HCA: Hermit Crab Association

I'm so confused

I put the crabs in the new tank on August 23rd, and they all went down in the beginning of September. Clauncher came back up on October 8th with distinctive spots on her legs, which Wode said was from rubbing on the shell. She went back down a little while after.

Omanyte pulled a disappearing act before I moved them into the new tank and was missing for 4 months, When she came back up, her legs and claws were small in comparison to her body and people suggested that either she had pulled back to back molts and didn't fare as well in the second molt, or that she got attacked during the first molt and all of her limbs were taken off and she molted again to regrow them. I'll never know for sure, but she was doing fine once she came up. I hadn't seen her since September.

This is where the confusion starts.

Somebody just came up in Clauncher's shell and its either Clauncher or Omanyte, but I don't know who. This crab is smaller than Clauncher was and is missing the leg spots. Its possible that Clauncher molted again and shrunk, I assume. But I also cant help but notice how similar this crab looks to Omanyte when I last saw her (except her eyes have always been red, and her claw was red when I last saw her. This crab has black eyes and a purple claw). Since they're both females, I cant use gender to determine who it is

If it is Omanyte, I'm nervous. Anorith just showed up naked and soft from a molt and ended up passing. That, plus the possibility that Omanyte might now be in Clauncher's shell, has me worried that she might be pulling underground shell heists, although I don't know what would possess her to want the shell Anorith was in, considering he was over twice her size and the shell was huge on him. I don't think she would have been able to emerge from the shell at all without coming completely out.

My camera battery is charging, so I don't have any pictures of this crab at the moment, but I will soon. So until then, here's pictures of Omanyte and Clauncher as they looked last time I saw them, and I'll add a picture of this crab later for comparison.

Omanyte


Clauncher


Unknown Crab

I don't think that is the same crab when I look.

That's because it isn't ^u^; Those are the two suspects, I said I don't have a photo of the actual crab just yet.

Commenting so I can remember to come back and look.

Pictures are up.

Now that I see them all side by side, even though the colors resemble Omanyte more, she's built more like Clauncher (even though she's smaller)

I agree it looks like Clauncher, though smaller and paler. I'd guess she pulled another molt and being soon after the first, shrank a bit and lost color. Is she acting normal otherwise? Be sure to load up the food dish with a variety of good foods.

She's acting normal, which for her means hiding in a very specific spot in the tank (whichever hidey log is on the right middle) and going into her shell like her life depends on it if I walk by, ahaha. She's not the bravest crab. She did get into the food dish last night, which is why I checked the hides (nobody had been up, so I wanted to see who decided to make an appearance) and since I know she's up now, I'll put some shrimp in there for her tonight because its one of her favorites.

Glad to hear she seems fine otherwise. These were her first two molts with you? She may have did back to back molts to repair unseen damage from before she came home to you. It can take a lot out of them but it's sounding like she's going to be ok. Hopefully she'll space out her next molt.

No, I've had her for a year. She's molted a bunch of times, but these were her first molts in the 50gal tank. Either way this basically confirms, to me anyway, that Omanyte did back to back molts when she was gone for 4 months. I mean, the color is the same and the stick legs are the same, so they've both followed the same pattern. I hope Omanyte is still alive and will show up soon! I miss her. I know its dangerous to play favorites, but...

Sorry, I misread. Keep us updated on both Clauncher and Omanyte.

Its fine! I feel much better now that it doesn't seem like Omanyte is stealing molters' shells, because my parents surprised me with "you're getting new crabs this Saturday!" because Anorith died, so I wouldn't have felt comfortable bringing new crabs in until I knew for sure that molters weren't being terrorized. I got more than enough of that from Shellder...

Out of curiosity, what is the survival rate of crabs that have done back to back molts, show up paler and smaller, and go down to molt again in a few weeks? Do you know? Omanyte has been down since the beginning of September and I know its too soon to worry too much, but I'm not sure whether or not to expect to see her again. My crabs are little molt machines and have always molted super often and aside from Shellder killing Kabuto and Dwebble and munching on Shellos, and Anorith being a soft streaker, I've never had any molting issues that resulted in death. Shuckle's eyes got frog eye in one and raisin eye in the other once, but she's been able to completely repair them and it never caused any problems. Since most of the issues I have had were caused by a rogue ecuadorian that I no longer have, I'm not too experienced with molting problems.

gotta-crab-em-all wrote:That's because it isn't ^u^; Those are the two suspects, I said I don't have a photo of the actual crab just yet.

I misunderstood! Sorry lol I get distracted because my almost 2 year old climbs me when I am reading on here.

I just had an image of the two of them in a lineup and the naked one pointing through the glass saying "it was that one!" I have a twisted sense of humor but I hope it made you smile.

Ahahahaha!! If only it were that easy!