Skitters in Peril!

[nanasue]

For the past three days, Mr. Skitters has not moved at all.... We read that it may be a good idea to put a potentially ill crab in a shallow dish of lukewarm water. Well, we did, and Mr. Skitters got up and walked around the dish.... leaving a leg behind. His toe tips are very white, his legs are hairless, and his antennae are very droopy. We are very worried about Mr. Skitters. These pics are not the best...




We don't have an adequate iso tank. We've been trying to get the heat and humidity to stay above 80, but so far we have not succeeded...

[Luckythecrab]

Has he recently molted? Check to see if all his legs are there. It could be part of a molting exo.

[wodesorel]

It may very well be PPS. If I remember correctly he hasn't molted for you yet.

How warm was lukewarm? Anything over 90 will cause harm. Humans suck at guessing water temperature. We can match water temperatures between two containers extremely accurately, but trying to put a number to what we feel is next to impossible. There have been many times where I've gone to do a water change for my fish, and when I zapped it with the temp gun, the bucket turned out to be 110 degrees instead of the 80 that it needed to be.

I wouldn't worry about an ISO right now. If the other crabs aren't bothering him it's not a big deal. I am concerned when you say you can't get the heat and humidity to where it needs to be. What has it been at? That alone can cause crabs to not do well!

[Ellysara]

If you have a Kritter Keeper or a large tupperware container with holes in the lid, you can create an iso within your crabitat. I think I would put small bottle caps of water and food on Q-tips stuck into the substrate directly in front of him and place him under a hide and try not to disturb him for a few days but just to change the food/water. Whether you do this in iso or the main tank is up to you, however. Maybe someone more experienced will have an opinion on that. If you have aggressive crabs, iso, but if they are relatively calm and eat protein and calcium well, then he may be okay in the main tank and may even be able to dig if he gets to eat some high energy foods (honey, bee pollen, calcium supplement or cuttlebone, crushed shrimp, etc.)

Above all, I think the best thing to do is disturb him as little as possible. For two reasons: stress will set him back on his road to recovery, and if he is going to die, it would be nice to make it as peaceful as possible.

[nanasue]

Skitters passed yesterday. When my son went to do his daily crabby chores, Skitters was still standing where he had been set under a coco hut, very grey, very limp, with another limb gone. When I picked him up, he practically fell out of his shell. His grey body was not cracked, and there was no new skitters inside... We believe that it was the same thing that killed Fozie. Poor Temp/ Humidity control, and a crab that was trying to molt.

Humidity keeps dropping to 60 overnight, but the temp seems to be staying pretty close to 80 degrees at both ends of the tat. We're definitely in need of some help getting this situation stabilized consistently, before we lose Kermit too.

My son thinks we should get a couple new crabs, so Kermit isn't lonely and suffers problems from that... should we wait until the tat is stable?

[wodesorel]

I'm so sorry about Skitters.

I very much believe this is Post Purchase Syndrome and it isn't something going on with your conditions. 60% is low, but it's really not so low to cause deaths like this. I do think you should try to get the humidity issue worked out now so that you're more comfortable with the situation before bringing in more.

What kind of lid is on the tank? Have you thought about adding a big moss pit to help the humidity stabilize? Have you calibrated your hygrometer recently?

[nanasue]

the lid is a screen top with plexi over it. the plexi is slightly too small leaving approximately 3/4th inch uncovered. he has no way to calibrate the hygrometer(sp). he has a moss pit in the tat.

[wodesorel]

May I ask why there's no way to calibrate it? You only need a Tablespoon of table salt and a plastic bag. Even if you check it and there's no way to change what it's reading, you'll at least know if it's reading properly.

[nanasue]

thank you Wodesorel. Had no idea it was so simple. will tell my son so he can get it done.

[wodesorel]

Sure. It will give him some peace of mind knowing if it is correct. I'd say over half the time people are worried about their humidity, it turns out that the gauge wasn't reading properly. Full instructions are here: http://hermitcrabassociation.com/phpBB/ ... 26&t=92540