as I recall, the study that was done was using HBH hermit crab salt.
But you are absolutely right, there is no need for the dye really, the only thing we can think is that they wanted to make it easy to tell the salt water from the fresh, for little kids.
But I guess we are really purists here, in general, we, like you, prefer not to give them something with dye in it. And what does that mean exactly, "natural sea salt", I wonder?
I too feel better giving them a marine salt that I know has all the goodies in it that they need, and no dye that they don't need.

[ladybug15057]

Only reason the yellow dye is used in the ZooMed part 2 is so the employees of Zoomed as well as crabbers can tell the part 1 from the part 2. But it is not known what if any harm would come to the hermies. (studies done on humans are not conclusive when it comes to using the dyes in foods or drinks) But ZooMed was also tested, and it does not register a salinity level.

[CrabbyJo]

Thanks Marie, good to know that about Zoo Med.

Abegie, let us know how it goes when you get the Oceanic salt, I'm curious to know how your crabs will react to it!

[abegie]

I sure will! I'm quite curious to see how they will react to the good stuff when I get it. I'm expecting it any day as long as my shipment doesn't get held up for any reason.

[abegie]

Well the experiment begins tonight. Just finished switching them over to the Oceanic salt water. Will post an update in a couple days.