new to hermits, here's my terrarium

[ladybug15057]

This is your older, smaller tank? If it were me, I would not move him to the new tank. I would leave him be until I knew whether he was comatose from being premolt, or if he had passed. Remember, where as most hermies do give off a dead fishy odor when they pass not all do. But on the same note, not all hermies who have a dead fishy rotted odor to them are dead either.
When you mention swollen, can you see his/her abdomen or is it the exo itself that appears swollen?

[aquadriac]

the exo is swollen.... he's still in his shell, so I can't see his abdomen. His legs are all that's sticking out.

Thanks for the advice, i think i will leave him.

I also had another one surface today, though! I think there's only the one swollen one and 2 more burried in there.

What's the max amount of time I should wait to tell if he's dead or not?

[ladybug15057]

If he is on the surface and has been there for a month already? Without touching him I would look closely at his eyes. (with a magnifying glass or such) Are his eyes hollow looking? Are they downward? Like this:
http://s187.photobucket.com/albums/x276 ... unched.jpg
Or are they downward and also slightly turned outward? Depending on this is how I would judge. But surface molters do not take as long as those who are burrowed or under an object.
But when a hermie is in premolt or about to molt, their old exo's usually do seem 'puffy' from the fluids they build up between the old and new exo for easier shedding of the exo.
They may also get an 'ashy/whitish' coloring to their exo's:
http://s187.photobucket.com/albums/x276 ... g-Kong.jpg

[Emkaybe]

I did the half and half thing. The weird part is I used the same peat moss and fir on one smaller side of the tanks and the crab almost refuse to burrow in the sand side... I don't want them to play in the moss if it's harmful to them so I'll be removing it, but if they don't like the sand what can I do?

[Wai]

I don’t think peat moss is recommended for hermit crabs. An living alternative is sphagnum moss, but it is used above substrate level and not as a substrate itself. I would suggest taking out the peat moss.