A quick descrip of my clan: Spike came up from his first molt with us just a few days ago. Red almost never comes out and retreats quickly whenever I catch him out and about.
So yesterday I added a fishing net across the back of the tank. I also added a shower caddy/shell shop with a cork round ramp leading up. The crabs hid out under their cork bark as always as I worked on the tank.
About an hour after the house got quiet I sneaked a peek into the tank. I see Spike at the food dish. (I can tell he knows I'm there but he's cool with it). He eventually sneaks over to the barnacle in the corner climbs up and "sniffs" at the net. Just a few seconds later he's all the way up the net! He's having a blast!
Now our tank is a converted 10g fish aquarium with a standard fish tank lid on it. No lights at this point, just the lid. The slot for the water filter was actually used so I had covered it with a thick plastic back when I prepped the tank for them originally to keep the moisture in better. When Spike came to the plastic piece he just moved on down the top of the net essentially ignoring it. So I thought all was well.
Then somewhere in the middle of the night my hubby wakes me up coughing. We talk a minute then here a "clunk" in the kitchen.
"was that the crabs?" he asks. I imagined the shell shop tray falling or someone falling from the top of the net into a hole in the barnacle or something.
So I go out to the kitchen and inspect the tank. First thing I see is that the shell shop is intact and Spike's old shell is in there and he's eating again. (Shell change, Yay!). Then I look to find red and am not surprised I can't see him - I really rarely do. I'm just about to go back to bed when I hear a scraping sound. My heart skips a beat as I look around on the floor at the bottom of the stand and around the base of the tank. Nothing. I look in the tank some more, convinced I imagined it, I started to go again and there's the sound again.
A better inspection and I find Red. Beside the tank is the Kk we brought them home from the beach in. And there's Red hanging onto the edge of the lid! He had crawled through the plastic slit, and all the way across the tank lid. Fortunately he chose the right side of the tank to fall off of - literally and figuratively. The KK is only about 6 inches down. The floor on the other side of the tank is four feet off the ground!!
We looked him over, he seemed just fine. He still seemed okay this evening when I checked on him...
So long story long, I thanked my poor hubby for waking me up so we could save red from any further disasters!
