Crab is life-less but dosent smell, dug up by me by accident

[Takua-Me]

Hello, im new here so forgive me if this has happened already. So iv had my hermit crabs for about 4 weeks now well the newest one i got around last week Monday decided he wanted to molt. I didn't know where he went hes a small one so i thought he was under a thin layer of sand, to my surprise he was in mid-molt it looks like. He was limp hanging half way out of his shell, there is no fishy smell so i don't think hes dead. And when i held him he twitched once in a while so there's that. I put him back reburied him deeper. Then the next day he was dug up by another crab. I got worried so i put him in my medium critter carrier as an ISO. Was it safe for me to do that? This is my first molter so i have no idea what to do im so worried.

What is the volume of your main tank?
10 gallons

How many hermit crabs do you currently have? How big are they?
2 medium (their pretty big tho size of my palm, not hand, from leg to leg) and a smaller one, also my molter who's about the size of roughly a nickle id say. Total- 4

How long have you had the hermit crab(s) that you are concerned about?
Roughly a week and a half.

What substrate or combination of substrates are you using? How deep is it?
Eco Earth and Hermit Crab Sand. Mixed in my main tank is about 4 maybe 4 1/2 inches. My ISO is 3 i think.

What do you feed your hermit crabs?
All kinds of fruits and veggies. also the occasional hard boiled egg (with egg shells)

Do you use distilled, bottled, tap or other types of water?
I use bottled water and for the second water dish bottled watch treated with hermit crab salt water conditioner.

If you are using a dechlorinator, what brand is it? Does it state to remove all heavy metals, chlorine and chloramines?
Hermit Crab Salt Water Conditioner sold with the starter kit.

What brand of sea salt are you using to supply your hermit crabs with salt water?
Hermit Crab Salt Water Conditioner from a stater kit

What heat source are you using and where is it positioned?
It was a desk lamp, now i use a dual heating lamp by zoo meds that i bought at petco that rests on top of the main cages screen lid. (im using the desk lamp for the ISO atm)

Have you calibrated your thermometer(s) and hygrometer so that you can interpret accurate readings?
I'm using the zoo meds strip thermometer and zoo meds humidity gauge from petco. So yes.

What is the air temperature range and humidity inside the tank?
Temp ranges from 70 to almost 90 (70 is its lowest because i have no heater for night time yet.) (0 for when i have the lamp on for a few hours. I may be wrong because the strip thermometer that came with the starter kit is a bit weird to read (the color of the temp that its at). And about 60 to 78 humidity.

What is the highest temperature that the substrate near the heat source reaches?
N/A

Do you have any photos of your tank or hermit crab(s) of concern? If yes, please attach them to your post?
At this moment no sorry.


Even tho my set up is not as good as i think all of yours are. It keeps my crabs pretty happy. Especially my biggest, Zeus. I also have plastic rap on the under side of the lid to help humidity.

[Wai]

I apologise for this very late reply; I wish I had seen your post earlier. If I came across a moulter by accident, I would have isolated them immediately rather than burying them again in the same tank. However, you did the right thing isolating him after he was dug up by another crab, which could have devastating consequences such as cannabalism (has happened in my tank a few times already). How is the crab now?

I strongly recommend that you change some of the supplies you are using, but what you have now is better than nothing. For example, use a sea salt mix designed for salt water fish and removing the hermit crab sand (is that the calcium carbonate stuff?). You can find much more information in our Crab Care section.

[Takua-Me]

Sadly he died. I kept the ISO moist and humid also dark. But i guess the little guy couldn't pull through. And idk what the calcium carb stuff your talking about is. But its just hermit crab sand from pet co and eco earth. My biggest and most active crab, Zeus, snacks on it occasionally. Is that bad?

[ladybug15057]

Welcome to HCP and I am sorry to hear about your loss.
The calcium carb mentioned aka calsi sand which is what majority of "Hermit crab sands" are. The is info in the caresheets under the substrate section explaining different substrates.
Sympathies,