Life With No Shell?

[Guest]

I personally don't have and never have had any of my crabs streak, but I was thinking yesterday about the different personalities of crabs and the different reasons why a crab might take off its shell.

Now, I know crabs are "meant" to live with their shells on because of their extra sensitive abdomens, but it is obvious that certain crabs from time to time will take their shells off for a number of reasons such as cleaning, molting, and bathing.

I was thinking, however, that what if certain crabs wish to take their shells off...just because? I know that of course it would be a rare crab to find as the crabs can die very easily if they conditions and environment around were not almost perfect, but what if there was such a crab and he was given the perfect conditions to do so?

I have a theory that if a crab went streaking and was given a high humidity, mild temperature, and access to water and food that the crab would be able to live without worry.

Yes, other things would be necessary to watch out for such as other crabs that might harm him, but I believe in general it's very possible. The crab could live.

If one of my crabs streaked, I would of course try the methods of getting him back into a shell because I would not assume he wants to live without it. However, if I had a crab that gave me the same ammount of trouble as some have with their streakers that refuse to go into shells, then I think I would test my hypothesis.

What do you think?

[Guest]

I appologize. When I posted this topic, I was signed in under my girlfriends user name.

[Guest]

I think about this alot too, however I think there are other things to keep in mind, doesn't the shell keep there soft body moist so it doesn't dry out? And if you had a shell less crab wouldn't you have to worry about it maybe falling and getting injuried?
I agree that i hermit crab would be able to survive if they were given the right conditions, i just think that it would be really hard to get the conditions, and the right crab to try it on.
Please if you do try this out please post about it i am really interested.

[Guest]

I would, of course, provide a large salt water area for them to soak their abdomen, and I would think the high humidity would keep their abdomen moist as well.

You're right it would be a lot more dangerous and so special precautions would need to be taken. Prefereably nothing for them to fall on. You would not be able to give them stuff to climb on that goes high up. The fall could hurt them.

Providing areas similar to moss around the habitat would most likely be beneficial to the crab. This would give them places to get their abdomens temporarily wet if the water dishes were farther away than they are willing to walk.

I think, for me, this is just something that I want to test. I like the challenge of it.

[Guest]

There are a few things that you are forgetting about the use of the shell. It is not just for protection. The shell is also used to maintain a reservoir of water, used for saline regulation.

I dount that there are really any crabs that take off their shells "just because." This would be a very rare occurance. Simply because this behavior would have resulted in those crabs being selected out of the gene pool for future generations. IE, they didnt live long enough to reproduce.

I remember reading an experiment about this...They took away the shells of LHC's, and kept Birgus Latro in shells. Brigus would stay in the shell as long as it had one to fit in, while coenobitids seemed to try to act more like birgus. Their abdomens got less soft, they curled the abdomen under their body, etc...They didnt go into full metamorphosis like Birgus though.... Now if only I can find that study again...

[Guest]

Oh please find that study Dion! That sounds so interesting.

He is right in that the hermits dont use shells just for protection. And doesnt the shell water bathing their gills help with breathing, too?

I had a crab go naked the other night for the first time in my years of keeping them. It was my jumbo PP and I found him on top of the EE, naked. I dug down and found his shell packed with EE and sand. I offered it to him clean and he immediately went back in. Had he been in the wild, sitting on top of the soil like that, he almost certainly would have been eaten.

[Guest]

I honestly think that my crab did that. Two days ago he finally put his shell back on after nearly three weeks of being "naked". I've had Mr. Crabby - my 3yr. old named him- for a year and a half. Up until two days ago I didn't know the first thing about the true aspects of taking care of a crab. Here's the story. When we got him & his buddy at a mall kiosk we were told that all we needed was what they gave us- water dish, sponge, food, shell for food, extra shell, small cholla wood, gravel, and the critter keeper. They told us to clean the tank once per month by rinsing out the gravel. They told us to give fresh water once per day and fresh food every two to three days. That's it nothing else. After a little while I got grossed out by the gravel and switched to calci-sand. Then I got a hermi-hut and a background that is climbable for the tank. Boy did they like it. Then we lost the one. When we replaced him. I got a thermometer for the tank and realized that according to the packaging on the thermometer it was too cold for the hermies. So I went out and perchased the smallest UTH I could get. That didn't quite do it. So I got a heat light and put that a foot over the tank. That worked a nice 78- 80 during the day. Unfortunately on Christmas Day '05 we had an unexplained death of the new one. Two days ago I got scared. He had been running about the tank without a shell for close to three weeks. I didn't know what else to do, so I started looking around the internet. I found this site, and I've learned so much. Now I use dechlor water for him. I also have a small salt water shell in the tank. I put in a humidity gauge- 80% right now with the help of saran wrap on the lid. I truly had no idea that I was hurting the poor little guy(s) by using regular tap water and not having a humidity gauge and not having salt water in the tank for them. It goes to show how much you can learn just in one day. But anyways. My little nudist is back in his shell- I used the glass cup method. He was very active last night when I held him for awhile. Today we got him a new friend from Petco. Miss Ariel is what my daughter named her. She also seems to be a friendly one. thus far they are getting along well. No more crabs until we get our 20gal up and running. The critter keeper- albeit the biggest one on the market- can only hold two small crabs comfortably.