I think he's going to molt
I think he's going to molt
Curly ( my favorite crab, mind you) has been sluggish the last few days, and I noticed his eyes are a little cloudy. He's a small. I was wondering how long between noticing his behavior changes should he bury down to molt? Also, My big crab, Luna, has been tearing through the EE side of my tank, and that's where Curly has been hanging out. I think I'm going to have to iso either him or Luna. I think I have 2 tinys that are down destressing or molting, so I think it might be better if I move Luna and maybe a buddy into my other 10 gallon that I'd have to set up for them. Any advice would be appreciated.
-
Guest
I've had wonderful luck with just letting them molt where they want to and not removing crabs to ISO them. I know other people believe in ISOing crabs, but to me I try and keep my crabs as they would be in nature. This involves to some degree letting them interact in some slightly risky ways...
I had to remove a PP from my PP/Rug tank and put him in the E tank only because all the other crabs were beating him up- He couldn't be more happy by himself in the E tank. He's active, runs around every night, and eats very well. In this case, removing him was a good idea.
If I know a molter is in an area, I will do things like put a food or shell dish on top of them, preventing other crabs from digging down to that spot as easily. It seems to work ok, as I've now had 5 successful molts. I know it's not a huge number, but I'm of the belief that these animals are somewhat wild... so if you just "let them do their thing" it is best for them. In the wild a crab may dig up another crab, or kill one in a fight--- but I think it is very rare. I feel the risk to that is generally less then stressing them out by moving the crabs... I think that the movement may cause them to postpone the molt, having some bad consequences.
Of course this is my own limited experience, and I don't think you should take what I say for gospel, I'm just giving you my point of view. Many others may have had more success doing things totally differently. =)
My jumbo (size of my fist) is trying to molt now, but other crabs keep digging down on top of him, causing him to come back up and rebury before his molt. In this case, if they dig him up again I plan to take him, and QUICKLY move him into a 10 gallon ISO filled with EE, and the same conditions. I'm hoping with this it will "trick" him and he can molt in peace. The only reason I'm doing this with him, is because of his size and the lengthy molt time for a crab that big.
One last observation- Mine dig down to molt in open spaces mostly... and dig down to hide under pieces of wood or coconut huts. If you believe a molter is under a hut or hiding place, you could move it a bit to encourage the crabs to hang out in a different spot then where your molters may be
I had to remove a PP from my PP/Rug tank and put him in the E tank only because all the other crabs were beating him up- He couldn't be more happy by himself in the E tank. He's active, runs around every night, and eats very well. In this case, removing him was a good idea.
If I know a molter is in an area, I will do things like put a food or shell dish on top of them, preventing other crabs from digging down to that spot as easily. It seems to work ok, as I've now had 5 successful molts. I know it's not a huge number, but I'm of the belief that these animals are somewhat wild... so if you just "let them do their thing" it is best for them. In the wild a crab may dig up another crab, or kill one in a fight--- but I think it is very rare. I feel the risk to that is generally less then stressing them out by moving the crabs... I think that the movement may cause them to postpone the molt, having some bad consequences.
Of course this is my own limited experience, and I don't think you should take what I say for gospel, I'm just giving you my point of view. Many others may have had more success doing things totally differently. =)
My jumbo (size of my fist) is trying to molt now, but other crabs keep digging down on top of him, causing him to come back up and rebury before his molt. In this case, if they dig him up again I plan to take him, and QUICKLY move him into a 10 gallon ISO filled with EE, and the same conditions. I'm hoping with this it will "trick" him and he can molt in peace. The only reason I'm doing this with him, is because of his size and the lengthy molt time for a crab that big.
One last observation- Mine dig down to molt in open spaces mostly... and dig down to hide under pieces of wood or coconut huts. If you believe a molter is under a hut or hiding place, you could move it a bit to encourage the crabs to hang out in a different spot then where your molters may be
Yeah, I didn't want to stress Curly, that's why I was thinking of moving Luna. She tears through the EE every night. She uprooted my 2 tinys that are down several times. And she turns over the food and water dishes, too. She's also the newest, so I'm not sure if she'd bully a molter. Hopefully not.
So any ideas on the timeframe from when you start seeing pre molt signs until they actually start molting?
So any ideas on the timeframe from when you start seeing pre molt signs until they actually start molting?