New crab moving in as one surface molts, what to do?

[azbywhitecalf]

Hi, I've posted earlier in the forum about my surface molting crab Bond, and today I got a BIG surprise.

My dad had brought home a new crab from the pet store!

The new crab's name is Q (James Bond's quartermaster in the 007 movie Skyfall), he's a purple pincher crab, and he has limbs missing.

My main question is that should I move him into the main tank where Bond is surface molting? Q's currently in the travel tank is quite small (since its for 'travel'), it has about 3.5 inches of nice warm moist substrate, some fresh food and water along with a small cocohut.

I'm worried that if I put him in the main tank, he might attack/kill Bond. I don't know if I should keep him in the travel tank until Bond is finished molting (or he dies, see my previous post for info on Bond's current state), or just put him in the main tank and hope for the best.

Please help!

[mlakers]

Is your main tank big enough that you could cover Bond with the travel tank upside down to protect him and still have room for the new guy to be acclimating?

[azbywhitecalf]

Yeah it could fit,

Although Bond has a large cocohut over him thats bigger than the travel tank. And Q has dug him into the substrate, so I don't know if I should move him?

[DragonsFly]

They definitely need to stay separated until Bond is finished with molting and has a chance to be up and around and gain some strength for awhile. If your tank is big enough to wall Bond off somehow--remember that whatever you use to wall him off, needs to go all the way down through the substrate to the bottom of the tank, otherwise, the new crab could just dig in to where Bond is--then you could do that; otherwise, keep the new one in the KK--assuming you can create proper conditions in there for him, so HE doesn't just die--until Bond is finished molting or (hopefully not) dies.

In the meantime, have a bit of a talk with your dad and make sure he understands that bringing new crabs into an existing situation always creates stress and often causes problems (including cannibalism and other things); so, while I'm sure his motives were good (he probably worried that Bond might die and didn't want you to be "crabless," the thing to do is not to bring more crabs home, but to support you in learning to take the best care of the one you have, first. The best way to do that is to cruise around this forum, read all the care sheets and stickies, and discussions on crab care, etc. Feel free to ask any questions, there is definitely a really steep learning curve to keeping these animals alive in captivity, and there's no better place than here to learn what is known about them.

Best wishes!

[DragonsFly]

Do you mean that Q has dug under the substrate in the KK (the travel tank, whatever it is)?

[azbywhitecalf]

Do you mean that Q has dug under the substrate in the KK (the travel tank, whatever it is)?

Yes, he's almost submerged

[DragonsFly]

If he has enough substrate to dig down in there, and the conditions are warm and humid enough (generally between 75 and 85 degrees F; between 75 and 85 percent relative humidity), then he may need to de-stress and possibly molt himself. These crabs are taken from their wild homes and really horribly abused into captivity, so they have a lot of damage to try to undo when you first bring them home. Again, if you are able to give him good conditions in that "travel tank," I would leave him in there, leave Bond where he is, and wait to see if they survive their molting (or possibly just "de-stressing," they may not molt right away). Please tell your dad not to get you any MORE, though. If these two survive, you can put them in together a couple of days after they are up and around, and they can be good buddies for each other. But until then, give them good conditions and be patient--it may take days or weeks for them to finish their molts, during which time you need to keep good conditions, but leave them UNDISTURBED. Best wishes!

[azbywhitecalf]

I was able to put the travel tank in the main tank, I took the cover off too to let the heat and the humidity get into the travel tank.

Bond's doing well, no death smell yet. Hope he's molting fine.

[Candie]

I was just going to suggest putting the travel tank in the main tank to have the same conditions haha. Hope the best for your little ones. I have a crab who keeps trying to dig up a molter so I had to block it the best I could in a small 10 gallon.