HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Hi! One of my PP's (about a week and a half with me) lost a leg last night. He seems to still be eating. I watched him and he keeps "grooming" the stump of the lost leg with his grooming thing towards the back of his body. He also seemed to be doing unusual things with his feeding "hands" and antenna. Neither one has ever seemed "stressed". They have eaten like pigs since I got them, have never shown any desire to dig down or molt.

This one that lost his leg does seem a bit pale in color. Could he be preparing for a molt? My crabitat was built based on all the recommendations here. The only thing I haven't gotten in a lot of extra shells, which I will be getting this weekend. I got one from Naples and the other crab changed into it but it really was too bog and she changed back.

I would try to stress him as little as possible, just keep the status quo with as little interaction with him as possible. He's probably stressed from being moved out of the wild.

He was dead this morning, but in the other ones shell! He wasn't limp (I checked onthem about 1 am and they were both up and about and eating), just upside down, smashed into the other ones too-small shell, and in rigor mortis! And I got to watch the other one change into the new shell (again...she keeps going back and forth in a frenzy!)

Oh well, off to buy more to keep her company, along with more shells!

You may want to wait until there's a bad fishy smell before you toss him out. Sometimes they seem dead but are not.

Also remember the crabs you get from the same store are most likely just as stressed and may have a similar survival rate as your first ones. Make sure you disturb them as little as possible to let them settle into the new environment.