Hey, I am a new crabber, picked one up from a kiosk at a mall. He made it through his first molt and now enjoying him. Wondering if my little guy eats anything? He doesn't seem to poop as much as he did when I got him from the mall. Not sure what is up.
Yes he does eat, for their size they can actually munch a lot. For the best care knowledge i would suggest going through some pages here on the forum and asking questions about anything you don't understand or can't find. that's how i learned everything i know. Welcome to the addiction. :rainbow:
Hello! Welcome to the Hermit Crab Addiction! Congrats on the molt :hermez2: Now to your question, are you sure your crabbie is not eating? You can smooth the sand around the food dish to see if he's been to the dish. Hermit crabs are more active (eat more too) when the temp and humidity are around 80. What are your readings? Hermit crabs are social creatures, consider getting him a buddy.
I have cleaned his cage and really don't see a ton of poop, but I guess he is eating. I don't want him to starve. I see little teeth marks or something in the crab cookes LOL. His cage stays at around 70 or 72. Is he cold? He is starting to molt again, do they do this a lot? It was like 4 months ago he just finished molting.
there are a lot of opinions on those cookies and if they are good for crabs or not. temp should be idealy 75 - 80, so if he is digging he could be trying to get warm and not going to molt.
He's buried himself for quite some time now. I keep the sand moist and temp still about 74. If he is not molting again why isn't he coming up to eat or get wet? He has been missing for at least 2 weeks.
It would depend on the size of the crab. If it is a smaller crab it could molt every 3wks. I had one that did that for a year. Then it started to slow down.
I plugged in his heater and moved his cage. THe temperature is up to 77 now. Is it important to keep the sand moist while he is molting? I forget how we did it the last time he molted.
You might spritz it with the water bottle once a day. But dont poor water in the substrate unless you know where he is. temp 77 is great. Besides if he is your only crab and is molting they do prefer the substrate to be a little cooler. When mine go to molt I'm going to turn off all the lights and just use the space heater.
how deep is you substrate. Be very careful if you move your tank. don't knock it around it could collapse the tunnel.
I think it is like three or four inches. I have been careful with it. I am misting the top once a day or when it looks dried out. The little reptile heater thing made it a good temperature so I will just wait for him to emerge. I took a peek a couple days ago and his claw is now dull gray. That is how he looked the last time when he molted. I read somewhere you should not dig them out during this time because it could kill them?
They say that "curiosity killed the cat", and that could be said for the Hermie's as well. I know---waiting without peeking isn't an easy thing to do, but you could collasp the tunnel and cut off his air supply. You may also cause him to panic thinking it is a predator after him and cause him extreme stress. When they are molting they are in an extremely vulnerable state, and any outside disturbances could prove fatal. Of course sometimes things "just go wrong" in spite of our hands off, but it really is best not to bother them. Ideally the substrate should be moist because among other things, it helps with the humidity level which should be between 76*-82*. The tank needs to be maintained the same no matter if he is molting or not, just don't put out quite as much food during this time being you only have one. You may want to get another one (or more) if you can because they travel in groups of a hundred or more when they are in the wild. Keep us posted on his progress... :flower: ops2: :flower: My apologies to everyone who already remarked about the temperature's, I should have read everything first before I posted.
why do you put food out when they dont come up to eat anything for a couple months? the last time he molted he never ate anything but himself and my son kept digging him out and looking at him. now i see you arent supposed to do that. so we arent. but he has not collapsed his own air space to get something to eat.. so i am confused about providing food for hermy if hes not interested.
Because the actual molting doesnt take very much time at all. But they will be down for weeks before they molt if they are of any size . And they might get hungry or thursty so they venture up to eat or drink before the main event. Once they do molt they will eat their exo and wont surface for food untill they surface permanently. If they do come up to eat or drink they might even make a new tunnel.
Well, hermy has resurfaced, my husband said. he is a grey color and when I got home he was halfway buried in again, but you can see his shell. You could see pieces of his exoskeleton where he busted through. I set food and water out so I hope he ate something. I will take pictures when he is not acting so shy.
