Crabbie Update

Kirrie · Post by **Kirrie** » Tue Feb 11, 2014 7:58 am

I've picked the little guy up before, but he hides in his shell as soon as he sees me, so I can't really see anything. I actually don't even know if he's a he. Right now his front legs all seem to be a light orange color, but his last pair of legs in the back are a darker orange, and his big pincher is purple, but not too bright. I did see some hairs on the one leg I could see when I picked him up though. Does that mean he molted? I don't recall noticing the hairs on any of my crabs before they molted, so do they just naturally fall off soon after molting?

jenok · Post by **jenok** » Tue Feb 11, 2014 8:10 am

The hair and the black tips are worn off. So they will remain until the crabs wear them down. Mine when I first got them didn't have any at all and you could tell it had been a long time since they molted, after their first molt they came up hairy and with pointed black tips and didn't completely wear them off before molting again.

Kirrie · Post by **Kirrie** » Tue Feb 11, 2014 8:21 am

That makes sense. I think the little guy/girl has decided to stay up now, so I'm just waiting for my 2nd largest female to stay up. The two girls actually woke me up last night because they were climbing around and I could hear their shells hitting the side of the tank. She was out all night, but of course gone again this morning.Once she comes up, I am going to have to start looking for the other little one. Any suggestions on how to do that? Do you usually take your hermit crabs and all of the dishes out, or just move them as you go? I don't really have another tank set up to keep the crabs in, but if they can be out for a while, it shouldn't take me long to find the other one since it's only a 20 gallon tank. It's been over a month now, and he/she was pretty tiny, so I'm thinking he/she didn't make it. This was one of the ones I bought just a month or so ago so he may not have been in the best shape.

jenok · Post by **jenok** » Tue Feb 11, 2014 8:52 am

Basically just remove all the big stuff and if need be your crabs can be taken out for a little while (15 min) with no harm done. Take small little scoops at a time and I find it easier to start at one end then go to the other end being very careful. Its still quite possible your crab is alive and molting so be prepared to make arrangements if its not done yet. I would wait another few weeks personally. It could do more damage than good if your crab is still alive. However if its dead it's not hurting anything it will just decompose.

Kirrie · Post by **Kirrie** » Tue Feb 11, 2014 10:56 am

Oh, I do plan to wait a while still. Aphrodite is still playing peek a boo I'm not going to look at least until the end of the month or the beginning of March. I keep checking under the water dishes because I'm afraid he could have gotten stuck under them, but so far no luck. I do keep finding shells partially buried under there though. I think Hera is randomly burying shells she doesn't want I guess.