Naked Crab found dead in water dish, help!

[Guest]

I came home today from work and I found one of my hermit crabs, Mr. Jeeves, dead in the water plate! AND NAKED! The shell was on the other side of the tank and I don't know whats going on!!!! The water wasnt deep at all there wasnt any way he could have drowned. Mr. Jeeves was the biggest guy in the tank. My other hermit crab Bitsy has black spots all over. Is that normal? Is she molting? Could it be bugs in the tank? All of my crabs are small. I had to remove one from the main tank into a smaller one because all of the crabs beat up on him and he is missing many legs including the little pincher they use to eat. Is he going to be ok? Please help! I'm a new owner and I'm actually a little worried.

[troppo]

Hi Lulubaby ,

I'm not real sure what could be happening,but someone with more experience should come along soon to help you out

There's a help request template at the top of the emergency section. It would be of a great help if you could please copy/paste it into your reply and fill out the questions.

[Guest]

1. Substrate used?

play sand mixed with small river rock

2. Humidity % level in crabitat?

about 76

3. Temperature of substrate in crabitat?

no clue...?

4. Temperature of crabitat?

around 74

5. Location of gauges?

what gauges

6. What is your heat source?

small heating pad

7. Types of water available?

flat waterdish

8. Dechlorinator used?

I use bottled water and/or if not avaliable I let the water sit in a clean area for a day or so to let the chlorine evaporate

9. What do you feed?

lots of veggies and fruits, I havent tried anything citrus except my mom put grapefruit in the tank the other day and i took it out. oh and Hermit Crab Food by Zoo Med

10. How long have you had the crab in question?

3 weeks

11. Do you know the species?

no

12. Do you bath them, if so how often and with what?

yes I try once a week

13. What type of housing are they in? Tank? Plastic box?

glass

14. What size is your tank?

15 gallon

15. How many crabs are in the tank? What size are they?

4... well 3 now they arent any bigger than an inch and a half

16. How deep is the substrate?

3 inches

17. If you take your hermies out daily to exercise, do you mist their gill area first?

I dont really take them out...

18. Has there been any cleaners, paints, perfumes, air fresheners, candles, or smoking near the crabitat?

no

19. How often do you clean/sterilize and how?

I take the veggies I put out the niht before first thing in the morning. I also wash the water dish every few days

20. Any unusual odors?

beside the hermit crabby smell?

21. Do you use sponges? Are they rinsed daily with dechlor water? Are they exchanged every 2 days for a sterile one?

I dont use sponges

22. Do you feed fresh food? When do you remove it?

I always put fresh veggies or fruit before I go to bed and take it out first thing in the morning

23. Are your hands clean before handling?

yes

24. Has there been anything new added to your crabitat recently?

no

[HomieHermie999]

Is there any salt water in the tank? You say you don't know the species and if the species are indeed relient on salt water, 3 weeks without it could be the reason for your hermies unexpected death. As for the black dots, can you get a picture? I'm not wuite sure what you mean. The next thing you need to do is get some gauges for your tank. Walmart has some digital gauges for like, $10.

[kayla_d]

Humidity % level in crabitat?

about 76

3. Temperature of substrate in crabitat?

no clue...?

4. Temperature of crabitat?

around 74 5.
Location of gauges?

what gauges

Did you put gauges in the tank to get a reading?

8. Dechlorinator used?

I use bottled water and/or if not avaliable I let the water sit in a clean area for a day or so to let the chlorine evaporate

I dont believe that letting tap water sit a few days will get rid of the harmful metals and chlorine in the water. The water needs to be deep enough for the largest crab to submerge itself and you need salt water made from an ocean mix of the same depth tubberware type bowls are good for this

I had to remove one from the main tank into a smaller one because all of the crabs beat up on him and he is missing many legs including the little pincher they use to eat. Is he going to be ok

add some protein to the diet dried baby shrimp you can get at wal-mart...boiled egg..unseasoned hamburger..organic peanut butter..even fish oil tablets broken open and drizzeled over the veggies,you can buy 1 uncooked shrimp at the fish counter at the super market and feed them the shrimp including the exoskelton crushed egg shell and cuttle bone is also an important part of the crabbie diet. The one missing his legs He might be ok they can grow their legs and pinchers back if the climate in the tank is correct and you feed plenty of calcuim thats where the egg shell and cuttle bone comes in.

