Unburied molt? Half ate crab? Help!

[Heatherleighhh]

Is it possible for other crabs to completely eat the legs and claws from a molting crab without me knowing so?

A couple days ago I noticed a shell in a hole with a crab standing on top it. Thinking it was weird because the shells stay on the other side of the tank I picked it up and moved it with the others. I could've swore I flipped it and seen nobody inside. Fast forward to today and I noticed something by the shell I moved. Looking closer I could see it was a crab body with no legs or claws I was about pick it up thinking it was a finished molt that got unburried and it wiggled (wiggled a lot in a up and down motion). After scaring the poop out of me an catching my composure i did a headcount, one is missing.

My question is did they eat him and now he's suffering? Or is there any possibility he's molting and his legs are already pulled out? In a bid of panic an not knowing what to do I covered him with a cut off soda bottle.

Put graphically I suppose I would describe it as a crab worm. But the shell is open side down with the crab body sticking out upside down (legs facing upwards). Only there are no legs or claws. I couldn't see his abdomen. I could only tell it was a head when I got close and seen the eyestalks. This is the first time in the two years of keeping hermits crabs that I've had a crab disturb another one while molting

[wodesorel]

They do not drop their limbs when they have a normal molt, everything will be there, it'll just be soft. If parts are missing they were pulled off by another crab or he was sick and dropped them somewhere.

He'll need to be hand fed and cared for until he's able to molt. They can survive if there isn't damage to their bodies or heads - they just have to be able to get enough energy stored up to regrow the missing limbs. Separating him is important as the others may go after him at any point. Crabbymom33 put this article together, and it explains and links to the topics where several of us have saved crabs missing most or all of their limbs: viewtopic.php?f=67&t=92528

[Crabber85]

First let me say I'm sorry your having to post about this I know what your going through and I know its not easy.

It is entirely possible that the molter was cannibalized as this is very common with exposed newly molted hermits the smell of the molt hormone is said to be nearly impossible for tank mates to resist.

I need for you to copy and answer the questions found here http://www.hermitcrabassociation.com/ph ... 27&t=46102 so that we can determine why this has happened and to help you stop it from happening again.

When hermitcrabs molt they shed the head, legs and pinchers all in one go like when we pull a sweater off over our heads in the seconds after the old exo is cast off the crab then become paralyzed to prevent it from moving for up to three days to allow it to harden up enough so that when it moves it doesn't damage itself, once it regains the ability to move it will then consume all of the old exo except for the pinchers and leg tips which are too hard for the crab to crush all of the old sheddings will be hollow and easy to crush between your index finger and thumb thats the easiest way to tell if your looking at an old shed exo or the crabs actual body.

Being that the crab in question was only partially submerged left it open to being eaten by its tank mates which leads me to one of the questions in the questionnaire how deep is your substrate?

Keep the pop bottle around the victim until you know it has passed and this will be easy to tell as the crab will begin to smell like rotten fish in about twelve to twenty four hours.

[Heatherleighhh]

1. What kind of substrate is used in your tank and how deep is it? I use a mixture of mostly play sand with eco earth mixed in. My substrate is about 7half/8 inches deep. More than deep enough for my largest. I would like to add more but because of my false bottom one of their climbing sticks already reaches the top

2. Do you have gauges in the tank to measure temperature and humidity? If so, where are they located and what temperature and humidity do they usually read? I have three gauges in my tank. Two temp and one humidity. One temperature probe is towards the top to give me the heat light temperature, the second is towards the bottom to tell me the temp around the substrate. The humidity gauge is around the center of the tank. Currently the humidity is around the 80 mark, the bottom gauge reads under 80 and the top gauge is 83

3. Is a heat source used in the tank? If so, what? I use a stick on tank heating pad on one side of the tank and the other is a halogen bulb placed about a 8 inches above the tank. Three of the four sides are also wrapped in foil to reflect the light and a blanket to hold the heat in. I use all of this because I do have a issue keeping both steadily regulated

4. What types of water are available (fresh or salt) and how is the water treated (what brands of dechlorinator or salt mix and what ratio is used to mix it)? I buy one gallon distilled water for them. For the salt bottle I follow the directions my aquarium salt.

