Land Hermit Crab Moulting Period Maximum?

[fiaery]

Hello

My ruggie buried himself the sunday before last, and has not surfaced since.

For the last week and a half, I have been pouring half a glass of aged tap water a day into the sand to keep the humidity up, but I'm getting a little concerned.

For those more experienced with land hermit crabs, how long does your ruggie go under? mine's half the size of a tennis ball.

concerned.

[ash]

for crabs this size , it will probably take them longer to molt.. dun worry..
dun make the sand too damp.. otherwise the crab may die

Hello

My ruggie buried himself the sunday before last, and has not surfaced since.

For the last week and a half, I have been pouring half a glass of aged tap water a day into the sand to keep the humidity up, but I'm getting a little concerned.

For those more experienced with land hermit crabs, how long does your ruggie go under? mine's half the size of a tennis ball.

concerned.

[fiaery]

it's been almost one month.... sianz 1/2

[fiaery]

Hurrah! he came out!!

Unfortunately he brought mites with him, now how the heck did they get to the tank...

Did a water bath, holding him shell upturned as recommended, and shook it abit, the mites started to drop off. about ten in all. I'm not going to clean out the tank. But i'll be letting it completely dry off.

In the meantime, after being violated, the crab dug back in again while I was typing.. .......

[Fuzzy]

Hurrah! he came out!!

Unfortunately he brought mites with him, now how the heck did they get to the tank...

Did a water bath, holding him shell upturned as recommended, and shook it abit, the mites started to drop off. about ten in all. I'm not going to clean out the tank. But i'll be letting it completely dry off.

In the meantime, after being violated, the crab dug back in again while I was typing.. .......

Hey congrats! good to hear your lil crabbie is ok. Half a tennis ball is quite a hefty size though, hehehe.

Maybe you might want to move him into another tank temporarily while you let the mite problem sort itself out?

Or perhaps you might want to leave the tank (without crabbie in it of course) out in the noonday sun for a day or two to nuke all those mites.

[fiaery]

thanks man! hey i haven't seen the mites since, but i suspect they take time to grow to the 1mm diameter I saw them in. the water bath method is quite effective for these buggers.

Suddenly realised that the legs now have a black thorn-like claw in them. Nasty, but very good at clinging to branches... and fingers :~