Do Electric Blue Hermit Crabs Molt

What you found was the molt.

Do electric blue hermit crabs molt. This species will spend most of its time scavenging the live rock for algae or seaweed to feed on. This tiny crab lives in abandoned snail shells. I do from time to time throw empty shells in my tank to keep the crabs from pulling each other and or snails out of their shells to find new homes. Hermits are omnivorous meaning they eat both plant and animal tissue.

Definitely seems to cut down on the carnage. I would supplement his diet though. Hermit crabs do molt as do all crustaceans. Both claws are close to being equal size and are brownish green in color.

Some of mine have exhibited behavior similar to yours. This crab has electrifying blue legs with black banding and its antennae stand out with its bright orange color. It s the same way that many bugs all the shrimp basically anything on planet earth that has an exoskeleton grows. If sifts and aerates the sand as well.

The electric blue hermit crab calcinus elegans also known as the dwarf blue leg hermit or tiny blue leg hermit is a small electric blue legged hermit crab that is an excellent addition to any cleanup crew they are completely reef safe peaceful and easy to care for. Jeffery shields of the virginia institute of marine science says that it was once believed that blue crabs experienced anecdysis or a terminal molt in other words the crab would never molt again and would remain the same size this molt was considered the second molt after puberty for males and the only molt after puberty for females. Hermit crabs can take several weeks to a month to molt but wait until your crab acts like himself again is more active and has eaten his old exoskeleton it has plenty of nutrients before moving him to the main tank. Molting is how hermit crabs grow.

I have seen a few times when i put new shells in for them they transfer really fast not staying out of the shell for more then a sec. This tiny crab lives in abandoned snail or triton shells. Don t worry about it if he s hungry he ll move around until he finds food. Or it may attack and eat the snail then use the shell for its home.

The shedding of the old skeleton does not take very long but the stages that precede and follow the shedding often take a while to complete and these are stressful and critical stages as well. The entire molting process for hermit crabs is actually comprised of several stages which include preparing for the molt the actual shedding of the exoskeleton the hardening of the exoskeleton and a recovery period. Mine molt all the time but i think they do it at night because i never seen it. Get some fresh or frozen shrimp and squid at your local supermarket.