HCA: Hermit Crab Association

giabarbiero wrote:I have tried both and none worked!!!!! Doing it manually makes me uncomfortable lol I don’t wanna hurt his abdomen

stellaplusrocky wrote:

giabarbiero wrote:I have tried both and none worked!!!!! Doing it manually makes me uncomfortable lol I don’t wanna hurt his abdomen

You won't hurt him unless you are rough.
As a crabber, you'd probably be gentle

I am wondering why he won't stay in a shell. Is he still active like he was?

LadyJinglyJones wrote:Heya,

Looks like you're dealing with the situation, but here are a couple of things to bear in mind...

Make sure the shell you use to reshell him is clean - that there arent granules of sand inside, as it's thought that irritants might induce a crab to abandon ship.

A shelless crab can dehydrate to the point of it being life-threatening in a few hours, and stress/underlying health issues will compound the trouble he's in. However, like many wild animals, he may remain active & appear 'healthy' to us. It is common for injured and sick wild animals to appear healthy when in decline, otherwise they would rapidly be singled out by predators, their immune systems never having had a chance to heal them. SO, I try not to look at a crab and assume it's healthy if it's dropped limbs or won't take a shell - that behaviour shows me it's in bad shape.

Healthy crabs sometimes streak, but i think repeated rejections tell me he's weak or possibly disoriented (I wondrr if crabs get woozy ) , because 'wear a shell' for crabs is like 'don't walk off a cliff' for humans... it's instinctual. I think he may be too weak to hold onto it.

Thanks so much! I cleaned off his orignal shell and him as well and reshelled him. Its been about an hour and he is staying put as of now! He seems to just be w
So what to do? Keeping him isolated to confine his movements a bit & offering him energy rich food (honey, proteins) may help. Food can be offered in the ISO, along with small fresh & marine salt water dishes.

High humidity becomes really important because dehydration will continue to sap his energy, then begin to mess up his physical functions. Keeping the ISO humid with damp moss, a moist cloth, whatever works.. and getting humidity as high as possible cold help (do you know your humidity? You'll want to aim for 80% minimum).



Finally, id cover the ISO to keep it dark, just peeking to see if he's still in a shell. This would hopefully help with stress levels. You're right that handling him is stressful - but if he isn't reshelled death is certain. It may take a few days, but is unavoidable.