Molting please read this!!

[CrabDaddy722]

Hey guys, I am a crab owner of 7 crabs and my large sized hermit crab named yoda went down for a molt in early December 2016. It has been 7 months and I thought for sure yoda was dead. I know I'm going to take a lot of heat for this but I am making this post to better inform you guys of my experience. I carefully sifted through the sand thinking I was going to find a dead crab with a sand filled shell. Instead when I finally found the top of yoda's shell I saw him hanging almost completely out of his shell. He was white on his interior and pink on the exterior. I knew from this point that there was a chance he was still alive. I flashed a light down in the whole for a quick second and I saw his eyes that were once sticking out, completely recede back into his shell. The body did not move at all. It was just the eyes. I knew that my big crab yoda was still alive and I quickly and carefully placed the substrate back over his area and sprayed the sand with water. I also put a big water bowl and food in there for when yoda decides to come back up. I feel horrible that I may have just killed my crab by checking even though I didn't touch him. Like I said yoda has been down for 7 months and isn't even jumbo sized but I know he is alive for sure. I'm sorry that some people will find this disturbing but I had a bad experience with one of my crabs who passed away a year ago. Anyways, I'm curious to know why his eyes just moved back into the shell while the body that was hanging out of the shell didn't move at all. Could my crab yoda have really been deep in his shell and maybe that was his old exoskeleton hanging out of his shell? I'm curious to here what you guys have to say about this. Once again I'm sorry for being foolish and searching for him . I wanted to make this post to inform all of the crabbers out there that crabs can molt for very long times and to not let your curiosity take over. As mentioned before, yoda is not even jumbo sized and has been under for 7 months!! My 2 questions: was that the old exoskeleton that I saw? Also, when do you think yoda will come back up for it looks like he was munching on his old exo? Thank you guys

[GotButterflies]

You should never rebury a crab once you dig them up. They make molting caves when they go down so that they have air to breathe and enough room to move around. In this case since he could be suffocating, I would recommend digging him back up and putting him in isolation with just his exoskeleton to eat. You can ISO him in the same tank using a 2 liter bottle - cut off bottom, take off bottle cap for air exchange or put a kritter keeper inside of your tank. No water or food needed until exo is gone. Good luck


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[CrabDaddy722]

Thank you for your response, I found him and he has some sand on him and I'm not sure what I should do at this point? Yoda is currently the only one in this 29g tank for everyone else is moved over to the 40g tank.

[CrabDaddy722]

Update: managed to clean his shell off so he is not suffocating. A lot of his exo was in pieces where I found him and I put his shell where his exo is and did not put anything on top of him. I looked inside the shell and all that was there were his eyes and his main body without the appendages (legs,pinchers). Does this mean yoda did not make it through his molt or is he in the stage where he eats his exo. Once again yoda looked extremely pale and had no pink coloration to him. I put a towel over the aquarium so he is in total darkness and left a bit of the top open for air circulation, thank you for your response butterflies. This has truly been a horrible experience for me and I feel extremely guilty. I posted back in my original thread about yoda but no one replied so I made a new one. If it happens that yoda has not made it through his molt, then I learned a valuable lesson moving forward.

[GotButterflies]

Oh man. Okay. Good that he/she is only crab in the tank.

They shed their entire body except for their abdomen when they molt. Then they eat it. Most leave behind the big pincher. This shed usually comes off in one big piece. If you crab truly is without appendages- he/she can make it- but it would need your help. I'm on my phone, so I can't attach a link. There was a member on here that had a crab without both punchers edit- pinchers survive by feeding it and giving it water that it needed on qtips stuck in the sand. Appendages can be regrown with molts. Good luck!


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[CrabDaddy722]

Unfortunately I think it may be too late for yoda. All of his appendages are gone except for his back legs and I'm not sure what I saw last night. All that is in his shell is his pale abdomen and eyes which are glazed over. He was not moving whatsoever and I think yoda may have left us a long time ago. I'm going to give it a few days to see if he moves or if anything changes. If nothing happens I think he's dead. He looks completely lifeless. This has been a learning experience and hopefully it's a long time before I have to go through this again.i want to add something, this is my second crab who has died in my year of crabbing. The tank fits the perfect specifications and both crabs that passed away did so during their first molt. I think they were too far gone even when I got them at the pet store. It's a shame that they go through so much mistreatment throughout that process. On a happier note my other 6 small sized pp's are doing very well in my 40g tank and all of them have had a few successful molts in the year I have had them. Thank you for your help butterflies

[GotButterflies]

Sorry to hear that! Sometimes they do get PPS. It's possible he dropped his limbs due to PPS when he was destressing. (Since the exo wasn't in one piece). If you ever want us to check your tank specs just fill out the emergency template min heat 80, max heat imo 85. Min humidity 80. Good luck!! Sorry about your loss!


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