I'mabout to give up! They keep dying...

[Menders]

I started this journey about 4 months ago. I realized that all of the research I had done was totally inaccurate. I waited two years to research hermit crabs before buying them. I changed everything to make sure my 10 gallon tank was up to code. I lost 4 Hermie's after everything was going so good. We started out with three that were bought from a surf type shop. The first died after a month. And for no apparent reason. I kept an eye on things and added more sub. I had 3 go down for a molt. Well two.. one surface molted. I protected the surface molter with a plastic bottle and he made it!!! He is now raoming around and hanging out in his vines. The other guy molted in the coconut hut. He went in and drug a piece of vine and a shell to block the door. He dug for 2 days and then all went quiet. He took about two weeks to molt and came out healthy and happy. He is roaming around and doing great.. knock on drift wood! The third molter had gone down for over a month. He went into a hole in my barnacle. The wait was long and I questioned his health. But almost 2 months later he had come up at some point. He went back down in his hole and I watched him hang out in there for weeks. I thought he may be stuck but convinced myself that if he got down there, molted, came back out,and went back; it was proof he could get back out and must still be shy and hardening up from the molt. I checked on him daily and he was hanging out in there. One night I went to check and he was half way out of his shell and definitely dead. Smelly and all... I feel bad because now I wonder if he really was stuck and crawled out of his shell to try to be smaller to escape the hole. I realize now that he may have been too big after the molt to get back out. I feel awful. I cleaned the tank because I suspected a bacterial bloom from too much humidity. My heat was on point but my humidity is super high.. It is in the 90's. So after the death of two I bought 2 more. A total of 4 again. I had fed them green grapes (organic and washed in treated water) and they molded over night. I got them out asap. The next day one died unexplained. I blamed the grapes because the two unexplained deaths came after feeding seedless green grapes. I decided to get the three remaining Hermies a bigger tank. I got a 29 gallon and stand. I bought three bags of play sand and made ot super noce inside. I was transferring the three over and the two (little guys who successfully molted) are super happy. I noticed that my large crab had dug around the old tank a lot and eaten a ton pf food before settling down in the corner. I picked him up to move him to the new tank and he is lifeless. This new tank has 150lbs of play sand in it at sandcastle consistency. I bought a new glass lod for it. I added larger salt and fresh water baths. And plenty of climbing places. I put him in and he is limp. He almost falls put a lottle
When I pick him up. His legs are lifeless too. But he is still in hos shell
and no fish smell. I have sent hundreds of dollars on sub, a tank, heaters, climbing vines, 2 huts, extra shells, and feed them a proper dry and wet diet. I have followed every rule to the exact word. My tank meets all of the requirements. I don't know what I have done wrong. I just set up this big tank to find my large guy limp. He was the reason to buy larger. So that he had plenty of sub and could dig down into the 8 inches of play sand sub. Now he might be dying. What am I doing wrong? My last 3 guys were doing great. Then my big guy is in questionable condition. My heaters are on the back left sode. I have two calibrated thermometers/humidity readers. One analog and one digital. They read within close ramge to each other. My water os all treated with recomended treatment. My salt water is the proper instant ocean... I feel lole throwing in the towel.

[kieagcarm]

I don't know much about crabbing yet other than what I have learned here, but I was told From day one my having only two hermits in a small tank was a bad thing, Maybe that had something to do with it? I upgraded the next pay check and only loss i have had was in the small tank from a fight. I hope things get better for you

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[NLindsey921]

Sometimes crabs are just in too bad a condition from being stuck in bad environment for too long that they are too tired or whatever to keep going and they pass. Its called post purchase syndrome when a crab dies for no apparent reason shortly after you buy them.

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[LadyJinglyJones]

Aww, I'm sorry you've lost your little guys. That must feel aweful!

Maybe it will pay off to be patient for a bit with the big guy... is he out of his shell?

Like everyone says, hermits endure a lot before they get to your tank, and sometimes they just can't pull through. It's frustrating, but likely not your fault if you are keeping the tank in good order. I know it's rough, not knowing what it was that killed them.

I think it's encouraging that the two that had moulted are still with you! You must be doing something right, yes? It seems that newer additions that haven't yet gone through the moulting gauntlet are passing. That might not be something you could prevent.

Maybe see how well your current batch do in the new tank before adding more. 4 crabs seems like a lot for a ten gallon, and even a 29 gallon should probably not have much more than that - in the wild they have a lot more space, right?

Sorry for your loss!

[Menders]

I don't know much about crabbing yet other than what I have learned here, but I was told From day one my having only two hermits in a small tank was a bad thing, Maybe that had something to do with it? I upgraded the next pay check and only loss i have had was in the small tank from a fight. I hope things get better for you

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Thank you for your response. I had three tinys in a 10 gallon. They never fought. They loved to pile on each other and sleep. Three in a 10 gallon is not odeal. But being that they were tinys ot was satisfactory for a short time. Only until the grew larger. From what I was told, you can get away with 2 or 3 tinys. Or two smalls per 10 gallon. But it won't last long considering they will eventually grow and need more room. So the tinys amd the 10 gallon was fone for a temporary home. But when one doed and I bought what looked like a small-medium turned out to be a medium-large in a too small shell. When he switxhed shells I found that he was mich larger that he looked initially and meeded more room and deeper substrate. I asked the community how badly the sotuation was and many said that he wpuld be less likely to hirt anyone because he would not compete for shells. Ot was actually better that he was not the same size because deaths isually result from shell foghts in small tanks. But yes, I definitely needed a larger tank asap. He needed room to dig and a 10 gallon would limit hos ability to molt. I ised to leep fish in college and had a 30 gallon at my dads house 6 hours away (he lives in KY and Im in Indy) so I pocked it up. And lickily happened to have a 30gal stand that I had gotten for a birthday gift about 11 years ago. I never opened it because we moved a lot with my hisbands job and I never got around to setting it up. So I was licky to have a brand new stand in the box, a newish 30 gal tank and bought a clear glass lid. I fonally set up a proper sizeable tank that would be perfect for my 1 tiny, 1 little, and 1 medium-large. I hope my med- large is just about to molt. Is it possible for a crab to go limp before ot molts? He always comes out and is so active.

