hermit crabs

[yothereyo]

do crabs molt?, becasue when i had a look at my tank this morning I noticed one of the scarlets shell upside down and empty, and next to it was lots of claws scatterd around, and I thought it had died. But looked at it again 12 hours later and there seems to be a crab mergin out of it.0

[Fishieness]

yup. all athropods do.

[yothereyo]

cool, you learn somthing new every day.

[skippy2]

Check out this crab molt!!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v290/skippy2/molt2.jpg

[yothereyo]

its very strange, cause when you see the remains you think one has just died, unlike my shrimps when i see there skins lying around after they molt. I make an effort to look for them to make sure they are alright.:look:

[LonersBlaze]

just remember that a molted hermit crab shrinks about 1/5 its size, then as its body hardens, it expands. The precess is much quicker than a land hermit crabs. Usually a crabs soft white abdomen would be visible if it were dead. on a molted exoskel, itwould be hollow. Try feeding the remaining exo to your other crabs, rich in clacium.

[Dustin83]

Just to add to the comment right above, make sure to put plenty of larger empty shells in your tank. As they grow, they need bigger houses. If they can't find an empty one, they may fight each other for the bigger one.

[yothereyo]

I have got a few shells already in there and they are dotted here an there. In fact one can't make up its mind, one day its in there orginal shell next it's another and back and fourth.