Artemis, Day 14 carrying eggs

[PinchersAndShells]

Always exciting to see another one of these threads!!! I'm rooting for you!!!

[GotButterflies]

Very cool!! Have you been able to get some input from Renroc? Hope you are getting some sleep!! I'm rooting for you and the babies!!!

[mlakers]

Day Six is over. Whew. Exhaustion is setting in, but all the babies are good. Virtually no losses today, although I am prepared for them any day now as I know it hits everyone at some point along the way.

Here's a video I took right before putting them to bed: https://youtu.be/9XTNY3bu2GQ

I figured out late last night that I haven't been seeing any brine shrimp because they haven't been hatching! They are a year old and I didn't store the vial in the freezer. Doh! They've been eating the eggs, but unhatched eggs have limited nutrition and can clog the digestive tract, so I was at the pet store this morning when the doors opened, then rushed home to do a feeding and water change, then hosted my writing group for a luncheon and meeting, then did more water changes, mixed more saltwater, changed out my main crab tank waters, made dinner for us, then did major water changes and finally put the zoea to bed at about 8pm.

My new strategy seems to be working pretty well. I clean their jars really well at 7pm then let them "sleep" all night until 7am and give them sinking shrimp pellets ground up fine. They appear to eat those overnight because without the light the zoea sink to the bottom where the food is.

Then in the morning I load them up with floating food: Chlorella, spirulina, brine shrimp eggs, and today frozen brine shrimp. It really makes a mess in the jars, but no worse than plenty of turbid, cloudy ocean water I've been in while diving, so I'm trying not to worry about the appearance if the ammonia levels are fine, which they have been. Basically I do partial water changes during the day as I think they are warranted then the evening water change is really drastic, often 100%, but the zoea are really tolerant of the drastic changes, so I'm just following their lead.

Anyway, a lot of what I'm trying is based on what I know about the ocean, how nutrients travel through the water column in day and night cycles, and so far so good. I've taken so much comfort and knowledge from the threads in here--they've been incredibly valuable--but it is also important for me to use what I know to bring the knowledge base even further along. In 1998 I co-founded a marine ecology study abroad program in the Caribbean (Dominica) and in the early 90s I lived and worked at a marine ecology school in the Turks and Caicos Islands which had tons of hermit crabs and I observed them very closely on a day-to-day basis in their natural habitat, in addition to diving regularly in Caribbean waters and studying ocean ecosystems.

So, all that to say, if it seems I am going a little rogue in terms of my methods, it's only because I have a base of relevant knowledge that I think can bring another layer of experience and help advance this process for the good of hermit crabs all over the world.

[mlakers]

Oh! And I've also been thinking about how to make this a process that anyone can do. I think that whatever process anyone who tries this chooses to use, it should be agreeable with their temperament in order to help ensure a maximum rate of success.

For example, I'm not a strict measurer, not the "pristine lab" type of scientist at all. Nothing wrong with going the lab route, mind you--I admire people who work that way--especially if that is how you are naturally inclined.

But I'm more of a naturalist. An amateur field scientist and a generalist. Someone who studies the logic of systems and the methods of nature and tries to mimic that for the critters in my care. (I also cook without measuring, write novels without an outline, and see where the clay takes me when I'm throwing pottery...much to the horror of my analytical physicist sister!) Basically I feel my way forward much of the time.

It seems that we've had lots of wonderful lab-type success with strict guidelines to follow and very stable, specific conditions, population numbers, etc. But ideally, we'll get success that also includes a more intuitive element, and then combining different aspects of the two approaches can help get us to a "blueprint" that can work for anyone.

[PinchersAndShells]

Interesting! I like that you're using the opportunity to help the community as a whole, as well as to break the mold and try out new methods of bringing them to land.

[mlakers]

Thank you, PinchersAndShells! It's only good if it yields good results, but I'm hopeful!

