Shoot, collapsed a tunnel...how do you know when to dig?

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sun Oct 22, 2006 8:20 am

I was just changing the water and collapsed a tunnel...I don't know if one of the two crabs that are under are under that tunnel or not...do I put my finger in there to check and see? How do I know if I now need to dig the hermie out or leave it alone?
Ack...

ETA: I had my husband pick up the tank, and the hermie was indeed under the collapsed tunnel. So, I dug him out...he had not molted, so that was good...probably just destressing? I pulled him out and put him on top of the sand, now hopefully he will bury himself again.

Was this the right thing to do? I still have one under (possibly the author of the fishy type smell in the tank that I posted about below?) but I could not see him from underneath, and didn't feel him when I felt around after pulling out the other one...so hopefully he is okay.

Crystal

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sun Oct 22, 2006 9:31 am

Usually, I just let them be, unless I know that they are molting. If they are just destressing/having fun, then they'll still be able to come up.

However, I don't see anything wrong with it, since he wasn't molting. chances are he'll just hide, or dig back down

One thing though: If he was on the bottom of your tank, you may want to add some more substrate. Especially if you could hear him trying to dig through the glass.. JMO

ripshaw · Post by **ripshaw** » Sun Oct 22, 2006 11:14 am

if you collapse a tunnel on them they will fix it themselves, thats been my experience. but considering the circumstances i think you did the right thing, you dont want the little guy to suffocate. for the future though i would say if you know there is a crab molting in your tank dont mess with the water bowl. crabs LOVE molting under the water bowl and you are bound to disturb someone picking it up, not to mention molting crabs arent visiting the food and water bowls anyway. move the other crabs into a different tank to avoid cannibalization.