HCA: Hermit Crab Association

So, I picked up a mercy case from the pet store on Friday. According to the pet store employee (who was surprisingly compassionate towards the crabs), this crab had apparently escaped his tank and was headed out the front door to the street before a customer spotted him and he was retrieved. Somewhere in the process, his too-small shell got broken on the bottom. My best guess is it happened in a fall from the tank display to the hard floor.

Needless to say, he's not in good health. Can't retract into his too small shell even if he tried (which he hasn't). Shell has a big hole in the bottom through which his abdomen is clearly visible. He's extremely lethargic, doesn't attempt to retract or avoid contact and has very little antennae movement. My guess is he's extremely dehydrated (tank humidity in the store was around 40%, plus his too-small and broken shell). No dropped limbs and a visual inspection shows no external injuries, though I'm aware he could have internal ones from a potential fall.

I put him in my small tank (a 20gal), since there's only a couple molters buried in there and he wouldn't be harassed in his weak state by the more active crabs in the 65gal. Plus, easier to reach in to care for him in the smaller tank.

He made it as far as a cocohut, but has barely moved since. He shifts his position around in there a little, but hasn't made any attempt to hit the food or water dishes nor to change into an intact shell.

I'm pretty sure he's not going to make it, but I at least want to try to help him and at least make him comfortable if he does pass.

So, I wanted to see if anyone had any advice for caring for a crab in this state.

I'm trying to be pretty hands off to avoid stressing him further. I put a bottle lid with some freshwater next to him, put some damp moss in the cocohut to keep the moisture levels up (the tank itself is at about 90% humidity, but I wanted to make sure there was plenty nearby.

I lifted up the cocohut briefly and managed to convince him to eat a little honey off a q-tip last night. It took some patience, but he slowly ate some. Left the q-tip coated in honey and propped up in the sand within reach. Rolled it in a little calcium, too. He's still not drinking that I can tell, but I tried a wet q-tip for that too (less interest in that than the honey). Tried a little peanut butter on a q-tip but he outright refused that. Going to try a little coconut oil tonight, maybe rolled in a little ground up protein of some sort.

I do worry that he's losing moisture through that broken shell. He can't even fit all of his abdomen in it, even without the break it. He seems far too weak to even consider looking at the other shells, though--even when placed right next to him. I considered trying to put some tape over the break to seal in some moisture at least, but that seems too stressful and I'm trying not to make things worse.

Any other suggestions? I'm aware he's probably not going to make it, but I want to at least give him his best chance to recover.

He is in such bad shape, though. It's really a shame, because he's a beautiful crab.

I was going to suggest tape but then thought that the sticky size may irritate his abdomen. But maybe a scap piece of a plastic bag taped over the hole may work and help retain some moisture in there?

Do you have any shells like his - looks very similar to the shells i offer, grey land snail (pomacea sp)..

Edit: just realised i said nothing of importance... It sounds like you are on the right track and giving him what he needs, I'd continue to do so.

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He is beautiful, wow. Nothing much to add myself, just encouragement & applause! I hope he can make it... good luck!

Is it possible that there is a piece of broken shell INSIDE the shell hurting him/her?

Well, he went naked briefly last night. Doesn't seem like he's got the strength to really hold onto the shell and slipped out. Couldn't get him to reshell on his own, so after a stressful couple minutes (for us both) I managed to manually slip him into the lightest weight intact shell in his size that I had. He couldn't hold on well and slipped out again, but I was able to gently get him back in. His abdomen wasn't visibly injured, but was very dry and not quite as plump as it should be. No broken shell chunks in the old shell that I could see.. Dripped a little bit of water in the new shell to try and get him rehydrated some.

He's been eating just tiny little bit of honey off q-tips, but he doesn't seem to have the energy to drag a shell around (when he went streaking, he had enough energy to scurry, naked, away when I tried to get him reshelled though) Put a cocohut back over him once he was reshelled, left him more food on q-tips and water. He perked up a little with the new shell, but still is very weak and not moving much other than to adjust his position a little every now and then.

I don't have much confidence that he's gonna make it, but maybe he'll pull off a miraculous recovery.

Anything else I ought to try?

My only suggestion is to see if you can make salt water any easier for uptake. Maybe a slightly stronger than normal ocean saltwater soaked into a bent q-tip or sponge beside him if you don't think he's strong enough to seek out a bottle cap?

Salt remains important to dehydrated crabs, and bodily osmotic functions can get wonky rapidly, so if there's anything you can do to make getting the msw to him easier, that might help?

Did you drip any salt water in the shell?

Ooh, good to know. Thank you! I'll offer some additional saltwater closer to him as well.

Yeah, I dripped some saltwater in his shell. Pretty close to the preferred shell water specific gravity referenced in "Biology of the Land Crabs" for PPs. From what I can see, he's definitely keeping a little more moist now. Seems to be holding better into his shell, too. The broken shell he was in was an utter mess. No fragments poking him, but the edges of the hole were sharp and jagged, and the inside of the shell was super rough and abrasive where the edge of the paint was flaking (argh!) Poor guy was probably monstrously uncomfortable.

Managed to get him to eat a little off a q-tip again an hour or so ago. Takes a lot of patience, but eventually he will nibble just a little. He even took a tiny step forward to reach the q-tip when I pulled it away to reload. Also gently held onto it for a little while. It wasn't much, but it was something at least. Trying not to get my hopes too far up, though.

Left him the q-tip, gonna add a saltwater one too. Will keep y'all updated. Thanks again!

Keep up the great work! I hope he pulls through! Have you tried just leaving the q-tip poking upward in the sand? Try raw organic honey, organic peanut butter, msw, fw all on q-tips.

Good news! He seems to be doing a little better today! He ate a fair amount of honey last night and this morning he's actually moving around for the first time since I brought him home. Checked on him a few minutes ago and he had made his way to one of the water dishes. I'm hoping that he's finally starting to recover! Fingers crossed!

That's great! I hope the improvement continues. Has he been accepting the protein or carbs you offer? If he's only accepting honey, I might try pushing a bit more 'real' food.

That's great to hear! If he's moving, he's probably okay. I would suggest getting the moisture SUPER high, higher that normal because he needs all the water he can get! Hope he's ok!

I think he is getting better!

yay happy to hear! Hope he can pull off a good recovery! I am happy others are saving crabs from evil pet stores like petco!

Sadly, he passed today. I did all I could and he tried his best too, but he just couldn't pull through. This morning, he dragged himself into the little dish of saltwater I had set next to him, then he just lost all strength. At some point he dropped his little pincer and then by evening when I checked on him, he was gone.

I looked him over after all was said and done. I couldn't find any visible indicators of injury or trauma on his abdomen, but I do wonder if he sustained internal injuries in the fall at the pet store. A fall hard enough to smash a hole in his shell was likely capable of doing far more damage than just that.

I know I did all I could for him and I know there wasn't much hope from the outset, but I still held out a sliver of hope that he might make it.

Be at peace, little guy. You deserved better than you got. I hope I at least gave him a little comfort at the end.

Thank you all for your support and suggestions, I appreciated it.

So sorry to hear this.

You did such a good job of nursing him.