Hermit Crab alive, but hangs out of shell

Angel_crab · Post by **Angel_crab** » Fri Feb 02, 2018 4:31 am

Hi everyone. A couple of weeks ago I posted about Peanut, who lost 2 of her limbs due to a bad molt. After a couple of days after she came up from her molt, her health started to improve, and she has been able to get around, eat and drink with ease for the past couple of weeks. However, today when I held her (only for a couple of minutes so that I didn't stress her out) to make sure that her other legs were doing ok and also for a general health check, she came almost completely out of her shell and just flopped herself on my hand. It gave me a shock as I thought the she had passed away. I checked that she was still alive and she started to retract back into her shell again after about 5 minutes. I placed her back in her isolation tank and she stayed almost halfway out of her shell for about an hour before moving to a different part of the tank. I have provided her with crushed up popcorn, shrimp and walnuts to make it easier for her to eat as she is missing one of her claws, but she hasn't touched the food since I put it in there about 5-6 days ago (food has been changed and replaced in between that time). What's concerning me is that she is always hanging out of her shell. Is this normal behaviour for a hermit crab? If it isn't, is there something that I can do to help her? Thanks, and sorry for the long post

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

PinchersAndShells · Post by **PinchersAndShells** » Fri Feb 02, 2018 11:06 am

Hi! My crabs hang out of their shells all the time. They appear to do this when they are cleaning themselves, readjusting their shells, or when I move them out of my way while cleaning they hang out of their shell and attempt to make me let go - typically through pinching.

Did you say that she is coming out of her shell in a limp manner? If so - that may indicate something else.

Angel_crab · Post by **Angel_crab** » Fri Feb 02, 2018 4:55 pm

PinchersAndShells wrote:Hi! My crabs hang out of their shells all the time. They appear to do this when they are cleaning themselves, readjusting their shells, or when I move them out of my way while cleaning they hang out of their shell and attempt to make me let go - typically through pinching.
Did you say that she is coming out of her shell in a limp manner? If so - that may indicate something else.

Hi! Thanks for your response

Yes she does come out of her shell in a limp manner, as over the past 2 days she has become very lethargic and has barely enough energy to carry her shell. Something else that I have noticed, is that as of yesterday she can no longer retract all the way back in her shell, like she used to do whenever she saw a shadow or wanted to hide. When I found her in the tank this morning, all her legs seemed to be twisted together, and her eyes were out of the shell - lifeless. I moved one of her legs to see if she was alright, the one of her antennas started moving slightly. I am very concerned about her, and am not sure what to do, or what this all could mean?

YouTube · Post by **GotButterflies** » Sat Feb 03, 2018 2:07 pm

I would provide her with raw honey, calcium and protein. Then give her a bottle cap of dechlorinated freshwater and dechlorinated marine saltwater. Try not to handle her. She needs time to destress. Keep heat and humidity at 80. Humidity can go higher. Leave her alone.

Hope for the best! She just needs to rest and molt!

Angel_crab · Post by **Angel_crab** » Sat Feb 03, 2018 4:35 pm

GotButterflies wrote:I would provide her with raw honey, calcium and protein. Then give her a bottle cap of dechlorinated freshwater and dechlorinated marine saltwater. Try not to handle her. She needs time to destress. Keep heat and humidity at 80. Humidity can go higher. Leave her alone. Hope for the best! She just needs to rest and molt!

Thank you! I will try all of the things that you have mentioned and hopefully she will be on the road to recovery. Last night I found her in the tank on her back, naked, so I carefully tried to uncurl her abdomen and place her into her shell. It didn’t seem to be working, so I placed her in a small cardboard box with 5 shells and luckily within about 3 minutes she chose a new shell. After that, I placed her back in her isolation tank, and she just started flopping out of her shell again. Could she possibly be sick? Or is this normal behaviour?

LadyJinglyJones · Post by **LadyJinglyJones** » Sun Feb 04, 2018 11:26 am

It isn't normal behavior, rather the signs of illness or excessive weakness. She may still pull through. I'd keep her ISO dark. But do keep an eye on her because she's not staying in shell. Like GB suggested, provide easy eats near by, and make FW & MSW available. There's not much else you can do besides waiting.

Fingers crossed for her.

Angel_crab · Post by **Angel_crab** » Sun Feb 04, 2018 3:03 pm

LadyJinglyJones wrote:It isn't normal behavior, rather the signs of illness or excessive weakness. She may still pull through. I'd keep her ISO dark. But do keep an eye on her because she's not staying in shell. Like GB suggested, provide easy eats near by, and make FW & MSW available. There's not much else you can do besides waiting.

Fingers crossed for her.

Ok thank you for all your help

the current update at the moment is that she refuses to go into a shell, so now she's naked enjoying digging in the moss pit of her isolation tank. I'll keep my fingers crossed and give an update on how she's going later this week

LadyJinglyJones · Post by **LadyJinglyJones** » Mon Feb 05, 2018 12:34 am

She does need to be reshelled if she's naked - crabs dehydrate extremely quickly if not in a shell. If you can't at all get her to stay in a shell try placing her in a dish with a thin layer of dechlorinated fresh water. But unfortunately without a shell the crab will die.