5. What kinds of food do you feed and how often is it replaced? I'm not sure I'm doing this part right but it seems to work for me. I found a list of safe drys foods, picked a bunch of them and grinded everything down. I've been using this for about a year the crabs seem to enjoy it. I've attempted many times but none of mine will eat fruits, vegetables or meats. The only fresh green they will eat and absolutely love is water mint from my pound. I did a lot of research before introducing this into the tank I've been doing it for probably 4 months now.

6. How long have you had the crab and what species is it, if known? Purple pincher, I've had him around six months now. A little girl dropped two off at petco that I rescued

7. Has your crab molted, and how long ago did it happen? This crab has not molted since he was rescued

8. What type of housing are the crabs kept in, what size is it and what kind of lid is on the housing? My crabs a kept in in a 40 gal aquarium. The lid is half glass and half plastic

9. How many crabs are in the tank and about how large are they? I have seven crabs including the sick one. My biggest is bigger than a baseball . The rest are smaller than a tennis ball but bigger than a gold ball.

10. How many extra shells are usually kept in the tank, if any? I would day I have around 15 shells at any giving time, I switch them out with new shells often

11. Have there been any fumes or chemicals near the crabitat recently? To my knowledge there has been nothing like that around the tank

12. How often do you clean the tank and how? Do you mean cleaning the substrate? This current mixture a
has been in my tank for probably 8 months maybe less. I've read only to clean under certain circumstances so I just mix the sand around every so often. Occasionally I wipe the inside glass with a dry paper towel to remove the sand.

13. Are sponges used in the water dish? If so, how are they cleaned? I do not have sponges in my tank

14. Has anything new been added to your crabitat recently? The only thing added was a air hose pushed under my false bottom. I had one installed already but added a second. I use it to pump air under the tank to keep it dry because I had a problem with standing water a while ago

To elaborate on some questions and add my thoughts -

I can say with total certainty that my jumbo crab did not dig this crab up, I've only seen him dig once to molt. Beast is extremely lazy spending all of his time on his claimed perch only coming down to drink and eat briefly.

When I found the shell dug up it was not deep in the substance the hole was wide but barely deep enough to over the whole shell.

I have never had this happen with any of my current crabs until now

This crab was the only one buried the rest are above ground. He had been down probably two weeks

I have not seen any body parts in the tank. That's what confuses me because I know the crabs don't clean up after themselves that good.

The crab body I found to me looked like a molt which is why I was going to pick it up to examine but than it moved. The moment was like a sit up motion done intermittently.

I believe I covered everything. Any ideas what went wrong? Does it sound like he was ate or is molting?

[Laurie LeAnn]

I didn't think I would have a bully crab.. crabby paddy is a nasty mean dude that will dig down after a mooted if he gets a sniff of them and attack them if they come up. I have to iso him for a few days then I give all my crabs a bath so they all smell the same. Remember these are wild creatures, don't assume you know how they will act. Make sure they get a lot of protein. Sometimes lack of certain nutrients will cause a crab to attack others. Crabs love organic peanut butter! Hard boiled eggs, chicken.. buy them cuttle bone in the bird section. Organic salad mixes is a fave. Crabs get used to certain types of foods and you just have to keep putting them in there.

[wodesorel]

It sounds a little overcrowded - a baseball sized crab is a Jumbo, which needs a 75 gallon tank and 10-12 inches of substrate. With six other medium and large crabs in a 40, it's really pushing the amount of molting space they all have. That alone could have caused the problem.

Does your food mix include proteins? If they aren't given it they will take it from another crab.

What kind of aquarium salt are you using? Usually when people use that term they mean API or Doc Welfish, both of which is the wrong kind of salt for hermits.

It's impossible to say if he was attacked while molting or while not molting. Usually it's molters who get eaten since they're unable to protect themselves. This is definitely not in any way a normal molt, another crab got to him. Since it's been 6 months without a molt this might be PPS and the other crabs cleaned up the limbs he dropped. Without witnessing it, it's just a bunch of guessing.

[Crabber85]

I agree with everything that wodesorel had to say she pretty much covered it all.