Originally Posted by
Merredeth
My hermit the other day left his shell. He was laying on the bottom of the tank close to rocks for coverage.
Hermit crabs have rigid exoskeletons that do not grow as the crab grows. The hermit crab will shed the exoskeleton every now and then as it grows. This is the actual molting process. Molting is a tough job for the crab, and death often occurs at this time. Limbs that the hermit crab has lost since his last molt will be regenerated at this time (I found a leg later on in the day).
Smaller crabs will molt more often that larger ones because they are not full sized and are growing faster. Smaller crabs can molt as often as every other month; it may be only once a year for a large crab (such as the case for a very large crab I have in my tank).
A few hours later my large hermit crawled back into his shell and has been all over the tank ever since. One way you may be able to tell if your crab is beginning the molting process is if his activity changes. To prepapre for this strenuous job, inactivity and sluggishness is common.
One way to tell if you are seeing the crab or the exoskeleton is to observe it closely. Sometimes, you can see very slight movement that is jerking like. Personally, I wouldn't touch the suspected crab or exoskeleton for awhile as it can take several days for the crabs new skeleton to harden and for him to actually find his way back into a new or existing shell.
One other thing. if you have hermit crabs keep extra empty shells to allow the hermit crab to find a new home as they do look to other shells for a new home. Make sure the hole is as big as his largest claw.
You can keep the exoskeleton in the tank as a hermit crab will eat his own exoskeleton as it provides additional calcium for him.
Denise M.
Well I may have screwed up. I threw the crab skeleton away (in the first 2 pictures). I hope that wasn't the crab itself.
