Dead hermit or molted?

[clancaster23]

I'm not sure if you would see the result of a hermit that has molted but every once in a while I will see what looks like a hermit on the sand bed that looks like it has died and been taken out of it's shell. Do I have one less hermit in my tank or is that just the exoskeleton floating around? I don't see eyes on it but I do see the feelers or antennae or whatever they are and the front legs and claws.

From what I know, I had two larger gray looking crabs. They were probably twice as big as my small ones. A little while ago I found what looked like a dead one on the sand but I do still see the two large ones roaming around. I have seen some of the small ones like this also and really can't keep an acurate count of how many I have in there now.

 

[little_fish]

Sounds like a molt to me!

When my cleaner shrimp molt their feelers molt as well.

 

[OhNoNemo]

Chances are its a molt,,,i have a lot of hermits ,and the molts look very similar to one out of its shell,,,it can be hard to tell the difference

 

[Bifferwine]

I'd bet it's a molt. It can be very difficult to tell the difference -- usually the only way is if you can see the meat inside to confirm it's a body.

 

[SarahSmile]

My very active crab didn't move for a few days, he was wedged in a hole in one of my rocks. I thought he was dead. Crap. He's going to foul up my tank. I decided I should get him out of there. I shook the rock. Nothing. I got a long bamboo skewer and jabbed it at him. Eek! He was alive. And very much affronted at my rude treatment of him. He scuttled away into a rock cave and a few hours later I saw what looked like his dead body lying shell-less in the sand. My husband and I peered in the tank, and,yup, good going, you skewered him to death. I was brokenhearted. 3 days later, there he was, scuttling around, happy as ever. It was molt! Who'd a thunk it??
And now I know.
I'll leave the skewers in the kitchen drawer from now on....

 

[Sir Alex]

I got 3 hermit crabs and it looked like one of them was dead and it had come out of it's shell. I was thinking it might be a molt but I didn't see the crab. I didn't find the shell either. I've only seen 2 lately so maybe one is hiding while the other 2 go out, then they swap?