OK, now I'm confused. If I notice that one of the crabs is exhibiting behavior that he is going to molt, I put him in ISO, however if he has already dug himself down I let him be? Don't bother him, and don't put him in ISO? I just want to do the right thing. He has been down for about 3 days. I can see the tip of his shell. He hasn't moved. The day before he went down he eat and drank constantly, well maybe not constantly, but every time I looked he was either eating or drinking. Also, I havn't seen another of my guys for about 4 days. I don't want to go digging around for him, but I don't smell that dead fishy smell either. He could be in the hut, but I cannot see into it because of the way I have it positioned. I have only had the hermies for about two weeks, so I wasn't messing with them to give them time to destress. Any suggestions?
You don't have to put them in Iso for them to molt. You will knowwhen they start to molt they bury themselfs,start to eat and drink alot,crust may go under their eyes, All of other things.
Don't go looking for them! If you have only had them 2 weeks, chances are they are hiding, destressing and just trying to acclimatize themselves....or they could also be molting. Either way, you just want to leave them be until they are ready, causing as little stress as possible. Don't worry about ISOing a crab when he's molting. Unless one of your crabs digs up a molter, there shouldn't be anything to worry about. Remember, they do it in the wild all the time. Also, if a crab is buried, you will not smell the fishy smell through the substrate, so you can't really use that as a guide. Good luck!
Like others have already said, I don't iso my crabs when they're molting and they seem to do just fine. As far as checking on them, I've been told that unless it's been over a month (depending on the size of the crab), not to worry. Good luck!!!
Thanks guys. The other one came out last night. The one that I hadn't seen for 4 days. Boy was he hungry. That at least made me feel better, unless of course, he lost his shell to a shell fight. I know, I can't be thinking that. Think good thoughts. Anyway, I assuming that my Scooby Do will be down for awhile for his molt. This is the 5th day. He is the largest of my crabs, however you would probably consider him a larger medium. Thanks again. I know I have been asking alot of questions of you for the last 2 1/2 weeks. Just need to know some things.
