Dormant behavior??

[Guest]

Ok, so for the last few weeks my guys have been really dormant. Houdini was coming up from digging/tunneling once a week like clock work. But I haven't heard any noise of digging/tunneling for I think a little more then 2 weeks. Zeus always hangs out in the plant I have, never digging, just sitting there, and for a little more then a week, Napoleon changed shells again, and then dug under just to the side of the food dish. he left a very small window, so I can see that every now and then he will turn or move.

They have not eaten in a few weeks, except Zeus. I got my food from TCP (Thanx BTW) and so I put some of it out. Zeus came out of hiding, and tasted some of the new food, even the worm casting supplement, but not much at all. I replaced the water and food about 2 days ago, and nothing was touched, not even sand in the water dishes... Last night I put a few slices of bananas in, and no one touched anything.

I also put new shells into the tank, and no one has come out to take a look into those.

Does this behavior sound normal to anyone?

I have been able to keep the temp and the humidity in range. I am thinking of getting a combo hood light fixture to maintain the temp during the winter.

And what is the recommend wattage for lights for a 10 gallon tank?

Also for crabs that are supposed to love being together, they seem to rather be left alone. Does that also sound normal??

I didn't post in the emergency forum b/c I would hear or see subtle things different every so often. But I am concerned because they are completely different from about 5/6 weeks ago.

Any help/suggestions on what I could or should do?

[Guest]

sounds sort of like they are molting, or preparing to molt. autumn/spring are apparently prime mass molting time.

[Guest]

Well I forgot to mention I left half a shell from a hard boiled egg that let dry out for about a week. that hasn't been touched.

Zeus and Napoleon seemed to have been freshly molted when I got them about a month ago. I saw very pointy legs, with alot of hair at the ends...

would they really molt so soon? I guess I have been giving them a bit of a calcium rich diet. I was/am feeding them a mixture of bloodworms, krill, and brine shrimp, along with some crushed cuttle bone. Every now and then I would mix or offer a tiny bit of FMR food, and zoomed fruit treats. I also offered fresh carrots.

I just recently bought worm casting supplement, cherry pom-pom (Crabotanicals), and Ethiopian Sunrise (crabotanicals), and that's the new food that Zeus checked out, and he seemed to like the Ethiopian Sunrise alot.

So I guess I should get some honey and more cuttlebone ready if in fact they are moting?

Also after they molt, should I give them all a bath again?

Also how about the lighting situation? The combo lite i am thinking if getting has 3 fixtures on it.... I just dont know the wattage i should get.

BTW thanx for the advice!

[Guest]

hmmmm i'd add some grains and some more fruit/veggies to their diet when they do surface, as well as some sea-veggies, like seaweed or spirulina. i'd hold off on the honey and cuttlebone for a bit, until you see some activity at least, as it will just go to waste if they truly are molting right now. as for pointiness of toes, well, depending on the size they may molt more often (smaller = more frequent molts) so their toes may not have had time to wear down yet. after they molt, i would hold off on the bath, as they should all be pretty mellow and uninterested in arguing, though i'll wait for someone with more experience to put their two cents in. as for lighting, i know that uvb is a must, and all i can say is try out different wattages until you find one that works. most stores will let you exchange the bulb if it isn't strong enough/ too strong. hope this helps!

[Guest]

Again thank you for your input...

I have offered them oatmeal (100% rolled oats) but they never touched them... practically ate around them. what other grains could I try?

I am in search of more veggies. I was thinking of getting the salad mix that crabotanicals has for now. i just haven't had a chance to order.

As for their size, they're medium/large. According to the sizing chart listed on this site, their legs easily break into the large ring.

[Guest]

i can't seem to find the link at the moment for safe foods and such, but i know spelt, wheat, oats, barley, crushed flax seed, and millet are safe.

[Guest]

ok, so I'm getting worried... 2 reasons... possibly molting as someone suggested, or slowly dying!!

this is mostly behavior related, but also have habitat concerns

Ok, so to be exact, Houdini has come up once since digging down on 8-26-08. And that was before my original post. Zeus hasn't seemed to move, maybe slightly dug into the substrate where he's been hiding behind the plant. And Napoleon has surfaced and dung back down twice since my original post. Napoleon ate quite a bit, and drank just about all of the fresh water, and then dug down.... So are they really about to molt??

Or as I said I am really worried they are slowly dying... As the temperature has gotten as low as 40o for ambient temp, the surface temp was about 75 while the air temp was reading 63o. The humidity was reading 70%. I have new lights. I ordered the moon glow LED online, as well as using 25watt day and night glow bulbs. My problem with it all is now that the weather has dropped so fast i didn't anticipate my tank conditions to deteriorate so fast. In the last few months i never had a problem maintaining the correct conditions. The lights worked when i initially got them, but now are nearly pointless.

How can I "check" them with out possibly disturbing them severely?

I am just not sure if the conditions are taking their toll on them anymore then they were before the conditions dropped... I am scrambling to get things back to normal, but I am on a very tight budget right now, so I can't just go out and get the stuff...

Any help would be appreciated!

[Guest]

FYI the moonglow led will not supply heat-led's do not. There are moonglow incandescent bulbs in pet stores that are 25 watt that I use for heat at night. Good luck.

