Hermit Crab

[Liz05]

I have two small hermit crabs living in a 5 gallon fish tank with moist sand, a large piece of driftwood, a small pool with rocks on the bottom, a sponge, a shell dish with food, and a plastic palm tree. One crab came from the county fair, and I felt sorry for him and bought him a friend. The friend likes to bury himself... all the way at the bottom of three inches of sand. I read that they tend to bury themselves when they are about to molt, but this has been going on for days - shouldn't he have molted by now, if that was the case? It just worries me, im afraid he's going to suffocate or something. So I keep digging him out, and he keeps burying himself back in. Someone tell me he's not going to kill himself!

 

[crimsontsavo]

As a hermit crab grows, it must shed it's shell.You need to have a shell larger (a few shells) so he/she can replace it's old one.Give it a choice, they like to pick their own..

 

[Mollymomma]

A friend of mine has hermie's(19) she has had a few that have stayed buried for as long as 2 weeks. Evedently it's a hermie hider... Get some bigger shells as suggested and just keep an eye on it.

 

[Calusa]

perhaps you can remove some of the sand so that it's only 1" deep? Then he won't bury so far down...

 

[Liz05]

But they like to bury deep, don't they? I've got quite a few choices for him when he decides to switch.. 2 weeks! Thats a long time... but I can't keep an eye on it when its buried! In 2 weeks I will be nuts.