I have four hermies - Willow, Indigo, Charlie and Chester. Indigo and Chester are my quietest two but have both been very active in the last week and Charlie and Willow are my most active hermit crabs who love to climb and make noise. Willow however has been very quiet lately but thats another story (In my journal here) - Onto the problem at hand! First the boring stuff!
What is the volume of your main tank?
40 Gallons.
How many hermit crabs do you currently have? How big are they?
Two crabs, Chester (small) and Charlie (Small to medium), Indigo (Medium but in a larger shell) and Willow (Large)
How long have you had the hermit crab(s) that you are concerned about?
Charlie and Chester Ten weeks, Willow and Indigo Seven weeks
What substrate or combination of substrates are you using? How deep is it?
Washed Sydney beach sand, currently three-four cms high.
What do you feed your hermit crabs?
Ordered off of the Aussie ebay place for some organic dry food stuff changed once every two days and supplying fresh fruit, vege and different meats and fish.
Do you use distilled, bottled, tap or other types of water?
Distilled.
If you are using a dechlorinator, what brand is it? Does it state to remove all heavy metals, chlorine and chloramines?
N/A
What brand of sea salt are you using to supply your hermit crabs with salt water?
Sea salt by the same ebay user I bought the food off.
What heat source are you using and where is it positioned?
A heat mat positioned on the right side of tank but has been turned off due to extreme tempretures ranging from 34-37 C
Have you calibrated your thermometer(s) and hygrometer so that you can interpret accurate readings?
Yes, both about two degrees/percent off reading
What is the air temperature range and humidity inside the tank?
Warm side has been 30C during the night without heat source, during the day 37C. I have made a cold end which ranges between 25-22C Humidity varies between 75% and 60%
What is the highest temperature that the substrate near the heat source reaches?
See above
...Ok so with that in the last week and a half my hermit crab Charlie has continued his usual shananigans of climbing on whatever he can in the tank including the sticks and plastic tree ornaments.
Last Wednesday he burried himself near the cold end but the ice box I use was liquified so it wasnt cold. I had to change it but waited till Friday as I didnt want to disturb him. I eventually changed it but was careful not to move him even though I was concerned about him being near the real cold section of the tank. Eventually he moved to under the clam shell water dish I have but not under the sand so I thought nothing of it.
Today I lifted the dish to check on him and obviously clean it and change the water. To my horror I saw half a body hanging out. After an hour of yelling at myself and tears I knew I had to remove him. As I carefully picked the shell up and body with a towel I saw something behind it - A hermit crab O.O Charlie was still alive! But yellow? I had to set up my iso as I hadnt expected any of my active hermies to molt and wanted to wait to get a heat mat.
So now I'm terrified my little guy will die
My questions are...1) Do hermit crabs always bury when they molt or do some molt onto?
2) When I moved Charlie to iso I kept him under the dish but also put it right next to access a hidey cave. Will he move there or should I have put him under that?
3) Why is he yellow? Is that normal? I thought they were supposed to be pink?
I have this problem with my main tank too although not needing the heat source on is making it easier.