A month without a shell - pics of molt deformity
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wickedannabella
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JediMasterThrash
Topic author - Jedi Tech Support
- Posts: 1803
- Joined: Sun Jan 11, 2004 3:05 pm
- Location: Nerima district of Tokyo, Japan
When I did that partial substrate change I posted about last month, I found his exo inside the bonsai tree. So he did do a top molt in the bonsai. Another crab could have crawled ontop of him, or maybe he was leaning bad.
Funny thing is the exo wasn't eaten. Strange since I would have thought that would have attracted other takers. Perhaps since I always provide dried shrimp in the food bowl, they don't crave exo as much.
I don't think that just because a crab is naked means that other crabs would see him as food. Crabs aren't cannibalistic. In a well kept tank, there will be natural aggression displays due to the social hierarchy of the crabs, and PMS (pre-molt-syndrome). But won't kill. If true cannibalism occurs, it's because the tank is too overcrowded, or there's a lack of other food. Shell fights will happen if there's a dearth of shells (and PMS), but I've never seen one result in death. Occasionally minor violence leads to a lost limb. But 97% of the time someone finds a crab that appears to have been eaten by other crabs, the crab died first from other causes, and then some opportunistic crab took advantage of the carrion.
I originally put him in ISO for a couple of days, because I thought the fold on the back of his carapace was from the start of a molt, and assumed he was starting to molt. But then I realized it was a post-molt deformity. He's much better off in the main tank, especially in his condition, because he knows where the food and water are, and where all his hidey spots are. It'll be more comfortable and less stressful.
The only exception would be if there was a disease involved, but I haven't determined that yet, and there aren't any other crabs with this problem that I know of yet.
Funny thing is the exo wasn't eaten. Strange since I would have thought that would have attracted other takers. Perhaps since I always provide dried shrimp in the food bowl, they don't crave exo as much.
I don't think that just because a crab is naked means that other crabs would see him as food. Crabs aren't cannibalistic. In a well kept tank, there will be natural aggression displays due to the social hierarchy of the crabs, and PMS (pre-molt-syndrome). But won't kill. If true cannibalism occurs, it's because the tank is too overcrowded, or there's a lack of other food. Shell fights will happen if there's a dearth of shells (and PMS), but I've never seen one result in death. Occasionally minor violence leads to a lost limb. But 97% of the time someone finds a crab that appears to have been eaten by other crabs, the crab died first from other causes, and then some opportunistic crab took advantage of the carrion.
I originally put him in ISO for a couple of days, because I thought the fold on the back of his carapace was from the start of a molt, and assumed he was starting to molt. But then I realized it was a post-molt deformity. He's much better off in the main tank, especially in his condition, because he knows where the food and water are, and where all his hidey spots are. It'll be more comfortable and less stressful.
The only exception would be if there was a disease involved, but I haven't determined that yet, and there aren't any other crabs with this problem that I know of yet.
JMT.
Stuck-up, half-witted, scruffy-looking crab-herder since '92.
Stuck-up, half-witted, scruffy-looking crab-herder since '92.
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