Crab still destressing

fandt94 · Post by **fandt94** » Thu Aug 23, 2018 3:00 am

It’s been almost exactly a month since we have had this crab and he has never dug down...only maybe to half cover his shell. Currently he is in a hut and has been there about 2 weeks. He was in the hut in the old tank and now the same in the old tank. I don’t know if he is eating or drinking as he has not come out but I DO have little capfuls of various things inside the hut for him. Hard to tell if he has partaken. I also sprinkled stuff onto the substrate for him as he barely moves on the surface. He is DEFINITELY still alive but my question would be could he still be destressing...but on the surface!? I reversed the hut so that he is semi isolated from being bothered (it’s in the corner)...I have been leaving him alone except to lift the hut to change out water and food. I’ve avoided picking him up unless I couldn’t get the hut back properly and even then I just picked him up a tad....that’s when I could tell he was still alive...only once did I sniff to make sure. I’m just confused about the length of destressing. He seemed to become lively 2 wks ago and then went back to this behavior. He also still hasn’t changed shells from the painted.

HHIhermies1004 · Post by **HHIhermies1004** » Thu Aug 23, 2018 1:21 pm

fandt94 wrote:It’s been almost exactly a month since we have had this crab and he has never dug down...only maybe to half cover his shell. Currently he is in a hut and has been there about 2 weeks. He was in the hut in the old tank and now the same in the old tank. I don’t know if he is eating or drinking as he has not come out but I DO have little capfuls of various things inside the hut for him. Hard to tell if he has partaken. I also sprinkled stuff onto the substrate for him as he barely moves on the surface. He is DEFINITELY still alive but my question would be could he still be destressing...but on the surface!? I reversed the hut so that he is semi isolated from being bothered (it’s in the corner)...I have been leaving him alone except to lift the hut to change out water and food. I’ve avoided picking him up unless I couldn’t get the hut back properly and even then I just picked him up a tad....that’s when I could tell he was still alive...only once did I sniff to make sure. I’m just confused about the length of destressing. He seemed to become lively 2 wks ago and then went back to this behavior. He also still hasn’t changed shells from the painted.

I'm also a newbie but i can tell you from my experience which is about 4 months now that destressing time varies. I have two crabs that i have not seen at all in the past 2 months completely underground and i also sniff the tank hoping for no death smell, so far so good. i have two others that come out every other day or so to eat then go back to the exact same spot half buried, i have one that loves to destroy the tank and didn't take him any time to destress at all. I say it's a good thing he's still alive, and they'll change shells when they're ready. I have a crazy amount of extra shells and would be happy to give some to you if you just pay for the shipping as long as i have the size you need. No matter the number of shells i have in the tank, they like what they like and will change when they're ready. In four month i still have 3 in painted shells out of 5. If he's hungry he'll eat, if you have raw honey thats usually a hit as well as bloodworms at least for my guys.

fandt94 · Post by **fandt94** » Thu Aug 23, 2018 11:15 pm

Thank you so much for your insight and telling me what you’ve experienced so far. It makes me feel better that this is not so unusual. I’ll let you know on the shells if you still have them. Right now the painted shell guy is kind of sectioned off by me so the newer, more curious crab, doesn’t disturb it.

fandt94 · Post by **fandt94** » Fri Aug 24, 2018 2:16 am

I de-segragated him... And he came out briefly for the honey I put outside the hut

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HHIhermies1004 · Post by **HHIhermies1004** » Fri Aug 24, 2018 8:31 am

fandt94 wrote:I de-segragated him... And he came out briefly for the honey I put outside the hut

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Yay for honey!! I like you cap technique for feeding him I'll have to give that a try. Been using disposable paper minicups to feed honey cause clean up is easier when all you have to do it throw the entire vessel away.

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fandt94 · Post by **fandt94** » Fri Aug 24, 2018 8:58 am

I love the bottle caps...we always have so many so it’s very convenient and the perfect size for small quantities. I got the idea from someone’s comment on here actually. I have a bunch strewn about in the other tank for my adopted crab too lol

amandapri82 · Post by **amandapri82** » Mon Sep 24, 2018 7:42 pm

Newbie here too with similar dilemma. I think just destressing, but possibly even lonely since tank mate down to molt.
Moved to new tank couple weeks ago. Before their move would be out of their hut daily, see them eating, even be very social towards me.
Immediately after move, both swapped painted shells! Yay! However, now I never see Angel unless checking for life. Food untouched (fresh and dry), going to try honey.
Suggestions?

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fandt94 · Post by **fandt94** » Mon Sep 24, 2018 8:58 pm

amandapri82 wrote:Newbie here too with similar dilemma. I think just destressing, but possibly even lonely since tank mate down to molt.
Moved to new tank couple weeks ago. Before their move would be out of their hut daily, see them eating, even be very social towards me.
Immediately after move, both swapped painted shells! Yay! However, now I never see Angel unless checking for life. Food untouched (fresh and dry), going to try honey.
Suggestions?

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So Angel is the one you are concerned about? What is she doing? Meaning, hiding in a hut? In her shell?

amandapri82 · Post by **amandapri82** » Tue Sep 25, 2018 4:32 am

Yes, Angel is hiding in hut (in shell), not eating, not coming out for water (water is staying crystal clear), not being social (always was before).

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fandt94 · Post by **fandt94** » Tue Sep 25, 2018 3:33 pm

amandapri82 wrote:Yes, Angel is hiding in hut (in shell), not eating, not coming out for water (water is staying crystal clear), not being social (always was before).

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When mine was suffering like that and in the hut I used plastic bottle caps filled with healing foods such as calcium, coconut, honey...I also filled two plastic caps, one with fresh dechlorinated water & one with dechlorinated salt water...I put them all close to him so that he didn’t have to reach far. I also sprinkled calcium powder on the substrate.

Sadly he still didn’t make it but hopefully I mad early his suffering a little less. He did eat and drink what I gave him but it just wasn’t enough to repair whatever was ailing him. It was probably PPS but who knows.

Good luck!

YouTube · Post by **GotButterflies** » Tue Sep 25, 2018 3:47 pm

Just be patient!

amandapri82 · Post by **amandapri82** » Tue Sep 25, 2018 4:57 pm

Is pure honey (unpasteurized) safe?

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soilentgringa · Post by **soilentgringa** » Wed Sep 26, 2018 12:24 am

amandapri82 wrote:Is pure honey (unpasteurized) safe?

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Raw honey is recommended, yes.

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HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Crab still destressing

Crab still destressing

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