Almost an Emergency, Found the last E we bought

samurai_crab · Post by **samurai_crab** » Mon Dec 20, 2010 12:03 am

Well as the title says, I found the last E we got in October.... Under the saltwater dish, naked, missing 2 legs.... So I went digging farther down after rinsing the crab off and putting it in a KK with some shells and found it's previous shell. Put that in KK and it reshelled nearly instantly. So the emergency part is over as far as that goes. The main problem I have now is, it appears that in addition to losing 2 legs, having the tip of one leg bent in a really bad angle, one of its mouthparts doesn't appear quite right. Now I imagine this is fixable with another molt, but the question lingering in my head, can the crab eat to gain enough strength to pull that next molt. I'll try and get pics up asap as soon as I can find my girlfriends camera.

samurai_crab · Post by **samurai_crab** » Mon Dec 20, 2010 1:25 am

Pictures. Quality of the mouthparts one is terrible but I dont know if I can get a better one with the crappy camera we have.

This is a pic of his leg.

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Pics of his mouthparts.

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tnt4eva · Post by **tnt4eva** » Mon Dec 20, 2010 1:56 am

I'd be inclined to offer a lot of paste type foods or things that are very soft. I've watched them eat different foods and their mouth parts move far less when eating peanut butter than say coconut. In fact sometimes they seem to just swallow it with almost no movement in their mouth parts. Banana, peanut butter, boiled egg, very well ground/minced meat, mango...that sort of thing

Powdered cuttlefish bone, egg shell, oyster shell or one of the mineral blends would be a good idea as he might have trouble getting those nutrients if his 'chewing' is impaired. I'd add it to his food.

I think the Hermit Crab Patch has a good range of powdered foods that might come in handy for you.

samurai_crab · Post by **samurai_crab** » Mon Dec 20, 2010 6:40 pm

Yep, my girlfriend got me a mortar and pestle for a graduation present so I'll be able to powder the stuff we already have, it works wonders on dried bloodworms and shrimp and I mixed in some mineral supplement and worm castings along with some powdered cuttle too. For now she's in a KK iso in the main tank until I see just how well she's fairing.

nancat · Post by **nancat** » Sat Jan 08, 2011 7:45 am

How's she doing Samurai? Wish you all the best.

samurai_crab · Post by **samurai_crab** » Sat Jan 08, 2011 10:53 am

Unfortunately she unshelled again about a day after I found her and passed away. The rest of the E's are doing good, well I assume, they are all down again either hiding or molting.

Shivering Isles · Post by **Shivering Isles** » Sat Jan 08, 2011 11:19 am

I am really sorry.

:crybaby: