Eating while molting?

Question
My son's hermit crab which we've had for about a month has become completely inactive and is just laying in its shell between two pieces of driftwood in our 10 gal. aquarium. There is no bad odor so I think it is still alive. I'm guessing it is molting. It has not touched its food or water in a week or more. Is this normal for a molting crab? We have also experienced a problem with mold growing on the drift wood we've put in our tank. I've been removing the pieces as they've gotten moldy. They seem to be the ones that the crab previously spilled on when it knocked its water dish over. How can I clean the pieces to put back in the tank if it's at all possible to do so? Is mold an indicator that the tank is too humid? One more question, is a heat rock buried under the sand a safe heat source to use for our tank?

Answer
  
My son's hermit crab which we've had for about a month has become completely inactive and is just laying in its shell between two pieces of driftwood in our 10 gal. aquarium. There is no bad odor so I think it is still alive. I'm guessing it is molting. It has not touched its food or water in a week or more. Is this normal for a molting crab?

****Yes this is very common for a molting crab to not eat or drink any water for several days/weeks.



We have also experienced a problem with mold growing on the drift wood we've put in our tank. I've been removing the pieces as they've gotten moldy. They seem to be the ones that the crab previously spilled on when it knocked its water dish over. How can I clean the pieces to put back in the tank if it's at all possible to do so?

******Soak the wood in double strength salt water for 2 hours and scrub as you go. Bake wood at 250 until it is dry, that should solve your mail problems.


Is mold an indicator that the tank is too humid?

****No. Hermit crab tanks are generally a mold friendly environment which is why we treat most of it with salt water whenever possible.

One more question, is a heat rock buried under the sand a safe heat source to use for our tank?

****Again no, reptile heat rocks get much too hot for hermit crabs. Look at using an under the tank heater, it canstick to the glass bottom of your tank.


Please let me know how your little guy is doing.