do horseshoe crabs molt?

Question

i have had other things in my tank like shrimps and lobsters that molt but i recently purchased 5 horseshoe crabs and added them to my tank they burrow in the sand at the bottem so i cant tell if they have died............... anyone ???? thx

Answer 1

My horseshoe crab is currently molting every 6 to eight months. Like a tarantula, I find that he buries himself in the sand and doesn't move for a week prior to the molt and stays buried for two weeks after the molt. Horseshoe crabs grow fairly large and tend to die of starvation in most tanks so it may be a bit brave of you to buy five of them but at least they grow slow. I have had mine for two years and it is about three inches across his shell and he was about one inch across when I bought him.

Answer 2

Horseshoe crabs molt throughout their whole lives. It molts for the first time after it leaves the egg sac in six days. Then in the next three or four months, it may molt up to five times.

Answer 3

Yes they do....