inside-out molt??

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sat Dec 30, 2006 3:02 pm

ok ive been crabbing for four years nowand ive never seen or heard of anything like this...i might be just over reacting but i have no idea whats up

the only way i can explain it is an inside out molt. the soft body that should have been the crabit on the ground scattered like the hard brittle dead molt. but its the other way around so the hard brittle empty stuff is in the shell and its the crab...yes it moves slightly when i spritz it with some cool water and it is attatched to the shell so it isnt just the exo on top of the molting crab i put her in iso with the "squishy exo"?!?:?: and i dont know what to do besides let her be. [smilie=tearhair1.gif]

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sat Dec 30, 2006 3:39 pm

ps. it has that "death smell"

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sat Dec 30, 2006 4:38 pm

Can you post a picture?

blaze88 · Post by **blaze88** » Sat Dec 30, 2006 5:29 pm

could you fill out an emergency care sheet?

troppo · Post by **troppo** » Sat Dec 30, 2006 5:50 pm

That's very strange Purpleclaw

It sounds like a bad molt and somehow the crab must have had a bit of trouble shedding her exo properly,though I don't know why this might of happened. The bad smell suggests the crab is sick or dying,(I have had before a still living crab with the death smell,and it ended up dying not long after)

Have you though about trying to get the shed exo out of the shell with a pair of fine tweezers? You've been crabbing for 4 years,so you'd know how to be careful and stuff,wouldn't recommend this to a newbie. If the exo's packed in the shell too tightly or there's rish of harming your crab,then it's best to leave your crab be and just make sure she's comfortable.
Sometimes things like this can happen in nature,it may be that it happens to wild crabs too,so it doesn't look like this is your fault. Have your other molts all been ok?
Best of luck,and please let us know how it turns out.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sat Dec 30, 2006 6:35 pm

yes the crab in question was my first ever molt and she seems to start a new molt evrey time i turn my back

yes i tried the tweezer bit before i started the thread and gentley pulled on one of the legs, her eye twitched , and her antenne flinched i ever so gently touched the leg again and the lag moved so this is not a case of the exo just being stuck ontop of the crab

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sat Dec 30, 2006 6:40 pm

also forgive me for sounding like a

but where are the emergencey care sheets? i will gladly fill one out and post. and my crappy little camera wont take pictures of her (well it will but it just looks like a big pink mass of fuzz) i can try posting a movie but i dont know how well that will work out

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sat Dec 30, 2006 6:43 pm

It's in a sticky at the top of the emergency forum.

I am a visual person... I need pics to understand... but luckily Troppo came along to help.

troppo · Post by **troppo** » Sat Dec 30, 2006 7:01 pm

I'm not sure of what else to advise though

Have had a few crabs in the past that have had molting problems and stuck exos,but unfortunately only with one crab it was successful(helping remove stuck exo),but the crab wasn't too bad affected. The ones that were badly affected didn't survive,not much can be done for them anyway.
I've read in someone's thread a fair while ago that olive oil can help with stuck exos,but because the exo is stuck inside the shell,I'm not sure if it's a good idea to use it.
There has to be someone here that has the experience with surgery and a good success rate,but who?

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sat Dec 30, 2006 7:21 pm

1. Substrate used?/PLAYSAND

2. Humidity % level in crabitat?/79

3. Temperature of substrate in crabitat?/NOT SURE

4. Temperature of crabitat?/75

5. Location of gauges?/TOP LEFT CORNER AND BOTTOM RIGHT

6. What is your heat source?/ UNDER-TANK HEATING PAD

7. Types of water available?/DECHLORINISED (I TRIED SALT A WHILE AGO AND THEY WOULDENT GO NEAR IT)

8. Dechlorinator used?/ REPTISAFE

9. What do you feed?/ FRESH VEGGIES AND COMMERCIAL BRAND FOOD

10. How long have you had the crab in question?/ MABE TWO YEARS

11. Do you know the species?/ NO, BUTITS SMALL AND BRIGHT PINK

12. Do you bath them, if so how often and with what?/NO

13. What type of housing are they in? Tank? Plastic box?/ AQUARIUM

14. What size is your tank?/ MABE A 30-35 GAL

15. How many crabs are in the tank? What size are they?/ EIGHT (COUNTING THE CRAB IN QUESTION) THEY VARRY FROM LARGE TO MICRO