[Guest]

I just put a dual-bulb hood on my 10-gal with a 25W day-glo bulb and a 25W moon-glo, and having just one of those bulbs on at a time keeps my 'tat temp right around 78-80F. I also have a partial glass lid which may be blocking a little of the heat, but if you have a 3-socket hood, you may want to start with 25W bulbs and experiment with a combination, turning on one, two, or all three depending on your home's ambient temperature.

So far I've had decent luck, but then the weather hasn't truly gotten very cold yet.

I only had a choice when getting my bulbs at a 60w, and a 75w for my combination hood, I have 3 spots for lights, 1 for the flurescent light and 2 spots left over for a day glow, and night glow for a total of 3 bulbs. I actually have fallen in love with my hood. However, the above bulbs, make my temps to hot (with the exception) of my night glow which is actually the higher watt bulb, but further from the temp gauge. Anyways, I plan on removing them as I feel they are going to be too hot, even in the winter and found some online at petdiscounters in a lower wattage. I believe, both of them will end up ultimately being a 25 w?

Anyways, I am generally pleased with my hood, even if it were more expensive than I originally planned on spending and this way I know I can optimal conditions for the crabbies, keeping humidity is check and offering a good combination of needed light (especially for the more exotic breed such as Straws (which incidently I have on the way)

[Guest]

ok, so I'm getting worried... 2 reasons... possibly molting as someone suggested, or slowly dying!!

this is mostly behavior related, but also have habitat concerns

Ok, so to be exact, Houdini has come up once since digging down on 8-26-08. And that was before my original post. Zeus hasn't seemed to move, maybe slightly dug into the substrate where he's been hiding behind the plant. And Napoleon has surfaced and dung back down twice since my original post. Napoleon ate quite a bit, and drank just about all of the fresh water, and then dug down.... So are they really about to molt??

Or as I said I am really worried they are slowly dying... As the temperature has gotten as low as 40o for ambient temp, the surface temp was about 75 while the air temp was reading 63o. The humidity was reading 70%. I have new lights. I ordered the moon glow LED online, as well as using 25watt day and night glow bulbs. My problem with it all is now that the weather has dropped so fast i didn't anticipate my tank conditions to deteriorate so fast. In the last few months i never had a problem maintaining the correct conditions. The lights worked when i initially got them, but now are nearly pointless.

How can I "check" them with out possibly disturbing them severely?

I am just not sure if the conditions are taking their toll on them anymore then they were before the conditions dropped... I am scrambling to get things back to normal, but I am on a very tight budget right now, so I can't just go out and get the stuff...

Any help would be appreciated!

As I am still pretty much a newbie, but have done tons, and tons of research (been out of school for the past 2 or 3 months as I got my Associates degree with honors in accounting. Anyways, this does seem to be a typical season of a lot of crabbies doing molts. I have heard from many people, and many of them having a lot more crabs than I, essentially being faced with the same situation I have now (empty nest, or ghost town USA in the TAT. LOL, Fall and Spring seems to bring on a lot of molting and perhaps this is what they are doing, or getting ready to do. I have 6 crabs and 3 comming tomorrow, but all 6 of mine are currently dugged in and I believe it is either distressing (as they only been with me since around labor day, 1 came along a week later and 3 came along about 2 weeks ago. So distressing is a possibility. However, I also believe that they are molting as well.

Hermie, and Bashfull -- Have been down for 2 1/2 weeks straight, possibly 3 weeks

Crabby, followed a week later, came back up for about a week, and has now returned

Speedy went down the beginning of this week

Rainbow, and Itty Bitty -- Went down this morning.

Ironically, and just realized this myself this is the order in which I had purchased them as well. With the exception of the last 3 crabs as they were purchased together, but all three of them went down within a day or 2 of the other.

I had purchased Pokey between Crabby, and the last 3 however, unfortuantely he passed as a result of PPS. (Pokey also came from the worst conditions between 3 stores I generally got my crabs. (he came from Critters) and although there was 2 dead crab in the tank with him, he was the livelist 1 of the bunch, and he put up a pretty good fight too, but PPS was just too much for him

5 of mine came from pet supply plus which keep their crabs in the smallest kk. no food, no water, no guages, and etc. bad, bad conditions

Petco, seems a bit better around here as petstore conditions go, but they are often rude and seem put out so you can look at the crabs and whatnot. better conditions but still fail misearly

Petsmart -- never bought a crab there, seem plenty of them can never get any help in that store. Not the greatest conditions either.

[Guest]

I do find it aggravating that in either store I go to, the store employees seem put out if you ask for assistance with the hermit crabs. Also are clueless in regards of knowing any species. Few had sworn "fancy" is a species because they are wearing painted shells. Yeah ok, obviously you haven't a clue on LHC at all. Probably also why I can only find PP's.

One place did seem to know about different species, but refuses to order them as they are more expensive and she doesn't think it would be beneficial as she can sell these PP's for less. I asked if she could special order them, for me and I would pay for them, even in advance if need be, she just couldn't be bothered. Really aggravating espeically when trying to find different species around here.

Or for that matter, just plain kind and considerant help would be nice. Not to mention seeing them improve their tank conditions. ONly makes sense to me, better conditions, less death rate or returns, better profit for you and happier and healthier crabs.

[Guest]

Thank you for your input momof2

Yes, I do recall others mentioning this time of year being typical molting season... but all together? and for being mediums, is almost 2 full months sound right for molting time tables?