WTH? My crab just buried in the sand and died???

[xXxEmilixXx]

My crab Harold Zoid buried himself for around 3 weeks. When it came time to change the sand in the tank I had to find him. I did, and he was all loose in his shell and he smelt real bad. Nothing was wrong! All he did was just bury down in the sand and die, why????

[HermieLove19]

When crabs bury down in the sand for weeks at a time they are molting. They shed their exoskeleton so they can grow. This process is done in complete darkness so that the molting hormone can be released. This hormone does have a scent but nothing strong like a dead crab. Maybe while he was molting you dug him up and stressed him out and it could have killed him. It also could have been that you had poor tank conditions and the crab buried down to cool off or warm up and just couldn't make it. Purple Pincher hermit crabs are not as sensitive to changing conditions as other species found in pet stores. It also could have been something we call PPS or Post Purchase Syndrome. When hermit crabs are not given a proper window to de-stress they can appear to be doing well for a while and then all of a sudden they can loose limbs and slowly die.

I would read the care section on the site and make sure you have the proper conditions in your tank, temp, humidity, proper substrate, etc. If you are going to start over with a new hermie or if you still have one or more of them alive in your tank I would adjust the conditions and read up on molting so that this doesn't happen with another crab.

[emmac350]

Also, the sand doesn't need to be changed that often. If you change the sand every three weeks, you're throwing a lot of money away on sand. Most crabbers clean the tank (a deep clean) somewhere between 3 months to even a year. However, they wait until their crabs are not buried before doing this (which can take a bit of time) so all these numbers are completely relative.

[CrabbyJo]

Emma is right, Emili, you should never dig up a buried crab. It is very important to make sure your tank conditions are right. If you can share with us the conditions of your tank, perhaps we can help you figure out what caused your crab to bury and die, as well as the two you have streaking now. It sounds like there is something amiss in your tank, let us help you figure it out.
It would also be best if you can restrict your posting about this to just one thread, so everyone can respond in the same thread and nobody misses any info (especially you. )
Please let us know what your temperature ranges are, the humidity range, the substrate you are using (brand and type), the brand of dechlorinator you treat your water with, the salt you use to make your ocean water with.
Do you know if you have Equadorians or Purple Pincer crabs?
What do you use for climbing toys in your tank? Hideys?
I know it's a lot to answer, but only by knowing all these things can we narrow it down to the possible cause.
Hopefully we can help you save your crabs!

[ladybug15057]

Due to another thread that was posted by xXxEmilixXx there is a 90% chance there is something certainly amidst with the crabitat conditions or even chemicals or such being used in the home.
Being xXxEmilixXx has the Aussie flag with their info she has Aussie hermies unless for some unique reason she may have a straw.

[xXxEmilixXx]

Also, the sand doesn't need to be changed that often. If you change the sand every three weeks, you're throwing a lot of money away on sand. Most crabbers clean the tank (a deep clean) somewhere between 3 months to even a year. However, they wait until their crabs are not buried before doing this (which can take a bit of time) so all these numbers are completely relative.

We hadn't changed it for about 4 months, he just buried down 3 weeks before I cleaned it.

[xXxEmilixXx]

Due to another thread that was posted by xXxEmilixXx there is a 90% chance there is something certainly amidst with the crabitat conditions or even chemicals or such being used in the home.
Being xXxEmilixXx has the Aussie flag with their info she has Aussie hermies unless for some unique reason she may have a straw.

I don't have any strawberries.

[emmac350]

Regardless of how long you've had the current sand in the tank for, you should wait until everyone is up before you change it (unless it's been WAY too long of a time since someone buried). I just now got the 10g empty for sand baking...I moved all but one crab into the 30g two months ago, but my last crab was molting and I had to wait until he came up. It's frustrating, I'll give you that. The best course of action in that case is to move everyone to the iso tank whenever they come up and you see them. That way you have a count of how many are out of the tank and can keep track of who's still in the main tank.

Crabs can sometimes take a really long time to molt...I've had tiny sized crabs take two months! Jumbos can take six months or longer. My advice is if you have one buried long-term, mark when they went down on a calendar (or the last time you saw them out for sure) and wait at least until they should be up. Ask other crabbers how long your size crab would take to molt, and have that be your end limit. If you suspect that the crab isn't molting, smooth out all the sand (lightly), put new salt and fresh water out, and put that crab's favorite food in the food dish. Take a picture of what the food looks like before you go to sleep, and compare when you wake up. Do this for a few days and, if you've found that there are footprints on the sand, sand in the water bowls, or sand in the food bowls (or the food has been moved or pulled apart) you'll know that the crab is not molting and will not likely die if you pull it out to change sand out. He'll still be stressed (if you thought you were safe in your house and a giant hand reached through the roof and pulled you out, putting you in another house, you'd be freaked out too!) but should (not a definite, but much more likely) survive the whole thing.