Red leg hermit crab - molting?

[Elvis]

Hi there,

 

I have a new 5.5gal tank with two reg leg hermit crabs.

Both of them have not moved from the same spot for 3-4 days.

They are still alive, but not crawling around.

 

I know atleast one of them molted (I can see the shell).

Do you know if they stay inactive for a while after molting?

 

Just not sure if something else is wrong.

 

-Elvis

[NaNO ReeFiN]

Are they scarlet hermits...? I bought a couple of those and placed them in my tank and neither one moved for days as well. I just left them alone and eventually they started wandering around.

[Sahin]

I have one scarlet hermit. He stays in one area of my tank for days. Then decides to up and leave for nicer pastures. Until its time to move again.

[Metznreef]

yeah its prolly just eating. once all the algae or whatever is gone in that spot, it will go graze somewhere else.

[Inpha]

Hi,

I know I have zero reef experience... however, after crustaceans molt, there exoskeleton is not nearly as strong as it was before molting. It takes a while for it to build up a stronger exoskeleton. When this happens they tend to stay secluded until their skeleton gets stronger because they are far more vulnerable than they were before. Please correct me if I am wrong.

[Strife]

i have a lazy scarlet hermit too...i see him move once a week...and molts all the time

[metavurt]

hey all... new here...

 

question 1: molting is different from changing shells how?

 

question 2: how long do hermit crabs keep one shell? for life? for a year? do i need to provide other, slightly larger shells in case they need to change?

 

thanks for all feedback!

 

-+vurt

[SoS]

Yes you do when they grow larger they will hunt for a new larger shell. I have a few hermits blue's red's and dwarf's and just yesterday i found one hunting through the snail shells I left for him. he found one he liked and switched shells and kept on going. If you ever get a chance to watch your hermit change shells do it. Because its not a common thing. The great thing is he leaves his shell for the small hermits to move into. So look at your hermits and find snail shells that are a little bigger than your current ones and don't forget the little hermits they need bigger shells to. So an assortment of sizes is needed.

 

P.S. some hermits will kill snails for there shells if they can't find the right size shell laying around. So need to do a little maintenance for the maintenance crew

[cirionrc]

Yes, the shell you get should be the size you want the hermit crab to be. If you get a really big shell, he will eventually get that big, and fast. My FO tank is 4 months old. My hermit took over a BIG conc shell which he killed and took it over. He could barely lift it, but the has molted 3 times in 3 months. He grew really fast. The shell you give him must be the biggest shell in the tank, or at least bigger that snails and concs. Or he will make a nice meal of them. The transfer of shells is cool. My hermit actually got in a habit of leaving his shell to get to food in places he cannot get to with the shell. He's funny.

[chufa]

One thing to consider is that hermits are generally picky about the shell's coil direction. A hermit which is in a shell that coils clockwise will prefer shells that coil clockwise; and vice versa.

[SoS]

they are most likely molting they stay in one spot for there shells to heal I've seen mine do this for as long as 2 weeks

[wnuk]

Let me get this straight

 

A crab that molts loses its skeleton, not its shell??

 

this morning my wife came running up the stairs into the bedroom to wake me up. She has her own red-legged crab in th tank that we have named "crabby crab". She wanted to know if I had bought anything that would fight with crabby crab and hurt him. She said that his legs had come off!!!

 

 

I went downstairs quickly to see what was going on and noticed Crabby Crab sitting about an inch away from his legs. He also had all of his legs attached to him, so this was very confusing.

 

I am assuming that he "molted" and he will just be sitting there for a while as his exoskeleton strenghtens.

 

Take a look at the picture below, a snail came by and started feasting on the legs that were discarded.

I am going to leave them in the tank for a little while to see if anyone else wants a nibble.

 

Can anyone verify that he has indeed molted for me please????

 

Thanks a bunch!!!!

[Inpha]

I think thats a completly seperate crab....

[wnuk]

I only had one red legged crab in the tank, so I find it hard to believe that these legs came from a second crab the same size as the original.

 

I suppose its a possibility though.............

But a hitchhiker that size would have been spotted some time before the molting, considering I am addicted to staring at my tank to discover new and wexciting creatures

and the only red legged I have still hasnt moved since this morning.

[Inpha]

Perhaps you brought in the just the remaining chitin of the crab with the sand or the LR... i dunno just a thought...

[Lemo]

Speaking off “wnuk” I have 4 red leg crabs and thought they were dying left and right. About a week after I got them I found what looked like the whole crab brought red floating in the tank. I thought I was loosing every few days, but they’re all still moving about? So I guess that’s their molt? It just seemed as vibrantly bright as the live crab, is that normal?