Angel_crab · Post by **Angel_crab** » Mon Feb 05, 2018 2:28 am

LadyJinglyJones wrote:She does need to be reshelled if she's naked - crabs dehydrate extremely quickly if not in a shell. If you can't at all get her to stay in a shell try placing her in a dish with a thin layer of dechlorinated fresh water. But unfortunately without a shell the crab will die.

I tried again to see if she would pick a shell early this morning, and it was a success! I placed the shell into her moss pit, and came back a couple of minutes later to see that she was back in her original shell again - yay! I've just been monitoring her to make sure that she is ok, provided a bottle cap of fresh dechlorinated water, and a salt water dish, and plenty of food. I guess there isn't much more I can do now, fingers crossed that she recovers and gets better soon

LadyJinglyJones · Post by **LadyJinglyJones** » Mon Feb 05, 2018 2:47 am

Yay!

I've got my fingers crossed too!

Angel_crab · Post by **Angel_crab** » Mon Feb 05, 2018 2:57 pm

LadyJinglyJones wrote:Yay!

I've got my fingers crossed too!

Thank you! :crabbigsmile:

Post by **curlysister** » Mon Feb 05, 2018 11:18 pm

How big is the iso tank? In my understanding, she doesn't need much space at all. Smaller space means she won't try to expend energy she doesn't have by moving around.

Angel_crab · Post by **Angel_crab** » Mon Feb 05, 2018 11:59 pm

curlysister wrote:How big is the iso tank? In my understanding, she doesn't need much space at all. Smaller space means she won't try to expend energy she doesn't have by moving around.

I have her in a small container that is in the isolation tank, which is filled with moss and has a bottlecap of fresh and salt water and some food. I put moss in the small container instead of sand because she regularly comes out of her shell when I'm not around to coax her back into her shell again. The moss helps to keep her abdomen moist.

friesb4uxbabe · Post by **friesb4uxbabe** » Thu Feb 08, 2018 7:48 pm

Angel_crab wrote:Hi everyone. A couple of weeks ago I posted about Peanut, who lost 2 of her limbs due to a bad molt. After a couple of days after she came up from her molt, her health started to improve, and she has been able to get around, eat and drink with ease for the past couple of weeks. However, today when I held her (only for a couple of minutes so that I didn't stress her out) to make sure that her other legs were doing ok and also for a general health check, she came almost completely out of her shell and just flopped herself on my hand. It gave me a shock as I thought the she had passed away. I checked that she was still alive and she started to retract back into her shell again after about 5 minutes. I placed her back in her isolation tank and she stayed almost halfway out of her shell for about an hour before moving to a different part of the tank. I have provided her with crushed up popcorn, shrimp and walnuts to make it easier for her to eat as she is missing one of her claws, but she hasn't touched the food since I put it in there about 5-6 days ago (food has been changed and replaced in between that time). What's concerning me is that she is always hanging out of her shell. Is this normal behaviour for a hermit crab? If it isn't, is there something that I can do to help her? Thanks, and sorry for the long post

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Mine is doing the same ATM, kinda worried but I'm trying to follow some of the advice you were given. Good luck to your crabby!! I hope they pull through

Sent from my Z981 using Tapatalk

Angel_crab · Post by **Angel_crab** » Thu Feb 08, 2018 10:57 pm

friesb4uxbabe wrote:
Angel_crab wrote:Hi everyone. A couple of weeks ago I posted about Peanut, who lost 2 of her limbs due to a bad molt. After a couple of days after she came up from her molt, her health started to improve, and she has been able to get around, eat and drink with ease for the past couple of weeks. However, today when I held her (only for a couple of minutes so that I didn't stress her out) to make sure that her other legs were doing ok and also for a general health check, she came almost completely out of her shell and just flopped herself on my hand. It gave me a shock as I thought the she had passed away. I checked that she was still alive and she started to retract back into her shell again after about 5 minutes. I placed her back in her isolation tank and she stayed almost halfway out of her shell for about an hour before moving to a different part of the tank. I have provided her with crushed up popcorn, shrimp and walnuts to make it easier for her to eat as she is missing one of her claws, but she hasn't touched the food since I put it in there about 5-6 days ago (food has been changed and replaced in between that time). What's concerning me is that she is always hanging out of her shell. Is this normal behaviour for a hermit crab? If it isn't, is there something that I can do to help her? Thanks, and sorry for the long post

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Mine is doing the same ATM, kinda worried but I'm trying to follow some of the advice you were given. Good luck to your crabby!! I hope they pull through

Sent from my Z981 using Tapatalk

Thank you

I hope your crab is doing ok too, and that he/she gets better soon. Good luck!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Hermit Crab alive, but hangs out of shell

Hermit Crab alive, but hangs out of shell

Re: Hermit Crab alive, but hangs out of shell

Re: Hermit Crab alive, but hangs out of shell

Re: Hermit Crab alive, but hangs out of shell

Re: Hermit Crab alive, but hangs out of shell

Re: Hermit Crab alive, but hangs out of shell

Re: Hermit Crab alive, but hangs out of shell

Re: Hermit Crab alive, but hangs out of shell

Re: Hermit Crab alive, but hangs out of shell

Re: Hermit Crab alive, but hangs out of shell

Re: Hermit Crab alive, but hangs out of shell

Re: Hermit Crab alive, but hangs out of shell

Re: Hermit Crab alive, but hangs out of shell

Re: Hermit Crab alive, but hangs out of shell

Re: Hermit Crab alive, but hangs out of shell