Last night I realized it had been 8 weeks since Godzilla went down. He was large for an E, but probably only a medium crab. I went digging and found the worst. I’m sure he’s been dead for quite some time. It looks like he got stuck in his exo while molting. You could see his exo in perfect shape, but you could also see that inside the hollow outside was a black body rotting away
I’ve never had a terminal PP molt, all my PP molts have gone perfectly.
I’ve had smaller E’s molt multiple times with me, and have them be fine as well.
I’ve also had smaller E molts that were terminal. So far, I’ve had 5 terminal E molts. Gizmo was a small / medium, Godzilla was a medium, and the rest were a bit smaller than small.
What’s the deal? Some of them were in their own isolation tank, so I won’t bother to fill out the template because there would be too many things slightly different, but generally all the tanks were within the recommendations.
I’m curious if my sand is too dry. When I put it in it’s always sand castle consistency, and I try to keep it moist. However, I notice when I clean that the sand is always dry near the UTH. I can’t mix it up all the time to make sure it stays moist because someone is always down and I don’t want to disturb them.
My husband asked how big E’s get – I told him they don’t get too much bigger than Godzilla. He’s suggested that maybe they’re just old, and it’s their time. But… I don’t know. I can’t say he’s right when there were 3 small ones that were terminal.
The crab in my profile picture has molted at some point this week. I didn’t notice him going under the sand, but I didn’t notice a surface molt either. However I discovered him looking quite soft and with a big dent in his BP. This confused me, because I can’t imagine what he was pressed against. Previously I had the rocks at the bottom to keep out the bacteria, but I had seen him since I moved (and I didn’t put the rocks back because of terminal molts) and he was normal. He molted after the move, and was up and about while still soft. He’s in iso now, but I’m really worried that he’s just going to pass even though he seems fine. He’s molted with me before with no problems.
Then there is Goomba, who is an E as big as Godzilla was. He was my very first (noticed) molt. He came up VERY pale, almost white. He stayed up for a month or two, then buried himself again. I’m worried that he’s down there to die… When Gizmo (small to medium) was dug up during the move he was also just as pale, and after a few days left his shell and died.
I have had successful E molts, and I’ve had one medium E molt that I would call successful (Lestat). I’ve had tiny E molts be successful as well… but the majority seem to be going down the tubes.
I’m just talking, trying to get my thoughts out so maybe someone cam make sense of them. Let me know what you think.
I can't figure it out! They come up with beautiful coloring, seem really active and healthy, have good conditions, get the same stuff as my ruggies who have been molting like mad since I got them and growing like bad weeds! Yet the second or third molt with me is always terminal!