cold crabs

[lula67]

some time through the night my tank cords to my heaters came unpluged, this morning i found hercules my big boy in the salt water dish, he was freezing cold, so cold his shell was like a ice cube, i got him out as fast as i could, he didnt go back in his shell for awile, i got my tank warming up now and i put him in one of the warmest huts in there tank. im worried this might just kill him, anyone have any ideas on what to do, and is this going to hurt him, or kill him..

[CallaLily]

How low did the temperature get and for how long?

[lula67]

im not sure how long the heat was off, i know it was due to my cat getting back behind my couch and some how unplugging my cord, my crab was freezing, he was like a statue when i picked him up and started to warm him as fast as i could, it dropped down to 68 degrees in my tank. all my other crabs were in a rock house where the heat was, the rock retains heat. my tank is now back to normal temp, he is in the warm rock tucked away in his shell..

[DragonsFly]

68 degrees F, if not for too long, might not be fatal. He was in the water because water resists changing temperature more than air does, so the water was likely still warmer than the air in the tank. All you can do is slowly warm them back up (allow them to warm up naturally in the restored-to-warmth tank) and hope that it wasn't too cold for them for too long.

I can't help wondering why they didn't dig, though, since your substrate (if deep enough and warm enough) should have retained plenty of warmth for a few hours. Digging should have been their natural response to inclement "weather." What kind of substrate do you have, how deep is it, and has it been in the tank long enough to be at tank temperature?

[Candie]

Once the power went out at 8 pm in a winter storm, the tank temp dropped to 60 I'm not even kidding, it didn't stay that way long because we had a fire going in the living room and I would heat a blanket and put it on the tank and pile other blankets on it, it raised to 70, which is still low but not freezing, since it was not long term, like maybe 3 hours they were fine but really cold and inactive, it didn't kill them but I felt really bad, hopefully your little guy will make it

[DragonsFly]

Oh, and see what you can do about cat-proofing the cords. A partially-unplugged cord, leaving the metal prongs partly exposed from the outlet, or chewing on or playing with (clawing) a cord and exposing the wires within it, could injure or kill your cat!

[lula67]

the hermit i found in there water dish is the only one who didnt bury his self, all my others did. i have the coconut dirt, its about 5 inches deep, in a forty gallon tank. thanks for the replys, these guys mean a lot to me, i can only hope he survives this, and ive already cat proofed everything, when i looked in on my cold crab he has buried his self in the rock house, it does retain some heat.

[DragonsFly]

You called this one a "big boy," and of course "big" is relative, but if he really is a large crab, then 5 inches of substrate is probably not enough. They really need deep substrate (at least three times the depth of your largest crab is a good rule of thumb) to be able to molt safely; and more substrate (once it is warm) helps to retain warmth in the tank, too.

[wodesorel]

How warm is the tank normally? If over 85 or so on a regular basis he should be fine, my tank drops about that low during summer nights and so long as they warm back up the next day they do well. It's similar to what they have in the wild in the Northern parts of their range.

[lula67]

i will most definitely add more dirt to the tank, i want to have everything right, ive herd these crab called the throw a way pet, this just made me sick, these little guys are priceless, and just like us they have there own personality..i want to be a good crab owner...

[DragonsFly]

There is a really steep learning curve at first (and it doesn't help that there is a lot of incorrect care information given out about them), but you've come to the right place to learn about how to give these animals the best captive lives they can have. Keep reading around on the forums, and study the care sheets. Best wishes!

[theornerycheese]

65 is fine if it's not a regular occurrence. They won't magically drop dead if the temperature drops below 75 as they face all kinds of natural weather fluctuations in the wild and never have that constant 80-82 heat and 85% humidity.

[DragonsFly]

65 is fine if it's not a regular occurrence. They won't magically drop dead if the temperature drops below 75 as they face all kinds of natural weather fluctuations in the wild and never have that constant 80-82 heat and 85% humidity.

I expect 65 for a brief period of time is not fatal, and I agree that some fluctuations are likely actually better for them than constant heat and humidity--I definitely recommend having day lights that bring your temp up toward the top of the comfort range, and then letting that temp drop a bit during the night, as it naturally would--but fluctuating between 75 and 85 on both of these factors is a healthy range. They won't "magically drop dead" below 75, but they may not be able to recover from temps lower than 70 for extended periods. Tropical islands have fluctuations in humidity (from somewhere around 75%, which is where salt water--which surrounds the islands--wants to keep it, up to 100% when it's pouring rain), but the temperatures only fluctuate from day to night, and it never actually gets cold.