I have a naked crab that dropped two legs

[KathyK]

Hello, I am new to this forum and have cared for Pumpkin and Jack my two PPs for 11 years now. They are both about 16 years old. Both are experienced molters. I found that pumpkin had buried himself to molt, so i did what i always do and put him under the soda bottle to protect him. He came up from molting about three weeks later naked and missing one leg. He dropped his large claw that same day. He has been naked for a week now and I have read a lot of info to find out what to do.Since I only have two crabs, i decided to leave him in his environment and move Jack. I have misted him daily and bathed him a few times. i otherwise keep his tank dark and quiet. I cleaned every shell I own and offered it to him in the tank, but he has not picked one. He tried twice, that I saw, but came back out of both shells. I am at a loss as of what to do. I have heard everything from trying to coax him into a shell to leaving him undisturbed.Please give me some advice. Could he be unable to move in a shell because of his injury and mobility issue. He moves around the tank a bit. Should i try to feed him and what?To answer some of the questions:Jack and Pumpkin are in a 10 gallon tank with an Aquarium lid that can be opened gradually to allow for optimum humidity. Temperature is at no less than 75 and the humidity at 80%. I have a digital meter that is mounted about half way up the tank wall. Their substrate is a mixture of coconut fiber and sand that is moist, never wet.They have fresh water and salt water that is made with crab salt and purified water. They are fed a diet of Hermit Crab Variety Bites, and fresh fruits on occasion. We handle the crabs on occasion, but do not bathe them unless medically necessary.

[jgfceit]

Hello, I'm sorry to hear about your crab. I've heard about coaxing them into a plastic cup with sand and their old shell, and then covering it with a dark cloth. However, I've never tried this before. I'm also at a loss as to why he is not taking a shell. Is his old one still buried?

[KathyK]

I have actually managed to coax him into his old shell. It was the first time i could have a really close look at him without him acting all crazy. I cleaned him and his old shell in warm water and he went in it. He is in it right now, so hopefully he will stay in. I set him in his food dish to see if he would eat.He only has one leg on his right side and it seems oddly bent. I'm not sure what went wrong. I wonder if Jack got to him during his molt before could protect him?I wonder if he can survive like this?

[KathyK]

I had another success today, I set him in his food dish and gave him his regular food and drizzled some honey on it.He is pigging out. He won't be the same ever again and it will be a while before he looks halfway normal, but I am more positive that he may make it. Any Special care instructions are greatly appreciated. Like should i change his dishes to make access more easy? When is it safe to put Jack back in?

[jgfceit]

Congrats!

[jenok]

I wouldn't change the dishes unless its having trouble with them. Organic peanut butter and honey would be some really good things to give. It will take some time, but usually a crab will go back down and molt if something happened or went wrong and it will try to rejuvenate itself and grow back its legs.

[KathyK]

Pumpkin is now a special needs crab. He has very limited mobility due to his injury. I move him into his food dish and the wafer every day and he eats and drinks. How often does he need the salt water? He always used it himself so I'm not sure how often I should move him into it? Also, I'm not sure he can dig himself in to molt. Would he molt at the surface? If so, what should I cover him with. How soon could he molt again? Thanks for your help.

[Crabber85]

@KathyK, hermitcrabs who are the victim of an attack will usually present with a missing leg tip or leg section never an entire leg.With an entire leg missing that means the crab has dropped the leg due to stress as this is a natural stress response called autonomy.Autonomy is a response to predators where the crab automatically drops a leg and the leg still moves to due to nerve activity which is supposed to distract the predator long enough for the crab to scurry away to safety.The problem here is that in captivity a hermitcrab treats tress as a predator which causes the automatic response of autonomy to kick in and since stress is a mental rather than physical presence the crab can't shut down the response and continues to drop limbs until it has dropped all of its legs and pinchers and since the act of dropping limbs uses up the crabs energy and physical resources which often times ends up with the crab dieing before it has a chance to regenerate the lost limbs.What we need to do is limit, diminish the stress levels on the crab by offering a dimly lit enclosure, stable temp and humidity and lots of TLC.Raw or organic honey, organic peanut butter and baby foods will go a long way in helping this crab in recovering.Your hermitcrab needs to have constant access to the salt water so you should be giving it access at least twice a day right now.Ideally the crab should start to build up its energy reserve in seven to ten days if your providing organic honey, mushed bananas and organic peanut butter on a rotating basis.Hope this helps.