Hermit Crab Moulting A Lot

[Spearmint]

Not sure how many other hermit crab owners are on here, i'll ask anyway.
So last year I adopted Sparrow, my largest aussie land hermit crab, he came from bad conditions (and his owners handed him to me in a plastic bag ).
After his PPDS cycle, he seemed fine, eating, drinking, active. When I put him in my tank with Smog, he was out for a while, about 4 weeks, before moulting for half a year, Smog moulted at the same time and I was considering clearing out the tank as I thought they'd passed.
He came up bigger and very healthy, all limbs grown back, huge quills, and super colourful. But then a week later he went to moult again for 2 months, came up for a week, moulted. He's just come back up 3 days ago but now isn't anywhere to be seen.
I'm assuming he's gone down to moult as when he's gone, he's gone, and i know he's not out at night as he's very messy and pulls food out bowls to eat. He's overall very healthy, but Smog's getting lonely as they're meant to be in groups of 3 or more, not 2, and def not 1 alone.
My tank meets all requirements, even goes beyond.
Should I be concerned? Is there an issue I should be looking into? Thanks

 

[Wardy]

They uusually only moult once a year usually at the same time as you experienced with your first moult, further moults would suggest a health issue also a moulted hermit will be predated by another that has a shell.

 

[SumitaSinh]

So you can actually keep a hermit crab as a pet!! It's news to me. We met one at sea coast last year and my son was planning to keep him. Obviously, I had to discourage him. Now he will be thrilled.
P. S this is the hermit crab we found.

 

[Spearmint]

So you can actually keep a hermit crab as a pet!! It's news to me. We met one at sea coast last year and my son was planning to keep him. Obviously, I had to discourage him. Now he will be thrilled.
P. S this is the hermit crab we found.

What a cutie!
Def wouldn't recommend them as pets if you don't know how to care for them though, all the ones in petstores are from beaches, so unless there's an ethical breeder near you it's not a good idea.
They're also the hardest pet I own, they're so demanding, and it's pretty much just a tank of sand unless you're up at 2am as you can't hold/handle them

If you do get some from a breeder though, 'CrabCentralStation' is the only youtube account that has proper care guides. They're super awesome to have as pets though, I love the little guys.

 

[Spearmint]

They uusually only moult once a year usually at the same time as you experienced with your first moult, further moults would suggest a health issue also a moulted hermit will be predated by another that has a shell.

How can I go about helping him? They've got all the right food groups, humidity, temp etc. He looks physically healthy, but I'm wondering if maybe he's doing this due to his 7 years spent without moulting and in a tank with only calcisand?

 

[Wardy]

Poor moults with crabs are usually down to poor water quality, high nitrates or not enough calcium in the water.

 

[Nancy B]

Poor moults with crabs are usually down to poor water quality, high nitrates or not enough calcium in the water.

I've had hermit crabs and couldn't keep them alive! I never thought of that! We have high levels of zinc and other things in our water! I have a 75 gallon fish tank I turned into a terrarium with just plants. I would love to add a hermit crab! Would you suggest distilled water or...what kind of water for it. Just wondering if this is what killed them.

 

[Wardy]

I have kept a lot of hermits in marine tank over the years as they are exceptional scavengers, all of the water i used was run through a R.O.D.I. filter to remove total disolved solids from the water i would then add salt and elements to the water to match my tank water, i would think something similar would work with freshwater even filtering chlorine from tapwater will improve its quality.

 

[Spearmint]

Poor moults with crabs are usually down to poor water quality, high nitrates or not enough calcium in the water.

I've got land hermit crabs, not marine ones. their water is changed every 2 days though, as the Prime wears off. It's dechlorinated water using Seachem prime, one freshwater pool and one marine saltwater pool. I've tested the pH and Nitrate levels, they're fine. Would anything else be making the water bad?

 

[Spearmint]

I've had hermit crabs and couldn't keep them alive! I never thought of that! We have high levels of zinc and other things in our water! I have a 75 gallon fish tank I turned into a terrarium with just plants. I would love to add a hermit crab! Would you suggest distilled water or...what kind of water for it. Just wondering if this is what killed them.

Seachem prime should be used to Dechlorinate their water, they need 2 pools they can submerge into (craft mesh is a great ladder0. One salt water (use insta-ocean) and one fresh water pool.

 

[Spearmint]

I believe he might have been coming up for food during one big moult, rather than having individual moults. I've heard of this happening for large crabs but he's almost considered large now.
He'd never moulted within the 7 years with his old owners, and he was tiny when we got him, so perhaps he's just got loads to grow, and is coming up every now and then for more protein and calcium?
There's not too much I can do while he's moulting, but I will get a mirror for Smog as he's very inactive and i'm worried Sparrow won't be back for a good while.
I just really hope Sparrow will hurry and be okay, there's a food mite infestation, and it's getting bad but I can't move the substrate incase Sparrows moult tunnel collapses.
As soon as he's out and he's eaten food, i'll be redoing the tank as it's not the most enriching.