Back From the Dead & The Near Death Smell

[WingedWalrus]

I wasn't sure where to post this, so feel free to move it somewhere else if more appropriate.

A month ago I met someone who had driven quite a ways to drop off two hermit crabs that were no longer able to be cared for. I was told that they continually got mites, etc, and needed to be re-homed. When we went to do the exchange, I noticed that the crabs were being stored on the floor, in the back trunk of a rather large vehicle. This was during the cold winter weather up north. The exchange was fast and I put them up front with me in my car, which was super warm at this point.

As started to leave, I peeked in at the crabs, and realized that the tank was ice cold. So were the crabs.

Two larger PPs and they both just slumped out of their shells. The fishy death smell was VERY strong. My heart sunk as I realized that they must be dead already. Honestly, the smell was so strong that I figured they'd been dead for a couple of days.

But then I saw one of the little feelers twitch and move to taste me, just a tiny bit. I wasn't sure if this was just a post-death twitch, but I figured at this point there was nothing to lose, so I stopped at my friends house on the way back.

We put the essentially dead smelly crabs in a thin box with one towel directly on her heater, and near a well sealed window that the sunlight was streaming through. The windowsill was already warm from the sun.

After about forty minutes we checked on them and THEY WERE ALIVE. The larger one was actually trying to crawl on the towel, in slow motion, while the smaller one had warmed up enough to go back into the shell. We helped warm them by holding them tightly in the palms of our hands. It took a few hours, but eventually they were both moving around like regular crabs. During this time, the fishy smell disappeared completely.

I'm wondering if anyone else has ever had this happen to them before?

Specifically, I'm wondering if anyone understands the chemical story behind the fishy smell that crabs give off after death? Or I suppose, also near death? I never gave it much thought until this situation, as for me, the fishy smell has always been a sure sign of permanent goodbyes. I used to keep the crabs that had "died" in an ISO tank for a day because I was so worried they might not really be dead - of course, none ever made a recovery.

But now I am very curious as to what is actually happening in the crabs' bodies to secrete this smell and what system is causing it?

It has been a month now and both crabs are doing well!!

[KellyCrabbieLove]

That is incredible!

[YYWW]

Very cool! No idea the science behind it, but glad to have crabbers with such heart around. Thank you for this story!


Crabbers unite!!!

[CallaLily]

I always assumed the smell was from decomposition. I'm so glad you were able to help these crabbies! Please keep us updated on their continued recovery! Have they molted with you yet?

[shanedaman112]

I know this post is a bit old, but I'm just absolutely amazed at the story :O I'm planning on getting a minor in marine biology (which to me, is enough to study land hermit crabs), so some day I'm gonna try my best to crack the code of this story (along with the rest of my list of things to discover with hermies). Anyway, awesome story :)