Is this a Molt or a Death?

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CCXGT

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Feb 20, 2014
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Liverpool, UK.
So I've just come downstairs and seen, what looks like, a Red Leg Hermit out of his shell.

It's shell it nowhere near it which makes me think it and got blown about but it still has it's antennae and all that funky stuff..




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Hard to say but you will know later today if and when the shell starts to move again. It's not unusual for there to be a short period of inactivity after a crab or shrimp molts while the new exoskeleton hardens. In my experience, most crabs and shrimp will mold at night when there are less predatory fish active which may eat them while they are vulnerable.


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Hard to say but you will know later today if and when the shell starts to move again. It's not unusual for there to be a short period of inactivity after a crab or shrimp molts while the new exoskeleton hardens. In my experience, most crabs and shrimp will mold at night when there are less predatory fish active which may eat them while they are vulnerable.


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I had two hermits, one of them is completely hidden.

The other is slightly dug into the sand and not moving at all (this is the one I think molted).


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Update: it was a molt!

The crab that molted is slowly recovering in the corner and the second hidden crab has finally emerged now the lights are off.


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