rough time with ruggies - surface molter

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue Aug 28, 2007 8:42 pm

Lime has not moved at all. Lemon still has not been seen at all. Everything still smells fine, so I'm trying not to worry too much. It is good to know that they can be MIA for months. Thanks everyone for your responses and your support!

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue Aug 28, 2007 10:01 pm

This sounds too familiar. Most of my Ruggies were painted shells, and you have to figure they had that extra stresser of being forced from their shells and into (probably unhealthy) painted shells. I also wonder if they sit longer in the stores because when they're tucked into their shells without a "pretty" purple pincher showing, people just think they're not as cute and don't buy them.

Anyway, of my eight rugs, six have molted with me and three died during or immediately after. Two of them went down to molt basically the day I brought them home.

My Rug who hung out by the heater almost constantly after I brought her home finally went to molt and molted successfully and is active now, though she still likes spending some time each day by the heater...

One of my Rugs faked me out by swapping shells before molting. His painted shell didn't move for two days and I thought he'd died, but it turned out the shell was empty and Nibbles was down for a molt in new shell! He molted just fine and now is one of my more active rugs...

Chippety went down to molt, came up, seemed fine, ate, drank, dug down a little... and didn't move again. That one was really painful since I thought she was fine...

On the other hand, Ghost was my little painted shell rug who went under the day I brought her home, molted successfully, and is a happy camper today.

If your substrate is deep enough, you have a salt water dish, and your temp/rh is good then you're probably doing all you can for your babies. Sadly, they don't always come to us in the best condition

. I wish your little rugs all the best!

bksbuddha · Post by **bksbuddha** » Tue Aug 28, 2007 10:02 pm

How long has it been since Lime last moved? Lemon being under doesn't concern me as much as Lime still being in the same spot, not really under. But again it would depend on how long he's been in that particular spot.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue Aug 28, 2007 10:16 pm

bksbuddha - thanks for your helpful posts, much appreciated.

Lime has not moved at all for just over two weeks. He barely moved at all for the few weeks before he settled into his current spot, which is about two inches from his old spot against the heater. He is mostly covered, just the tip of his shell is showing. But... no moving at all....

bksbuddha · Post by **bksbuddha** » Tue Aug 28, 2007 10:32 pm

[smilie=hug.gif] You're very welcome, anytime! I know how anxious I get & if there's no one who gets it or can even try to help me. If he were mine, I'd give him one more week to move & then curiousity would get the best of me.

I would have to look to see if he's even in the shell or alive. Some will probably argue w/me on this, but it's what I would do. It's totally up to you.

Please do keep us posted on how the little guy is.

I for one really hate not knowing how it all turned out. Especially when it's a happy ending. [smilie=cloud9.gif] I'm a real sucker for a happy ending...Hope & pray that yours is!

Btw, I even waited for ya to post so that I could find out the answers before getting ready to go to bed. Didn't want to leave ya hanging! Yeah, I'm weird! [smilie=crazy.gif]

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Aug 29, 2007 9:28 am

Thank heaven for crabby people like you bksbuddha!

I was much relieved to get up this morning and find that Lime had moved. He is above the sand and on the other side of his gladware ISO. There are tracks nearby, he may have even come out of the ISO for a drink and then went back in. I'm not sure but I am feeling much better about it. I'm going to try to give him some more time but it won't be long (maybe tonight) before I just have to pick him up and see how he is.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Aug 29, 2007 7:27 pm

Well I am so sad and sorry to say that there is no happy ending here. I picked Lime up and discovered he had died. I don't think he had molted at all. He may have been dead for quite some time. There was not much dead fish smell at all, his shell was packed with sand. I'm guessing his shell had been moved by another crab, maybe trying to get my attention about it. He never was attacked or disturbed, and probably died of PPS. At the time I felt like I was making good decisions about caring for him, but now I'm not so sure. Is there something I should have done differently?

Thanks again everyone for your support during this challenging time.

bksbuddha · Post by **bksbuddha** » Thu Sep 06, 2007 6:20 pm

[smilie=comfort.gif] I'm truly sorry that Lime is gone. My heart is breaking for you. You didn't do anything wrong...it was more than likely PPS. He'd been lethargic for a while.

Please, don't blame yourself. Anytime I see a shell just below the surface for too long that hasn't moved I get panicky. I've lost my share of babies to PPS, bad molts, attacks...you really can't blame yourself. When I got Blackberry & Violet, he stayed above ground & Violet pretty much immediately disappeared. I'd see her through a window every couple of days & then I couldn't find her. Didn't really worry about it. Then I could see her shell sitting just under the sand behind the driftwood. No smell, so I figured she was fine. I let a couple of weeks go by before curiousity got the best of me...

I found she was dead, out of her shell, in the sand. See, you're definately not alone here. We've all had it happen to us. Doesn't mean that we're bad mommies...

just that we can't control everything. Please don't blame yourself. If it'll make ya feel a bit better, ya could fill out the help template & we could go over your conditions.

Sorry if ya did already...I checked to see if I had any e-mails, saw yours, & clicked on it right away.

Didn't even look at any before this one. I feel so bad that it's not a happy ending!

[smilie=hug.gif]

I'm so very sorry that I didn't reply sooner, but

I COULDN'T GET IN HERE! I feel so awful that I couldn't send this until now. I couldn't get on here for a week & then Tues. [smilie=crybaby.gif] my baby broke her arm so I haven't even tried in the 2 days due to being at the hospital & exhaustion.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Thu Sep 06, 2007 7:01 pm

I'm so sorry about Lime. The Rugs are so sweet and they also seem particularly fragile for some reason, though I tend to see more of them in painted shells (added stress) and many with pale coloring -- which may make them less attractive to buyers, leaving them sitting in pet store conditions longer. They're such sweeties, I'm so sorry for your loss

.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Thu Sep 06, 2007 10:27 pm

Thanks for the consolation guys. I'm pretty confident about my tank conditions, I've learned a lot from everyone at HCA, and my other crabs are all thriving. I really have just had a rough time with my ruggies. All from poor pet store conditions, all in painted shells. I still had to buy them though as they have been the only ruggies I've ever seen. I'm fairly tempted to just go digging for Lemon. I'm about due for a deep clean anyway....

bksbuddha - I'm so sorry to hear about your baby's broken arm! That is so terrible! I hope that she heals quickly. Best of luck to both of you during this tough time!

bksbuddha · Post by **bksbuddha** » Thu Sep 06, 2007 11:16 pm

Just be ready to ISO if needs be. And please let us know what you find. I do hope & pray that it's a happy one this time.

[smilie=hug.gif] Thanks for the nice thoughts! Yeah, there are before & after pics w/the whole story in Chit Chat...along w/a bit of humor at the end. She looks so pitiful still. They have her on Codiene...glad she's not allergic, I am.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sat Sep 08, 2007 3:46 pm

How did Lime do after all? your situation sounds alot like mine with Herbie...I am just curious if this is normal for crabs? [smilie=pull_hair.gif]

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sat Sep 08, 2007 3:57 pm

oop sorry i just read more of your post< I am sorry Lime did not make it. [smilie=sad.gif]

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Thu Sep 20, 2007 1:27 pm

I did the deep clean. I found Lemon dead, as I had expected. She hadn't lived more than a day or two after I got her. That means only 1 of the 4 ruggies in painted shells that I got made it. I'll have to keep my eye out for more ruggies though; Blueberry is going to need some species buddies. Hopefully I will have better luck next time.

The good news is that my big tat is in excellent condition and so are all of its six inhabitants. All of them have successfully molted with me and are active and happy.