Help! Is he dying?

[Hermielover]

I have had my land hermit crab for almost a year now. He’s been perfectly healthy. He recently buried himself under the substrate, which I thought he was just molting. After a few days I was cleaning the tank slightly trying to find him. I know I shouldn’t disturb molting, but I didn’t suspect he was yet. When I found him, he was SUPER pale and stiff in his shell. There’s no foul smell, but he won’t move and there’s black goop hanging out of his shell. Water poured out of his shell too. Can anyone help me? Is he dead, and is it normal for a hermit crab to be completely stiff when dead? Please please help!

[Wai]

From what you have described it’s not easy to tell. Will his body not fall out of the shell? Is there no shed exoskeleton?

[Hermielover]

He’s currently not moving much. There’s no molting showing and he’s just sitting there. I took him out of the tank with the others and put him in a separate tank to get extra care. His enclosure is warm, humid and has bedding. I picked him up 4 hours after moving his tank and he slightly, slightly moved his one leg. He still won’t come out fully and there’s now a hole type thing on his claw with orange looking goop. He hasn’t moved other than that.

[Wai]

Do you mean that his claw is injured? This is not something I have heard of, but by the sounds of it, there honestly isn't much you can do other than to keep him comfortable and hope that he recovers eventually or unfortunately passes.