So about 2 years ago I got 4 hermit crabs and about 6 months ago I had one die. I think I know the reason so that death (it died molting after switching shells constantly and, although I put in scores of new shells over the month or so that it was switching, it never found one it liked so I think the death was stress related) isn't in question but recently I found another of my hermit crabs dead and I have no idea why. My setabout up is as follows. It is a 40 gallon long tank with about 6 inches of coconut substrate at the left end sloping down to meet calcium sand at the right. There is a large piece of driftwood dominating the tank offering climbing area and shelter and there are two large rock shelters situated above the substrate.There are two saltwater dishes and a few inch deep freshwater dish and hermit crab food is left in a dish and changed daily as well as 2 pieces of fresh fruit or vegetables. I have two humidity gauges (although I doubt their effectiveness) and a fogger which is turned on for 15 minutes every hour as the tank does not have a lid since the crabs cannot possibly get out. Behavior exhibited by the crab before death was not unusual. It was simply active and walking around until one day I did not see it. Since my crabs burrow often, I did not think to look for it until a few days later I found it dead in a house. It was not any further in, nor out, of its shell than usual. So I am curious as to why it may have died so I can prevent that death in the future. The only logical reason I can think of is maybe the fogger does not offer enough humidity for them to breathe? The gauges always measure above 70 and the temperature in my house never drops below 70 either.
