Left for Vacation humidity down to 35% and crab tried to resurface

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abesze
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Left for Vacation humidity down to 35% and crab tried to resurface

Post by abesze » Sun Jan 05, 2020 3:59 am

I left for vacation and asked someone to check on my hermit crabs while I was gone and to turn on the humidifier and give them food and water but now that I got home the humidity is at 35%, the substrate is very dry, one crab is under the sand which had been collapsing and the other tried to come up and is now half buried . I immediately gave them food water and turned the humidifier on but I need to do something more and I don't know what. Should I soak them ? I'm dreading to have to know if they're alive or dried out and suffocated

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Hermiesguardian
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Re: Left for Vacation humidity down to 35% and crab tried to resurface

Post by Hermiesguardian » Sun Jan 05, 2020 8:22 am

How many crabs do you have? Are you sure the sub is dry all the way through? If it is, I think you should take them out and place them in a temporary hold with moist moss while you re-wet the sub. Just don't overwet it. The humidity should increase quickly. What is the temp? When it gets to 65% humidity I would think it's ok to put them back in. Someone more experienced may advise different.
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abesze
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Re: Left for Vacation humidity down to 35% and crab tried to resurface

Post by abesze » Sun Jan 05, 2020 1:20 pm

I have two crabs, I got home at 1 am yesterday so I just turned on the humidifier and gave them food and water. One is still half buried and the other one is somewhere under the sand, but he might be molting. Would it be better to just dig him up? The sand is still somewhat moist but I think it might be too dry to hold its shape (that's what it looked like on the surface but it may be fine underneath)
Last edited by abesze on Sun Jan 05, 2020 1:24 pm, edited 2 times in total.


Topic author
abesze
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Re: Left for Vacation humidity down to 35% and crab tried to resurface

Post by abesze » Sun Jan 05, 2020 1:22 pm

The temp is around 75 -80 where it usually is since the heat lamp stayed on. Although I'm wondering if it got hotter as the air got less humid

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Re: Left for Vacation humidity down to 35% and crab tried to resurface

Post by wodesorel » Sun Jan 05, 2020 2:22 pm

I would just crank the humidifier and let the substrate rewet slowly. Less risk to the crabs that way. Just be cautious of how much water you're adding in, as there is a greater risk of accidental floods.
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abesze
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Joined: Fri Sep 27, 2019 11:31 am

Re: Left for Vacation humidity down to 35% and crab tried to resurface

Post by abesze » Sun Jan 05, 2020 4:59 pm

Thank you!

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