I leave my food in the tank 2-3 days the crabbies like their food a little on the spoiled side. I keep my tank around 80-83 humdidty and around80 for temp.
You have only had the crabs 3 weeks so some of the reason the crab died is because of the way they were kept at the pet store. Im sorry your crabbie died.

[Guest]

First, I am very sorry to hear about your loss.

LHCs tend to go for the water when they are ailing so badly. Many crabbers have found them naked or barely hanging onto their shell and in the water dish when they have died, or just shortly before their passing.

Thank you for filling out the template.

I'm curious to know how you know the temp and humidity of the tank without having guages? Those are very important. That can certainly be a factor in your crabs demise, if the humidity wasn't up or the temp.

My best guess though, since your template indicates pretty good conditions is PPS or Post Purchase Stress. If you are new to crabbing, this is something nearly every crabber deals with in the first few weeks of acquiring a new crab. They are not bred in captivity. The animals are plucked from their habitats and then sent to distributors who inturn send them to pet stores/kiosks/carnivals etc. The crab goes through horrible amounts of stress & handling before you ever fall in love with them.

Another possiblity is that your crab was already sick before you got him.

The best thing to do, is check the guages or get them. And provide optimal conditions for your babies with as little stress as possible for the first month or so. That isn't a guarentee of survival. But i think it can help.

I received 15 crabs that were left in a cooler at a carnival. They were supposed to be prizes but no one knew they were there. All of them went under the substrate immediately and I've seen them once since the beginning of May. Another crab, Oinkers, was given to me due to bullying. That was in February. As soon as Oinkers got in my tank, she changed shells (from painted to natural) and went down. I saw her for the first time in June. I think they spend most of their lives covered. But I am telling you this as an example of how some crabs will react. They pretty much want to be left alone. Instinct will say predator with the handling.

Oh & HomieHermie is right on with the salt water. My pps love it too. This is a kind of salt you purchase at a pet store though, not table salt.

Again, I am very sorry for your loss.
mel

P.S. Welcome to the HCA. It was a sick crab that brought me here 3 years ago. I wasn't brave enough to post for a year though!! Yay for you!!

[Guest]

Oh, one more thing.

Crabbies need to bury themselves to molt. Rocks will prevent them from doing this and force a surface molt. That can also cause a great deal of stress and death. Not always, but it is dangerous for the crab. I suggest getting just the sand, or coconut fibers. Personally i use both, but no rocks whatsoever.

Just to be clear, I noticed i used a few abbreviations that might be confusing to new crabbers.

LHC=Land hermit crab
PPS=Post purchase stress
pps= Purple Pincher crab

[annopia]

wow, you've gotten some great advice here. I'd just like to add that once I started offering salt water in my tank, the crabs went crazy over it. I hardly ever see them venture in the fresh water, but they all make a beeline for the salt water.

also, the black spots concern me. I am under the impression that bacterial infections often cause black spots on crabs, which is very serious. is there any way you could post pictures of this?

Caroline

[Guest]

You know, i went straight to your template and didn't see the bit about the spots and missing limbs.

Limbs will regenerate. In order to do so the crab will go through a destressing period followed by molting processes.

Provide your isolated crab with optimal conditions and leave it alone. Do provide food, you don't need to change it but once or twice a week. She may not go for it at all. She should be able to bury herself.

The black spots...hmmm...even more reason to get the salt water. I've seen that, and it isn't good. Again, they will need to destress and molt that off if the infection hasn't gone so deep. Bring the humidity down a bit would be a suggestion too.

Thanks for posting that Caroline. I totally missed key parts of her the questions.

[Guest]

Thanks you guys so much for all the help and advice. The set-up I have right now for my little guys will be fine until I can get my mother to the store and we can get all the things we need to make our crabitat complete. As for now I think they will be ok. Geat advice on the honey. Thank you very much! I also put some dried baby shrimp in the bowl so I think I'll be ok to just keep and eye out. Thank you so much again for you help guys!