HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Just need to vent somewhere and where better...I simply don not know what else to do for my Indo, Chantilly. I've had her for a little over two years. It took her a really long time to become comfortable in her surroundings. For almost a year she was always MIA as was the other one I had. I figured it was just characteristic of Indos. Then she slowly began to show me who she really is. She became active, always out and about, antennae always in over drive and so gently, just a sweet personality. She has molted twice successfully, but had me scared both times. She gets so weak, somehow different from the others. She had the tar kicked out of her last year by my first PP who wanted her shell. No lost limbs though or injuries I could see, but pretty shaken up. She perked up after a week or so (and after getting her shell back).Two weeks ago she didn't seem right. She wasn't shell shopping, but knowing her the way I do, I thought she wanted a new shell. I put her in a box with several choices so they'd stay clean while she shopped, not very interested. Next day I find her naked. Rinse her shell and the others and into ISO she went. I wasn't going to try to get her back in hers because she seemed so fragile, but as I was setting her down, I decided to see if I could just slide her butt in a bigger one that was sitting in the perfect position. She stayed in it over night and was naked the next day. For the next three days she wouldn't shell. She emptied a fairly good sized fresh water dish each day for the following two days and on the third she completely emptied the salt water dish. She doesn't seem to be eating much of the food if any at all, but I've seen her in the honey dish several times. She has spent the past two weeks naked and in and out of the water dishes drinking even more and soaking off and on. I don't know how much more she can drink! What is interesting about her fluid intake is that her fluid reserve sacs have only gotten a little bigger. Not much, it is noticeable, though, but not nearly as big as I would have thought considering how much she has taken in. But -- her abdomen has gotten huge, it's shiny and so swollen it looks painful. It almost looks clear, like a huge blob of gel with a dark color inside, I swear I can almost see through it.I've increased humidity, temp is fine, she recoils from light, she is moving around some, she doesn't really seem terribly lethargic, just not her active norm. I'm at a total loss. I can't imagine what is going on with her let alone figure out what I can do to help her. I found her looking at her old shell again today, but her ab is so big there is no way she can get into it and if she did, she'd be hard pressed to get back out again, for sure! If any of the others were having problems I'd think it's something in the tank, but they are all doing well. What to do and how long can she live shell-less? I keep wishing she'd just molt, but she is showing none of the typical pre-molt symptoms nor what is typical for her. I just want to fix her, but don't know how. It's SO frustrating and feeling defeated and helpless isn't fun. Blah...

Sounds very premolt and like she's building up the pressure as much she can. I imagine a shell is very uncomfortable for her just now. It sounds to me like you're doing all you can. She's going to have to handle the rest on her own. She's eating honey at least, and drinking. But yeah, it sounds pre-molt to me.

Thank you. I sure hope your right, KC. This would be a new one for me if it is. I wish I could take a pic to show you, but I'm afraid to disturb her. I peeked in on her a little while ago and she was backing her butt into a big turbo, one much to big and way to heavy for any hermie to carry on his back.

NewCrabber, sending you healthy hermie vibes.Maybe you want to put a few drops of salt water into the too big shells that she's backing into. Even if they're too large and heavy to move, the smooth shell and salt water might relieve some of the ache she's likely to be feeling in her swollen ab.Poor girl. Seems you're both doing all you can. Good luck to you and your crabby.

Thanks for all the well wishes, you're all so sweet and kind, but that's a big part of what makes LHC members special! CA - maybe my thinking is off on this, but I didn't want to put salt water in her shells because if it dried up, it would be gritty and abrasive. I'll go ahead and do it anyway though since she has moved and her butt is sandy anyway. (I usually put down damp paper towel over the substrate for streakers.)I just peeked in the tank and it looks like half the food is gone, I hope she ate it and didn't spill it. She also had half her butt in her old shell. She must not like what is available. I don't get that though, because they are all turbos like her old one. At least I think that's what the old one is, similar anyway. I'm gonna have to run around tomorrow and see if I can find one like it. I doubt it though and don't remember where I got it. You'd think around here I'd find plenty to pick from, not. Thanks again for the good vibes, she (we) can use 'em!

quote:I didn't want to put salt water in her shells because if it dried up, it would be gritty and abrasive. That's something I hadn't thought of. I was thinking of how good it is for wounds and healing.

I'm glad Chantilly is hanging in there. Never thought about putting the damp paper towel over the substrate; I'll have to file that away. I think it's encouraging she seems to still be interested in reshelling. I wonder if a large D-shaped shell would feel better to her now than a round opening? At least she would be covered. I wish I knew more about Indos and streaking in general to help you out more. Did you check the inside of her old shell for sharp edges? On an old post of Wendy's, she had a problem with one of her exotics streaking, and although it doesn't seem like the same symptoms that Chantilly's experiencing, Gertie had some good advice for her crab. Good luck with her! I'm also sending <<healthy hermie vibes>> to you.

CA - your absosultely right about the salt water and it's healing properties. Ordinarly I wouldn't think about not using salt water, but with her bottom looking so sensitive, I didn't want to do anything that might further irritate or potentially cause pain. Thanks, Nicole. Suprisingly, she is doing better than I thought she would at this point. I'm cautiously optomistic now since half the food is gone and I've seen her twice in the past two days showing interest in shells. I'm pretty sure there isn't anything in her shell, I will check it again more carefully though. Never thought of offering her a D shell, I don't think she'd be interested since she's only ever gone for turbos, but I definately will offer what I have. Ya never know!I don't know if I read that thread, but I'll do that too. Gertie always has something good to offer. Thanks!Edit: With a healthy hermie sand on their bottoms when changing shells or sand in the shell doesn't seem to bother them, but with a sick one, who knows what might bug or irritate them. So I like using damp paper towel, it works well. Not only to keep the sand off, but to keep them moist.

Update on Chantilly...It's been over a month since I started this thread and two weeks prior to that when she left her shell. Since my last post she has stayed in a shell. She has been staying under a half terra cotta flower pot and comes out only long enough to drink and eat honey. She's been eating it like it's going out of style and to the point I was concerned that that's all she was eating. She wasn't touching any other food I put in the ISO for her. One day about a week ago I replaced the other food and checking on her later that evening the entire bowl was empty (as was the honey dish, again). There was nothing in the sand, so she must have eaten it and though there wasn't a lot since it was in a small dish for only one hermie, it was a lot of food to eat in one day for anyone hermie! I was amazed. The past several days I noticed she was coming out less for water or honey so I've not even peeked in on her until today. She dug a trench against the glass under the pot. I carefully lifted it and for the split second I looked at her I could see the legs of her exo under her, but it looks like part of the exo is still attached. I covered her up immediately so I'm really not sure what I was looking at. I think her back looked like it had a film of goo covering her back, like she is right in the middle of molting. Wish I had waited another couple of days to check on her. Like I said, I wasn't in there more than a few seconds, but besides her BP and legs appearing to be beneath her with the carapace still partially attached, her new exo was not translucent at all. It was an odd color sort of like a muddled red with a little white mixed in, hard to describe. I sure hope none of that means she is having a hard time getting all of the exo off.