The first molt... help!

i've read countless things on molting, but i guess it's like pregnancy- once it happens, you're confused anyway haha anyway my smallest buried himself today, i've never witnessed a molting, nut i know this must be molting because none of them have shown an interest in burying themselves yet. He is at the bottom of my tank in a corner, and he managed to wedge himself behind the water dish. When adding fresh water i placed the salt water dish closer, but not wedging him like before so he doesn't get stuck. But i'm afriad he will not be getting enough heat since my UTH (a T-rex) is in the middle of the tank and does not cover the whole thing. The highest my UTH ever got the tank to is 76, currently 72. With him in the corner, will he move if he gets to cold, or does that only work they get too hot? I have no means of ISO since i just spent all my money to get them the proper care they have now. Humitidy is 70-75%. They've lived through worse conditions with ease, but this molting is a whole different thing...

 

Maybe you could move your UTH (Under Tank Heater) to the other side of your tank. . . That way, he would be warm enough, and if your other hermit crabs got cold, they could just move to that side!!!

 

You could thin out your substrate above the pad. You can also purchase a lamp to heat the tank more. Just leave the molter though. DOn't attemp to dig him up or somthing. Good Luck.

 

Okay... thanks guys! i think he moved back under the water but closer to the heater.... if he could move before, i'm pretty confident he can get out... plus, he's safer from the other crabs this way

 

You're welcome!!! Good luck!!! Hopefully, your fisrt molt will be a successful one!!!

 

Don't worry. He may be molting or just destressing if you recently got him. Think about it this way: he buried in that particular spot, so he must like it or else he wouldn't be there anyway! Trust me if hermit crabs didn't have any idea about where to bury themselves, they'd have gone extinct a long time ago. I wouldn't move the heater at all because if you do he could possible overheat, and like I said before he chose that spot knowing he'd be ok. Now if there was a problem with the setup thats a different story but your humidity sounds fine so no problem there I assume.

 

Good luck! I've been through 1 molt.Hard to wait for them to come up!But if he's under for more than 2 months dig him up something probaly went wrong.

 

Give him at the very minimum two months before digging him up. I have tiny crabs who don't resurface for 2 months at a time with a molt, and I have mediums who take less time than the tinies. If he isn't up by February, go searching...otherwise, leave him alone. He'll probably be destressing first, then molting, which means he'll take longer than if he were just molting.

 

Okay, it might not be that warm, but if your UTH has been there a while, he might actually LIKE the temperature there, and moving the UTH closer might not be what the crab wants, I suggest just trust that that's where the crab wants to be. If you're really worried, cover the sides of the tank a bit to try and retain a bit more heat, that might give you an extra degree or two at most, nothing major.

 

If you aren't measuring your substrate temperature, you could inadvertently cook your crabs, which would explain why he's as far from the UTH as he can get. UTHs can get very hot, and the substrate (especially if it's sand) can quickly get up beyond a safe temperature range for crabs. So do not move the UTH - he buried in a place with a temperature he prefers, so don't mess him up by changing the temperature. He can't move for a while after he's molted, and if you move the UTH, you could very easily kill him before he can escape the heat.

 

Thanks for the tips! i won't move the UTH. It's so hard not to check up on him, though, but i'm refraining! thank you!

 

Which is what I assume the instructions on my UTH was warning of, so I side mounted my UTH to allow for better heat distribution.