QuestionHello,
One of my hermit crabs just died yesterday and it smelled very fishy so i went back to the store and they gave me one for free because it had died the day after and i had waited a few days to make sure. i cleaned out a new cage {one of the kiosk cages because i am in Sant Diego and i don't have an aquarium at the moment i am leaving for home tomorrow} and now one of my crabs {the old one not the new one} has dug under the new sand i put down {i used the sand from the beach...is that ok?} and she hasn't come up for a little while {around 2 hours} there is an odd smell but i don't know if she is dead or not. There isn't allot of sand, maybe 2 inches because of the small cage. I don't want to bother her just in case but i did put some sand on top of her so she was in the dark just incase she was molting. Please help me before its too late! thank you!
AnswerIf you get sand from the beach it would be best to bake it to make sure there's nothing living in the sand that could harm the crab.
Once a crab digs down you shouldn't disturb them, as they are probably stressed. Also do not cover them, as it could crush the air hole they make when they dig under.
As long as you dont smell a fishy smell I wouldn't worry. Sometimes a molter has a odor to them.
If you want to check out a forum for hermit crabs, feel free to check out these two sites
www.crabstreetjournal.com
http://hermitcrabaddiction.net/forum/index.php
