HCA: Hermit Crab Association

my medium sized hermit crab, Aeropostale, has lost 3 of his legs in the past 4 days! The humidity is up, could it be heat related? someone please help before he loses all his legs!!

How long have you had him? This can happen when they are severely stressed, usually within a month after getting them.

I'm not sure how long it's been , but i've had him more than a month maybe six weeks...

I think PPS can appear even quite a few weeks and possibly months after bring home a new crab.
You mentioned that your humidity is up Love2dance,what level is it at right now? Also what's the temperature showing as well?

the humidity is very high, although our guage dosen't show an exact percentage. I have been worried that the temp. inside the tank is to low, should I put the heat lamp on the tank? We had to take our thermomader (i cant spell ) out because Jeffery kept tearing it down.

Do you have a dial-gauge for your humidity Love2dance?
Would you have any idea how 'out' your gauge is and are you able to make a close as you can estimate with how high the humidity level is?
The best range for humidity is between about 75 and 80%.

With heating the tank,it's risky without having a thermometer in the tank. Perhaps you could place the thermometer in a corner somewhere?
Take a reading first before you turn on the lamp,because if the tank is warm enough,it'd be best to leave the lamp off because your crab will need the tank to be dark right now,strong light may not be good for his stress levels.

Our humidity gauge is strange, it's above 80% a believe, but it doesnt show numbers. When I woke up this morning the temp. inside the tank was 72, but at the moment it's 67-68.

Hi Love2dance,

That's really odd,a humidity gauge without numbers
Does it show instead different coloured areas that say at the lower end - desert,moderate then at the furthest end tropical?
It sounds like it'd be a good idea to get a gauge that you can read a bit easier .
With your tank temperature being 72 in the mornings,that's not too cold,so you may not need to use a heat lamp just yet. What's the temp like in the middle of the day?

How's your crab doing at the moment? Has he lost anymore legs?

It has different colored areas that lighten as the humidity goes up, and then whatever % is the same color as the example color at the bottom of the guage is your humidity %. However, the colors are very similar which makes it hard to tell weather it's at 20% or 80%. I forgot to check the temp this afternoon I will check tomorrow though, it is currently 71-72*
Aeropostale is not coming out of his shell at all, and he looks as if he's trying to take another one of his legs off, but i may be wrong. Thanks for the advice troppo

Ahhhh I understand now Love2dance!
That's kind of weird if it looks like your crab is trying to take another one of his legs off.
Are you able to cover him up with a cocohut or something similar,and then make the tank dark by covering it up with a towel or something? That will help your crab alot.

love2dance wrote:It has different colored areas that lighten as the humidity goes up, and then whatever % is the same color as the example color at the bottom of the guage is your humidity %. However, the colors are very similar which makes it hard to tell weather it's at 20% or 80%. I forgot to check the temp this afternoon I will check tomorrow though, it is currently 71-72*

Are you sure this is a humidity gauge? It sounds more like an aquarium thermometer, which measure temperature, not humidity. Is it inside or outside of the tank? If it's outside, it's definitely a thermometer, because a humidity gauge can only work if it's inside the crabitat. Even if it is inside, you may want to consider getting a better thermometer/humidity gauge set, the strip kind are notoriously unreliable.

The gauge is inside, and it was advertised as a humidity gauge, and I agree that it might be better to get a more reliable one. However , it is in strip form, so I don't know. Last night my mom put a blanket over the tank before we went to bed to keep it dark inside, and at 9:00 AM it is still on. Is this OK? The temp. is 74* and Aeropostale seems to be pretty active. But will he ever get his legs back?

Yes he will get them back next time he molts!

Ok, good. Thanks piratecrab!
He went from very active to not moving at all in a few minutes, and he still hasn't moved. maybe I'm just over reacting. Since we put the blanket on top of the tank, mold has grown around the food area. Why is this, because of the blanket???

If you mist the crabitat it could be that it got wet and is molding or you just need to change the food more often. If there are other crabs in the tank you might want to seperate him and put him in something like a kritter keeper for in case he wants to molt. Make sure it is humid and warm enough. Hope this helps!