HCA: Hermit Crab Association

I've been worried about Cody for a while. When I came home from the Grand Cannyon trip (only like 2 1/2 days) she was in the salt water dish, with her shell covering her and only her legs sticking out from under her shell in a way that was making me neverous.

Of course, as of late she had been sleeping in the salt water dish on occasion so I tried not to read too much into it.

This morning she hasn't moved an inch. Now I'm beginning to really worry, although I don't smell the death smell yet. I suppose it is unlikley, but still possilbe she molted in the salt water dish (I can hope at this point).

Q's: If she is dead in the salt water, would the salt water delute the death smell?

Conversly, if she molted in the salt water, would it deter her from eating her exo if it were soaked in the salt water?

If the answer to the last question is may be yes, then I feel it would be best to check on her because I'd need to give her an alternitive source of calcuim to eat, although normally I'd never distrub a crab I thought may be molting.

Most likely she is dead, I think.....

Advice please, what would you all do?

OH my what a dilema (hugs) well sooner or later the other crabs are gonna want to drink right? I would check on her-if she is dying you want to ISO and make comfy, same if she molted. They are far sturdier than we think during molts IMHO I have disturbed many and they all survived.

I think if she molted she may still eat the exo........let me know what happens - sorry you are going thru this--STINKS

I'd check on her.


If she is dead in the salt water, would the salt water delute the death smell? I'm not sure, it might because the salt would kill any bacteria forming. (not sure if I'm correct...)

Conversly, if she molted in the salt water, would it deter her from eating her exo if it were soaked in the salt water? No, it shouldn't. If anything it'll get the exo damp so it would be easier to eat.


Goodluck crabber, I hope she's okay. *hugs*
Lakota

I'm broken hearted. She's gone. When I picked her up I could smell the death smell. She was a favorite of mine, a sweet, social, gentle soal.

I've had her since Janurary. She had a sucessful molt with me which she came up from in Fedurary. I have no idea what happened. I did add some new things to the tank when I did my deep clean last week, but she had been slowing down before that, and everyone else seems fine. All other conditons in my tank are fine. I did not see any signs of infection, but I know my tank was pretty nasty before the deep clean, and I know she spent alot of time in the salt water, which is often a sign of infection they are trying to cleanse. Honestly I didn't spend too much time looking at her because it's so painful to see her lifeless body, I just gave her a quick look over and buried her.

Just to be sure there wasn't something wrong with my salt water I went out and bought a hydrometer, and while I was there I found another small straw which I picked up. Not that Cody can EVER be replaced in my heart. This has been my toughest loss in a long time because I had enough time to get very attached to her. My daughter will be heartbroken when she comes home and finds out.

I'm so sorry...and the straws are so pretty too. Hopefully if anything is wrong you'll find it. At least it doesn't seem so pointless then...take care.

One of my hermies, Spunky, who I had gotten in January 05 died mysteriously like that. He molted in January of 06 and then one day in February I came home from work I found him naked in the fresh water dish. His shell was a few inches away and he was there laying sideways in the dish. I still have no clue how he died, just like with your straw. I hope you find out what happened so you can learn how to prevent it, but I never discovered how Spunky died in my case.

I'm doing a clean now and checking all the shells for sharp objects or jagged edges, nothing.

I'm trying to test the saltinity of the salt water (although I don't think it was the cause), and it registering high, but I'm not sure it's working correctly. When I put in freshwater it seems to register correctly. When I put in the salt water the first time it was 36, when it should read about 32 (to match ocean water) but I added more freshwater and it's now registering higher??? I rinsed it well before I tried it agian, but I was using some of the salt water to clean and I am wondering if the closer I got to the salt residue at the bottom the higher it's registering. Scary thought.

OH MAN! I am so sorry crabber............hugs to you. I know you have been thru alot lately

On a happier note I cant wait to see your new baby. Tell me more about the water tester, where do I find it in the fish section and how much was it?

Thanks Herm-ez and everyone else, this was a hard loss for me.

Since I use Instant Ocean I purchased the instant ocean hydrometer in the fish section of Petco. It was 10.00 more than the 3 dollar one, but the Instant Ocean box gives measurements for saltinty on this hydrometer so I figured it'd be easier for me to figure out. HAHA. I still managed to use it wrong.

I got the thing to work finally, there were air bubles around the little lever which registers the amount of saltinity, and it was forceing the lever upwards. I had to stick chopsticks into the top and push the air bubbles off the lever and then I was able to adjust the salt water little by little to get it perfect. I'll just continue to measure the salt water as I use it and adust accordingly. At least it's one less thing to worry about.

I'm so sorry to hear about your loss It's never easy to lose a pet.

On a side note, if you flick the hydrometer, it usually will get rid of any bubbles on the lever dealie. If the water isn't around room temperature either, it can also throw off the reading a bit.

Sorry to hear about your loss.

I'm so sorry. Thats sad.