Nervous about newly molted ruggie

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Fri May 12, 2006 9:19 pm

Our ruggie Bibble just popped back up tonight. He is very freshly molted and in a new shell. He kind of looks shiny (tried to get a pic- no luck). Gunner (our tank terrorizing straw) has been picking at Bibble's OLD shell, digging in it, etc. I checked to confirm that none of my other guys had switched into the old shell, it's empty. Is this behavior normal? I don't want Gunner to decide to pick on Bibble. Thus far I haven't seen any aggression from Gunner towards anybody, but I'm a bit worried regardless. What should I do?

EE Substrate 4-5" deep & small second level moss pit
78 degrees, 80% humidity
salt & dechlor waters
all fresh food including honey, cuttlebone, brine shrimp, fruit, veggies, & meats- also include lilacs and dandilions
30gal long glass tank- uth & moonglo light

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sat May 13, 2006 10:42 am

Maybe he smells that there was a molting crab in there. I wouldn't worry too much unless he does become aggressive. Hard to know what the crabs smell that we don't!!

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sat May 13, 2006 5:44 pm

Did you try giving them a bath together so they all smell the same? It doesn't hurt to play it safe if you're worried about him being picked on.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon May 15, 2006 2:18 am

Bathing freshly molted crabs = Bad idea.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon May 15, 2006 11:59 am

I thought it was a good idea to bathe the crabs after molting...(hardened)..please explain why it is bad..

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon May 15, 2006 1:12 pm

I've always bathed my crabs after they had harded too

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon May 15, 2006 3:32 pm

I sat them all in their salt water dish- shallow end so they wouldn't be submerged if they didn't want to be. They all walked back out fairly quickly. It did seem to work though. Gunner isn't messing around with Bibble's old shell any more. They all got very active after their mini bath- eating, playing, and trashing the tank. Thanks for the advise everyone.