How many times do hermit crabs molt?

[gigafish]

Well, the title pretty much says it all. I have a 2 inch hermit crab that molted back on 2/12/07. It is now 4/3/07 and I woke up to find he had molted again. So I dont know if I should be concerned about this or what. Is he doing this out of defense to something in the water? Or is this just what hermit crabs do?

[MDeth]

Shrimp molt monthly-ish. I assume crabs are the same?

[coral reefer]

Usually every few months, but iodine addition will shorten the timeframe between molts!

[JustPhish]

It really depends on how quickly it's growing. Some think molts follow the cycle of the new moon (makes sense) but there's many factors that come into play.

Iodine is stored in the carapace of these inverts. If you're dosing iodine and there's too much in the water the crab will molt prematurely to rid itself of the excess iodine and it will more than likely be fatal.

Your time frame certainly wouldn't cause me to be alarmed if I were in your shoes. Seems plenty long enough to me. Just make sure there are larger shells for the crab to move into.

[gigafish]

Well, I am glad that it sounds normal. I think he is so cool and I dont want to lose him. He does have some bigger shells that I have seen him checking out before so maybe it could be time to upgrade to the 4 bedroom shell. Who knows.

[TinFury]

They molt exacty 65 times... No it's 94.... Uhhh.... I think maybe 21.... DAMN IT.... I just can't remember..

[Twan013]

i'm not sure about the common aquarium hermits, but those you can get in the gift shops at the beach, when they're young, they can molt up to a couple of times a month, but as they get older, they molt less often... compare it to humans... we grow like crazy when we're babies and little kids... but when we hit a certain age, we slow down considerably...