Baby

Question
My daughter has two hermit crabs. One just died and I personally disposed of it, but left the shell in the cage. Three days later we noticed a pincher left in the shell. We went to pull out the pincer and it moved. We left the shell in the cage to see if it would come fully out after awhile (we were still not sure what was going on). After letting it sit, it did come out and it is very small. What is going on? I disposed of the other one and have no idea how this got in the shell.

Answer
Your daughter's hermit crab did not die, it molted. It shed it's exoskeleton to become a larger crab. Unfortunately, it needed to eat that exoskeleton to reabsorb much of the nutrients that are stored there. You need to provide him with a good source of calcium (like cuttlebone or egg shells) and steamed shrimp with skin and tail still on. This will help him regain some of the nutrients that ended up in the garbage.