I gave my sis two tiny hermit crabs for Christmas and they're doing great. During the last week or so, the shy one (Mr Crabs) has been really active during the days..eating and sitting on his coral during the daytime (he's usually only up at night). Then yesterday he burried himself. He's out now, but I think he's pale. Does this mean he's getting ready to moult??? And if so, should he be in an isolation tank?

Thanks!
Chrissy

How big are they? Usually even babies stay buried for a week or two to molt. He may be preparing for a molt but they don't get pale till afterwards. If you check back, I have a thread with some pics in here of my latest molt. He was a grayish white before and after his molt his exo turned a strange translucent yellow. I have some new pics I'll be adding to that thread soon so those may help you.

How big of a tank are they in, and how deep is the substrate in there? If you have a decent sized tank (10 gals or larger) and about 3-4" of substrate, you should be okay to leave him in the main tank. I am not infavor of iso'ing molters as I personally feel it stresses them out more. Some insist on doing it and feel it's the only way. Everyone has their opinion, though. Currently I have a tiny critter keeper tank in my main tank which is what my molter is in. THat way he has the benefits of the heat/humidity of the larger tank.

(He was iso'ed as he was a freak surface molter!)

Hi,
Both crabs are very small...about the size of a large grape (shell and all). Their only in a 5 gallon tank right now with about 3 inches of sand and an undergravel heater. He's surfaced today, but he's still being super active.
Chrissy

Wow, those little guys are teeny!! I wouldn't worry about iso'ing him. If he is ready to molt then he'll just burrow down. With such small guys their molts go quickly.

Thanks for the advice! Hopefully he'll moult soon!

Hows he doing Chrissy?

Ive had the same two hermits for ten years now and personally when it comes to moulting I prefer to move the non moulter to a separate tank.
Obviously thats not going to be possible if youve got like 10 other crabs though! When Haerskly moulted last in Dec. I thought it would be alright to keep Barney in with him but I woke up one morning to find the poor wee man naked, missing a leg after being unearthed and attacked by his tankmate. This was one of the few occasions I had decided not to separate and for my own peace of mind and for safety's sake im not going to leave them in together when they moult again.
And they are in a 20gallon with at least 3-4 inches of sand.

Well Mr. Crabs is still super active all day long and he burried himself again last night. I've been on my sister's back to get them a bigger tank so I'm hoping she'll do it this week so we can just take the non-moulter and pop him in there. For now I'm just keeping a close eye. If they are moulting, do they leave their shells or bury themselves shell and all??

chrissy

Theyll bury down with their shells.