New Crabbie lover, just experienced a molt, need advice! SOS

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Oct 27, 2010 1:40 am

Well, tomorrow's project will be to wet down the sand some more. I'ts moist by the water bowls, but not really anywhere else. I guess I could turn the heater off and see what happens with the temperature.

I work nights as an RN, so I've got to go to bed. I'll get a nap with my DD tomorrow then work all night. I'll check back in for any tidbits left after I check out, and update when I can.

Thanks so much for all the help and advice.

Post by **wodesorel** » Wed Oct 27, 2010 2:02 am

The sand doesn't have to be saturated, but it should be moist enough to hold it's shape or the crabs won't be able to bury to molt properly. Dry sand won't hold a tunnel so they could suffocate if they tried to bury, and it can also desiccate them when they're soft from a molt.

Remember to use dechlorinated water since it's safer for the crabs. I always remember for the water dishes but I constantly forget when I wet down sand. And you'll need to mix it up well so it's moist all the way through to the bottom. That's the hard part - the maintenance is just spraying down the surface as it starts to dry out. I think you'll notice a difference in their behavior once the crabs are able to dig and tunnel.

I can understand the worry about humidity - my tanks got to 99% this summer when the heat came. Having a moist substrate will stabilize it from dropping too low, though you may have to vent the tank if you're not using a screen lid if it does get too high. Fresh air is great for them if you live in a climate where you can get away with it!

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Oct 27, 2010 8:57 am

Maybe Bad Boy is molting or he's destressing. I can tell you that it's driving me crazy not knowing!

I added water to the sand today. I pulled out the pools and food dish and 3 crabbies who were active as of this morning. Then I cleaned out as much poo and food that I could find, then mixed up distilled water with the sand. Being careful not to disturb Bad boy and Buttercup. No fishy smell, so I hope they're okay.

On the flip side, I sniffed the ISO today again and the smell I noticed last night was gone.

I'm no sure what's going on, but Shelly is still in there as far as I can tell and I'm going to give her more time to recover. I'm going to move the ISO critter keeper to a storage room that's warmer and more humid than the rest of the house. I haven't gotten my undertank heater in for the ISO yet. So this is the best I can do. I'll keep checkin on her. It would be awesomse to walk in and find her peeking out of her shell or see tracks in the sand.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Oct 27, 2010 9:03 am

Oh and the other thing is that my jumbo keeps trying to get to Bad Boy. He did manage to get one leg on top of his shell and it looked like he was trying to pry him up, but I picked up the jumbo and angled the big rock to keep the jumbo from getting to him. Although he's still trying.

tigermoon89 · Post by **tigermoon89** » Wed Oct 27, 2010 3:08 pm

To be on the safe side, you may want to place a barrier around your potential molter.

Sometimes the smell of a molter will entice another hermit crab to eat the molter as it is a way of getting protein while the crab is vulnerable. Since they haven't been with you long (and have endured bad nutrition from the pet store), they are still probably in survival mode and may feel it necessary to eat a molter.

Don't worry, cannibalism isn't really a common trait, it's usually due to the above reason. During this time it will probably help to provide lots of fish protein.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Thu Oct 28, 2010 8:25 am

I got home from work tonight and looked in the tank. Bad Boy was peeping out of his shell. Yay! I'm so happy that he's okay!

tigermoon89 · Post by **tigermoon89** » Thu Oct 28, 2010 5:55 pm

I'm glad he's okay. He may have just been destressing.