[Menders]

Thank you all for the kind workds. I feel like a crab killer. I know this sounds really dramatic. People just don't seen to understand. They say "so buy another one" or "it's not a dog!!!". It's not, but its a life that I chose to care for. If biggie dies, I will not buy any more. I will have two tiny crabs in a 30gallon. But they have both molted and it seems like the common consensus is that you are not out of the woods as far as PPS until they successfully molt at least one time. He is still in his shell. He falls lose a bot when you pick him up, but stays 90% in. I took him out and cleaned him off. Just to make sure he isn't being attacked by mites or something I am missing. There was nothing. He did twitch and he clamped down with his Purple pintcher on the tip of a napkin. So he is still alive. I scrambled an egg and shell in a pan (no salt or butter) and drizzled a little bit of organic olive oil on it. I Sat him next to it. I think he is about to molt. Do you think I should dig a little hole and sit him in it? Not cover him, just dig a little hole and sit him there just in case he is too weak to dig his own.

[Paradi]

Thank you all for the kind workds. I feel like a crab killer. I know this sounds really dramatic. People just don't seen to understand. They say "so buy another one" or "it's not a dog!!!". It's not, but its a life that I chose to care for. If biggie dies, I will not buy any more. I will have two tiny crabs in a 30gallon. But they have both molted and it seems like the common consensus is that you are not out of the woods as far as PPS until they successfully molt at least one time. He is still in his shell. He falls lose a bot when you pick him up, but stays 90% in. I took him out and cleaned him off. Just to make sure he isn't being attacked by mites or something I am missing. There was nothing. He did twitch and he clamped down with his Purple pintcher on the tip of a napkin. So he is still alive. I scrambled an egg and shell in a pan (no salt or butter) and drizzled a little bit of organic olive oil on it. I Sat him next to it. I think he is about to molt. Do you think I should dig a little hole and sit him in it? Not cover him, just dig a little hole and sit him there just in case he is too weak to dig his own.

Wait are you saying you took him out of his shell to clean him and check for mites? You should never force them out of their shells. It's extremely traumatic for them and can possibly be lethal.

It is common for them to go limp or lethargic before a molt but it's best to avoid touching them unless absolutely necessary.


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[Rawrgeous]

Try to stay positive, and remember these guys go through a lot before they reach us, from capture, to transport, to pet store. Sometimes they have lasting damage we cannot see. I do suggest filling out the emergency template so we can review conditions and make sure everything sounds right, and can give us insight to if there are any problems that might be causing the issues. Is it possible like others have mentioned that this crab is about to surface molt? You're doing good, and the fact that you care says a lot about you as a person! Link: viewtopic.php?f=27&t=46102

[Menders]

Thank you all for the kind workds. I feel like a crab killer. I know this sounds really dramatic. People just don't seen to understand. They say "so buy another one" or "it's not a dog!!!". It's not, but its a life that I chose to care for. If biggie dies, I will not buy any more. I will have two tiny crabs in a 30gallon. But they have both molted and it seems like the common consensus is that you are not out of the woods as far as PPS until they successfully molt at least one time. He is still in his shell. He falls lose a bot when you pick him up, but stays 90% in. I took him out and cleaned him off. Just to make sure he isn't being attacked by mites or something I am missing. There was nothing. He did twitch and he clamped down with his Purple pintcher on the tip of a napkin. So he is still alive. I scrambled an egg and shell in a pan (no salt or butter) and drizzled a little bit of organic olive oil on it. I Sat him next to it. I think he is about to molt. Do you think I should dig a little hole and sit him in it? Not cover him, just dig a little hole and sit him there just in case he is too weak to dig his own.

Wait are you saying you took him out of his shell to clean him and check for mites? You should never force them out of their shells. It's extremely traumatic for them and can possibly be lethal.

It is common for them to go limp or lethargic before a molt but it's best to avoid touching them unless absolutely necessary.


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No, oh my, no! I took him out of the tat and just dipped his legs into Fresh water. I would never pull a crab out of his shell. He ended up passing. He was quite large; so I don't know how old he was. But He had definitely been dead for a few days. He didn't start to smell until day 4 of no movement. I say he didn't but I had shrimp in the tank and I thought that was the smell. Then it got stronger and I knew he had passed. He was limp and falling out of his shell before he began to smell. He never actually ever came out of the shell all of the way. But he fell out quite a bit but never all of the way. He was definitely dead though. His eyes were clouded over. I had saved him from a pet store about a month and a half ago. He was always happy and active. Then I think he wanted to molt and his body just wouldn't


Menders
5 PPs, 1 cat exotic short hair, 2 children and a wonderful husband

[Paradi]

I'm so sorry for your loss Menders! Sometimes their little bodies just can't handle the trauma they go through before they get to our homes


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