hermit crabs

[Kat]

do hermit crabs molt? I keep finding bodies in the tank but all the crabs are ok. at first I thought it was washing out of my newest pieces of live rock but I just found another one

[daugherty]

yes they do molt

[MamaJones]

My hermit crabs are molting all the time. In our tank they eat (and usually fight over) the large pieces of plankton that my fish won't eat. I looked up some information on hermit crabs not to long ago. They leave their molted bodies out in the open to distrack other animals while their new bodies are harding and they are vuneralble.
The need new homes to live in as they grow. I went to my local fish dealer and picked out some new shells for them to live in. They were only 10 cents each so I bought enough for the crabs to pick and choose. You should prob. boil the shells before you drop them in your tank. The minute I dropped the shells in all 11 crabs came over and duked it out. It was quite a show! I purchased a variety of sizes and the crabs seem to switch shells as they please. There is one unique shell I have and crab in that one seems to be king! We just got some more tiny crabs, so I can't wait to see what happens as they grow and molt.