HCA: Hermit Crab Association

When I looked in my tank today I saw a darkened PP and I got excited....my excitment quickly turned to heartbreak when I picked the little guy up....



He is missing the whole left side legs....





I have him in Iso with some shrimp, cause one of my other crabs were picking on him..... It saddens me....and I trully believe when I did my Deep clean back in April of this year I have seen more MOLT issue's since I added ECO Earth....I know some people do half and half or ALL Eco Earth but my crabs have always used sand only and I would see some Molt issues but not so many in a short time frame...I favorite E I have had since 2005 had trouble...



This PP has problems....




I think when I do my move in a few weeks I am going back to sand....

Oh my. Hope they pull through and that their next molts are more successful.

It's possible that your purple pincher was actually attacked while underground molting. One of my crabs was partially eaten by another crab while molting and he had the exact same injuries. Luckily, he molted and regrew all his missing parts.

So sorry to hear about this.

Thanks guys!

And that is true Sugar..never thought of that....but this little crab is amazing...I did my nightly routine and there he was hanging from the vine up in the air with his 3 legs and heavy shell..... I continued on and few minutes later I put the food in and I was watching them for a few minutes and there Mr 3 legged crab comes dragging along without a shell....one of my PP climbed on him and I got nervous but he quickly climbed off him and Mr 3 legged re-shells and was eating....it truly amazes me this little crab is determined to make it.....he only has his small pincher but he puts his mouth down on the dishes and is eating away....on his side none the less....Truly a sweet heart


On another note last night my husband called me as I was leaving a "Home celebration" party I was attending and said..."You have a naked crab in the water dish" I said "WHAT okay I am leaving" Sure enough a freshly Molt PP was streaking and in the salt water dish....he even mentioned to me..."What is going on? You have never had some many crab issues in a short time frame" and I said "I know I don't know what is going on"....for him to notice its bad....I order crab food once every 3 months and each time he is like "Didn't you just order food? the crab has since reshelled and is hanging close to the salt water...so I am going to keep my eyes on things....we are moving in a week so hopefully there are not to many crabs down molting.....

sugarselections wrote:One of my crabs was partially eaten by another crab while molting and he had the exact same injuries. Luckily, he molted and regrew all his missing parts.

It amazes me sometimes how truly awesome these guys are. They can make it through some of the craziest things.

I hope he molts and regrows all his limbs for you.

One thing i would do is offer some foods that are high in fats like coco nut and other nut meats that fats help to bring on a molt soon along with high calcium and protein foods, worm castings and crushed oyster shell would be great to help it be a successful molt. i bet he gets ready to molt again soon. Often when this happens they pull a second molt soon after. I also would go back to sand or at least mostly sand.. You sure have a fighter there! Take care, Suebee