HCA: Hermit Crab Association

So Otachi came up (my largest crab) from being under for a couple of months. He was adopted from a lady who couldn't find shells large enough for them so he immediately switched into this sassy jade turbo in March (?) or April this year. I just saw him on the cholla log tonight and grabbed him to photo and check over.

His poor BP! And it looks like a wonky leg! And is that impacted sand in the wounded area? Or something worse?

He has access to both waters and good food and honey and his lp is fine so he isn't ISO'd. He has obviously bathed because there was no sand anywhere else on him.

Poor lil guy!







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Aww, that is weird. Hope he gets better next go around!

I would say that was an attack while molting. He does look okay all things considering and the damage will heal when he molts, although if he tries to repair it rather than regrow the claw it's going to take a long time before it looks even close to normal. He's a bigger guy, so making sure he stays stress free and can molt without being disturbed a second time is going to be critical. Little guys bounce back quick from this, the bigger guys not so much.

I also wouldn't worry to much about the marks on his legs. It's kind of hard to tell from the photos and it could be damage from another crab, but mine get those rug-burn like patches occasionally when they molt. I think it's a combination of getting sand stuck to themselves when wet, and then retracting into a tight shell before they harden. It like scrapes the soft exo away and they end up with bald patches where their knees hit the shell.

Oh I was talking about the legs looking crooked haha. I may fix up a tote tat just in case he has any issues.

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Are they crooked? They can sit kind of weird sometimes.

Oh man...I didn't take pics because I wanted to ISO immediately and make sure the crab was okay and not stressed out. Was fluffing the sub earlier and unearthed a crab molting very close to the surface. (I have 13" of sub and she was like an inch under.) She is pinkish white and rubbery but appears to have eaten most of her exo. She had a shell full of sand and I very gently scooped the sand out and rinsed, then ISO'd under a cocohut on top of some sub in a KK. I made the mistake of breaking down my 10 gallon ISO a while back but the KK is large enough for the cocohut to fit into and a small dish of salt water and what's left of her exoskeleton. One of her new legs fell off so of course I feel horrible because I don't know if I ripped it off or not I was yelling "Connor 911 911 come here emergency!!!" My 8 year old ran to help me out with supplies so I drizzled honey over the exo pieces that are left and smashed an eggshell and cuttlebone. Pinchers don't look affected so when she hardens she will be able to eat. I couldn't tell if her eyes were damaged I just wanted to get her into the dark as soon as possible. I did not take photos as I felt that would waste time in helping her and the flash would inhibit further molting processes.

Agahaah this is the first time I have ever truly had any molting issues and I've had 2 it seems pop up in 24 hours.

*phew* *deep breath*


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Good find! You most likely saved her life. Panicking is a normal reaction. Sound like you did everything right. The honey might have been overkill, but it shouldn't hurt her. When they're molting like that they need to fill up on their exo and/or similar replacement before anything else.

It just occurred to me that they wouldn't be able to pick at their exo until they harden, right? How would they tear it up with rubber pincers? There are some crushed dried crickets in there too as well as the rest of the exo I found.

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Scary stuff! Got my fingers crossed for her.

They only stay rubber for a few hours, maybe a day or so for the biggest of crabs. They also actually don't need their pinchers to eat their exo. I had a limbless crab who managed to eat through most of her hard exo bits with just her mouth.

wodesorel wrote:They only stay rubber for a few hours, maybe a day or so for the biggest of crabs. They also actually don't need their pinchers to eat their exo. I had a limbless crab who managed to eat through most of her hard exo bits with just her mouth.

Omg that's funny I just imagine crab face smooshed into a pile of exo.

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