Molting 101

I've talked about molting quite a bit in my first 2 posts, so I figured I should go into detail about what it is. Molting is when a hermit crab sheds their exo skeleton, and grow. There are really, only 2 ways a crab can molt. I call them the good, and bad way.
The good way is when a hermit crab is able to burrow under the substrate, into a secluded, dark cave and molt. Molting can take anywhere from 2-3 weeks for micros and teeny's, or over 3 months for jumbos. It is very important you do not dug up, or disturb a molter in any way shape or form. The only time you should dig up a molter is in an emergency. If you find mold, dig up the molter and put him or her in, either an isolation tank(Ding a little cave, put them in it, and put a lil bit of moss or something else to cover the opening.) or in the main tank after the deep clean to rid the tank of mold. If theirs a flood(Water pool leaking or water bowl being spilled), you need to get your molter out of there, molters that get saturated don't usualy live.
Now, onto the second way to molt, the bad way.
This is a surface molt. If your tank is set up correctly, this may rarley happen, and usualy with a newer crab. This is when the hermit crab molts, without burrowing under the substrate. If you do not have diggable substrate for your crabs, the may try and molt on the surface as a last attempt. If you have a crab surface molt, don't move them. Many crabbers move them into a dark isolation tank, but this, in my opinion, is just adding stress to one of the most stressful things a crab will go through. Instead of moving it, take a water bottle and cut it in half, midway down. Place the bottle ontop of the surface molter, so no other crabs can get to that hermit crab. Sometimes crabs will cannibilize frshly molted crabs. Sometimes a crab will be laying limp and you may think it is dead. Do not throw the crab away. This may be the beggining of a surface molt. Only dispose of a crab if it smells like fish, its a very strong smell, hard to miss. A surface molter may smell like chemicals, this is what a molt smells like.
After a hermit crab molter, they eat their ex skeleton, this provides calcium and helps the hermit crab's new exo skeleton can harden. If a hermit crab is showing pre-molt symptoms(Digging more than normal, eating, drinking more, sometimes changing into a smaller shell) then feeding a lot of calcium(Such as egg shells, honey, or cuttlebone) to help them with their molt.
I hope this helps clear up any questions about molting!

~HermitCrabCrazy