QuestionHello, My name is Kim and my bf bought me a hermit crab about a month ago from Ocean City, MD... About a week and a half ago it wasn't moving and I thought it was dead so... just kind of left it alone until a few days ago I smelt the tank and it has an odor but I can't describe the odor as a fishy smell. It's more of a pungent garbage-like smell when it's been sitting out in the heat for a few days...
Hermit crab is half way out of shell... Not sure what to do... the hermit crab is a small one and I am thinking it may only take about a month for it to molt.
The substrate I was given was gravel not sand so it would be a surface molt...
I have yet to see an exoskeleton though and so I fear it has died. I just spent a lot of money investing in this little hermit crab (Betty) and was hoping she he would be a great addition in my dorm room in the fall when I go back to school.
I have no idea what to do at this point because i heard molts can take a long time...
AnswerShe may have indeed died, Kim, I am sorry, you should give her a few more days, by then, the smell should have gotten bad enough to know. If she is dead, and you get another crab, please get your crab some sand. It can take a month or so to molt though, so you can give her a little bit longer. If she doesn't respond at all if you touch her while she's halfway out of her shell, she could be sick and not dead yet. I am sorry you are having such a troubling experience and I hope it's just a molt, hermit crabs can die quickly for no reason it seems.
