I don't know what just happened

[KellyCrabbieLove]

I was giving the crabs new food and supplements like usual and installed their new moss pit caddy. I picked up Houdini, for those of you who do not know, he is the remaining crab from my first 2 in June. He was acting like he didn't want to be messed with so I went to put him back dowm and he literally dove out of his shell into the sand. I go him reshelled within a minute (longest minute of my life) but the reasons why he did that have me worried. He is busy running around in the tank now. What just happened?

[hermieluv1]

Literally scared out of his shell? Like maybe he was kinda dozing, then realized he was being handled and his knee jerk reaction was "Abandon ship!"?

[CallaLily]

Is he an E? I've seen it mentioned on here that a few crabbers have had Es that would rather abandon shell than be held or messed with. Es instincts seems to be more run and hide where PPs are more clamp down into their shell and wait it out.

[KellyCrabbieLove]

Yes he is an E. I felt so bad. I stressed him that much? He has always loved to be held and would climb all over me. Do you think he will be OK?

[CallaLily]

He'll probably be fine. Has he recently resurfaced from a molt or whatever? Sometimes they can be more shy afterwards. It sounds like you had read the signs of him not wanting to be held, but he freaked out before you got him back in the tank. So you did good, he just spazzed. I'm glad it was just a dive onto the substrate. You'll probably want to be extra cautious with the distance between him and whatever surface when you need to handle him again (probably obvious but I wanted to mention it just in case).

[wodesorel]

Yes he is an E. I felt so bad. I stressed him that much? He has always loved to be held and would climb all over me. Do you think he will be OK?

I've had Es do this more than once. I think it's a defense thing - if their shell gets held in place then the best way to get away is to ditch it and run. They can get some serious air going when they launch, too.The first time it happened was when my husband picked up an E to check it out after it had just changed shells. It FLUNG itself off his hands about two feet forward and hit the chair naked and it was really not an okay situation. It bothered my husband so much that he's never picked a crab up since. I had other small Es do it a few times after that, so when I did handle them it was either never by the shell, or directly over a solid surface so they wouldn't get hurt if they launched themselves into space.

[KellyCrabbieLove]

He has been up less than a week from molt but is more laid back after it than he was before. He ml molted twice close together. He came out super mean and pinchy from the first one.

[sugarselections]

I used to have a large blue that would abandon shell anytime I picked him up. Not much of a problem since I try not to handle my crabs, but it's good to keep yourself aware of who is prone to panicky behavior.

[KellyCrabbieLove]

I never knew they did this. It was such a shock.

[Drakezilla]

Wow! I've only ever had PPs and they are so stubborn! They definitely don't let go! I think I read as babies though they exhibit the same behavior with their shells -- they're a lot more likely to abandon ship when they're recently terrestrial.

[kornchaser]

A launching crab, wow! My PPs will hold on tight to their shell.


Mommy of 10 PP babies:
Poseidon (Sid), Toby, Matty, Junior, Aries, Kaylee, Turbo, Adrian, Pepper and Flower. RIP Octavius & Fred

[KellyCrabbieLove]

He is the only one to do that. I am always extra careful with him.