Dead or molting...

[MattP725]

I found my hermit or the skeleton of buried just below the top of my sandbed today out of his shell. This is a red leg btw... He had been primarily sitting in that corner for atleast 2 days but he had been alive. Now in in shell I can swear I see a leg or two although it is harder to see when I moved the shell a bit. Do hermits sit in their shell while they regenerate? The skeleton looked almost entirely full but the back end was torn up a bit like something slipped out of it. Anyone witness this?

 

[quarryshark]

It the skeleton has a hole in it, you can be pretty certain it was a molt. Don't worry, he will show up in a day or 2. Possibly in another shell.
Do you have some larger shells in the tank? As he grows there will be a need for them.

 

[MattP725]

Sure do... he has already test fit each of them... they come in medium and large... the large is about 3x his size (hard to tell when you are at the FS) but the medium seems just right. Hopefully he is not dead because he was pretty active.

 

[quarryshark]

I'll bet he is fine. The hole you saw was his escape hatch.
Some of them grow pretty fast. I have a blue legged that has tripled in size in the past year.

 

[MattP725]

Hope so... he was one of my best sand cleaners.

 

[MattP725]

Well so much for a day or two... how about 15 minutes! He came out but because he has a new skeleton he is all light colored. Doesn't look too much bigger but I am just happy he isn't dead! I was wondering why he was being sluggish the last few days but now he is movin around like usual.

 

[quarryshark]

Very cool!!