[GotButterflies]

It appears to me like it's working so far!!! I love it!! Keep on doing what you are doing!! It's working

[mlakers]

Morning, Day Seven.

As soon as I turned on the lights and loaded them up with messy food, they absolutely started to shed. So this is stage four. And this is (I believe) the stage when their shell legs (the little tiny curled legs that hold them in their shells) develop at the end of their tails. They are having a lot more trouble getting the exoskeleton off this time, because of it. Nothing that's harming them, but they are having to wriggle and contort their bodies a lot more. No more just swimming out of it. And so years of molting struggle begins. Sorry little babies. It's a tough world out there.

By the way, this seems to be happening super fast to me, and other successful threads have counseled that it's not good for them to rush through the stages too quickly, but I'm just trying to supply the conditions they would find in the Caribbean in the summer in terms of water temps and nutrient levels and then let the crabs decide. Time will tell if it's the right approach or not. But for the record, I ain't rushing nobody. :headshake:

[Kermie16]

Woweeee!!! So fantastic mlakers!!! I literally just read through this whole thread ^_^ Wishing you tons of luck! Sounds like they are all doing well so far! Please keep posting updates and thanks so much for sharing!!


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[mlakers]

Whew!! Keeping the water clean on a molt day is like trying to shovel your driveway in a blizzard. As soon as you get all the way to the end, you turn around and it's time to start all over.

[mlakers]

Thank you, Kermie16! It's their one-week birthday.

[briannashermitcrabs]

This is so cool!!! Good luck tiny babies!

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[mlakers]

Day Eight.

All is still good. I'm continuing the pattern of loading them up with food first thing in the morning after turning on the lights, letting it get plenty murky during the day, but sending them to bed squeaky clean after a 100% water change. I try to be done with everything by 7pm, but it's usually closer to 8 by the time I get done with everything. Those 100% water changes are super labor intensive. There are so many moving parts, any one of which if it got overlooked could be catastrophic. I can literally feel myself getting overtired and losing focus. I have to will myself to pay attention to the details and not forget to use Prime before adding the salt, make sure the saltwater is the right temperature, squirt the siphoned up babies back into the correct jar, keep track of which jars have gotten which food, etc. It's a real lesson in maintaining methodical focus: do this step, and then this step, and then this one...

I am still only seeing negligible losses--the occasional opaque, aimlessly floating carcass. Hundreds are still alive in each of the five jars. I'm sure the population crash is coming, I just haven't seen it yet. And if they do start to eat one another, it will be okay because there are so many to start with. Who knows, a sibling-snack may be the perfect nutritional load to get the most number of fit individuals to the next level.

I have fresh brine shrimp eggs arriving today (thank you, Amazon Prime) and I'm starting to think I may need a bigger pool in the transition tank. I designed it thinking I would only get a handful of megalopa. And of course, that may still be the case, but if not I want to be prepared. It would be a nightmare scenario to have put in all this time and effort, end up with a great success rate at the larval stage, and then have to let a good number of megalopa die because I didn't have enough tiny shells or didn't have a big enough saltwater pool in the transition tank.

[Giner13]

Wowee!!! You're doing such a great job!! I would have been on major over load by now lol hang in there


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[mlakers]

Thank you, Giner! I'm a super attentive caregiver...forrrr about a week. Then some switch flips and I get itchy and cranky and distracted and go a little bonkers if I don't get out and see the world. I have no idea how full-time caregivers do it. They get massive props from me. I remember when my kids got chicken pox in succession for a total of four weeks of isolation, unhappy kids and cabin fever. I nearly lost it.

This experience feels a lot like having a short term newborn. Are they eating? Are they pooping? What do they need? What do they want? And of course the baby (babies) can't tell you what it (they) needs. It's a lot of semi-helpless guesswork.

Oh, and we have plans to go out to dinner tonight with friends, and all I can think of is when to feed the zoea and how I can ever leave them alone for four (whole) hours.