How do I Know if my hermit crab is molting or if it just is hiding?

Our experience with molting crabs has been you can tell when it's happening. They seem to come out of their shell a little bit and not just bury themselves. Burying to us seems a common enough thing in which they may not move for a couple of days from that spot.

This seems to be especially true in winter if the cage air is a bit cool and you have an under tank heating pad. They like to bury themselves over the pad. If a crab is buried and hasn't seemed to move for a couple of days, you can pick it up to see if you detect a movement or a decaying odor.

Generally, a dead crab will simply fall out of its shell. If you pick up an immobile crab, smell no odor, and the crab stays firmly in the shell, presume the crab to be alive and possibly in the early stages of molting without yet shedding any exoskeleton. If you suspect molting, the crab must be protected if in a community cage while being disturbed as little as possible.

We have a small cage set up and available for just such ... more.

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