16. How deep is the substrate? /A GOOD FOUR TO FIVE IN.

17. If you take your hermies out daily to exercise, do you mist their gill area first?/ NOT TO OFTEN

18. Has there been any cleaners, paints, perfumes, air fresheners, candles, or smoking near the crabitat?/ INSENCE BUT THEYVE HAD IT ALL THIER LIVES

19. How often do you clean/sterilize and how?/ EVREY TWO DAYS I DO A SURFACE CLEAN AND ONCE EVREY TWO TO THREE MONTHS I DEEP CLEAN

20. Any unusual odors?/ DEATH SMELL

21. Do you use sponges? Are they rinsed daily with dechlor water? Are they exchanged every 2 days for a sterile one?/ NO SPONGES

22. Do you feed fresh food? When do you remove it?/ YES/ ON THE NEXT MORNING

23. Are your hands clean before handling?/ ALWAYS

24. Has there been anything new added to your crabitat recently?/ A MONTH A GO I PUT IN A NEW STERILE SHELL

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sat Dec 30, 2006 7:38 pm

im sorry to keep posting like this :roll: but i went to check on my baby and had a closter look in the light and realised she was missing all of the limbs *squishy ones* that i found and only has two back legs and her feeder claw and one of her legsi s acctually almost torn off at the joint

is it possible that she was attacked?:!:

where i found her in the big tank she was in the same place for two days and it was such a cramped spot the only crab that could have gotten to her in that spot was my micro rug.

anyone here know crabby surgery?

i am currently spritzing her evrey hour on the hour with some waer sence my guess is that she cant get it on her own

troppo · Post by **troppo** » Sat Dec 30, 2006 7:38 pm

Think what caused this bad molt is a lack of salt water. If your crabs won't go near the salt-water Purpleclaw,maybe you could try using a new brand of salt or a new dish?
I've had crabs reluctant to go near the salt water dish when the salt water has been made way too strong,or the dish has had problems with it,and since I've changed to using coralife marine grade salt,the crabs have been more interested in the water.

edit: Hey don't worry about posting alot

Maybe your crab could've been attacked,or maybe it was having so much trouble with molting,that it dropped limbs afterwards. I don't know for sure

blaze88 · Post by **blaze88** » Sat Dec 30, 2006 7:40 pm

All stats look good, exept for comercial food. It has harsh preservatives that build up in the crabs' bodies over time and will kill them.

I amke a compleat diet food that is all natural. It hav every nutriant know to be needed for humans and crabs. If you are intrested please PM me.

Otherwise you should feed fresh foods daily.

It could still be the exo on top of the molting crab and the crab under it is moving thus moving the exo. Thats really weird. I know you said you can't get a pic but...

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sat Dec 30, 2006 8:23 pm

to answer bolth your statements

- i tinkered around with the salt water for about a year new dishes new brands of salt using less than the recommended amount , using more ect. and only one or two have ever gone in it once its weird i admit

-and the commercial food has minimum preserviteves (spell check?) and is free of the cheical ethoq------whatever and some other one that evreybodys causing a riot about i did a lot of research and it is one of the saftest foods available in our area

- and this is definitliey not a case of the crab hiding underneath the exo ......the antennes move, she slightly flinches when i pick her up the eyes twitch (rarley) and her broken-ish leg flinches reguraly

Willow · Post by **Willow** » Sat Dec 30, 2006 9:48 pm

My Es used to have bad moults. I think it was due to either bad salt water (I was using Instant Ocean at the time, a 50 gallon bag of mix I was slowly working through. I think it went bad or something) or a deficient diet. I switched to Catalina Real Ocean (actual ocean water) and Red Sea mix (a smaller bag this time) and a mostly-fresh-food diet, and I haven't had a bad moult since.

Even if you choose to feed them some commercial foods, the reality is that they are wild animals and are not meant to eat processed foods of any kind. So, the bulk of their diet needs to be real food. My hermies are particularly fond of raw, unpeeled shrimp, spring mix salads, bananas with honey, and carrots. They get a large variety of foods, but these are their favorites. Just giving them veggies is a good start, but they need seafood, too.

I completely believe that even if they don't appear to be using the salt water, you should still offer it at all times. You never know when they might need it. Use a good-quality marine salt, nothing that's marked "for hermit crabs", and mix it 2 tablespoons of salt per quart/liter of water. You can give them a really small dish of it, if you like, the minimize waste, but they should have some.

Of course, these things are long-term solutions, not anything that will immediately help your moulter. Other than leaving him alone, in an iso with food, water, and a hidey hut, I can't think of anything else you could do. I hope he pulls through.