thermidor wrote:I am so sorry for your loss but this brings up a strange question. If a crab passes away under the sand, is there any way to know? Or does the death small get covered up by being under several inches of sand?
In other words if a molter "never" comes up should anything be done, or do you assume it is dead, or is there any way to know?
Sorry to ask this in the midst of your loss but I was thinking you might be able to shed some light on this odd question.
Thank you Thermidor, and no need to apologize for asking; that is a great question with a very complicated answer, I'm afraid. In my case, I did not smell anything bad until I got to the area of his resting place. I don't think there is really a way to know if a crab is dead under the surface if you have the right depth of substrate in your tank. Although sometimes you can smell the awful death smell without digging, that is not always the case, especially if you have nice, deep substrate.
If you want my opinion on crabs molting and worrying about them being dead or not, I will say this as somewhat of a rule of thumb that I choose to go by, especially now.
If you have the desired conditions for your crabitat and you have crabs, no matter how large, go down to molt, there is no need to do anything except for maintain the proper conditions of the tank, and do not think about going digging/looking for them until they have not come up and 4 months** has passed. I would not advise digging to look for them before 4 months of them being down. If they are molting and you interrupt their process, you face killing them from the disturbance. If your crab has passed on from a struggle with the process or even from an attack, there is nothing you could have done, and them being in the sand dead, will not harm your other crabs.
It is also a good idea to keep some sort of journal or something on each of your crabs if you are able. I'm sure you would find it helpful to know about how long each of your crabs usually stays down for, but mind you, their molting times are likely to increase in time as they grow larger. I wouldn't go looking for one if it has been one month and that is when they usually come up; I would still give it at least a few weeks.
Now with all that said, there may be times where digging them up may be necessary, like in the case of your tank flooding. If you have a situation where you are unsure, you are always welcome and encouraged to ask as many questions as you would like.
I'd keep that in mind and decide for yourself; as others say, trust your instincts.
**I personally like to go by the 4 months time frame, because even the larger crabs have a somewhat 'average' molting time frame much less than 4 months, and while each crab is different, I think 4 month or longer molting times are less common.
My poor little Roux had been attacked, ripped to pieces...I'm feeling so sick right now, and can't imagine who could be responsible. I think what was his abdomen was well rotted, so I'm doubting it was recent. v.v R.I.P. Little guy.
poor Roux.
Brutality in any form is a revolting scene. I also cannot stand the thought. May you never witness such things again. 