Shell less molt?

[spidtat]

I looked in the tank this afternoon and found one of my small E's, Pearl, out walking. This was such a relief b/c a couple of weeks back I saw a shell while I spot cleaning so I picked it up to put it in the shell bin, and I noticed it was her. To my relief/shock it was empty. She was not tucked up in there and there was no sign of her or her exo within the hole I picked her up shell up from. This had me really worried, i was thinking someone might have burrowed in on her and attacked while she was molting. Not knowing what to do I gently put the shell back where I found it, and place one of my big decorative shells over the hole just in case. Then I got my pacing slippers out and hoped for the best. Then today she was out and ALIVE....YEAH!!! This was the first time I have ever experienced a crab leaving it's shell to molt. Has this happened to anyone else or is this just a thing E's do? Anyway I thought I would share my news, but I would like to know if this is common, b/c it freaked me out.

[alli'smommy]

Wow! What a story-and happy ending!! I'm so glad Pearl is fine. I have never heard of a crab leaving its shell to molt, though! I don't know!
So glad everything is good now!!

[krackersmom2]

It is possible that she was not molting and just hiding out. Usually a crba won't change shells until after a molt is fully complete. I bet she was happy to find her favorite shell! I have a silly crab that will vacate his shell for a little while and always comes back to his favorite. I had one guy bullied out of his shell while he was molting and stolen by another crab....I posted all this in a thread a while back, but it was quite a shock when I realized why I was so confused about who was who and who was molting and who had his shell stolen! I'm sure she was in another shell, since crabbies usually don't survive long w/o a shell. The shell helps keep their abdomen moist. Glad everyone is happy!

[spidtat]

I had honestly thought about that as well, but when she went down I had 8 E's, now up to 10, and at that time 6 of the 8 were out and I knew where the other 2 were and this shell was actually in the spot I had seen her digging as well, so I truly think it was her. I did read on another site one member has had an E leave it's shell to molt. The only thing I think that truly helped her was that she was in the EE which is always moist, and that honestly may have helped. I don't know it is weird?

[WizKidsMom]

I had the assumption that all crabs left their shell when they molt. Just outside of their shell that is.
My Percy (an E) had dug down - but with part of his shell showing. Two days later, the shell was moved and I checked it - only to find EE in it. I did a quick careful dig to see if I could find him. I was sad to find him legless and sad to say smelly. I found his legs - or most of them - not far from his body. It was a sad day.