Exposed Gills

[wodesorel]

I have several PPs that came with small holes in their carapace on their backs, and they take several molts to fully heal over. I think they may be from fighting - It's where the legs would fall if one crab was grabbing onto another from the front. Where the break is on his injury it does look like there's a perfectly round hole in the middle, like something grabbed and got through the exo and then pulled the rest off in one chunk.

I am really amazed that he's still alive! The likelihood of an infection would be high with an injury like that. I'm not even sure how he would start to heal during a molt since it's not like the lungs can grow new exo. I feel bad for the little guy, but at the same time I am fascinated to know if he can grow it back and how it will grow in. Please keep us updated on him when he molts?

[ceo1282]

I have several PPs that came with small holes in their carapace on their backs, and they take several molts to fully heal over. I think they may be from fighting - It's where the legs would fall if one crab was grabbing onto another from the front. Where the break is on his injury it does look like there's a perfectly round hole in the middle, like something grabbed and got through the exo and then pulled the rest off in one chunk.

I am really amazed that he's still alive! The likelihood of an infection would be high with an injury like that. I'm not even sure how he would start to heal during a molt since it's not like the lungs can grow new exo. I feel bad for the little guy, but at the same time I am fascinated to know if he can grow it back and how it will grow in. Please keep us updated on him when he molts?

I didn't notice the part where it looks like there's a hole in the middle until you pointed it out. That's really interesting because I just assumed they wouldn't come out far enough for that to happen while fighting. If something like this or any other injury occurs & infection sets in, what can you do about it?

[Rocky]

I've heard about dabbing salt water on a wound with a Q-tip, or using a medical bath from the HCP (Or emailing tammy and kirk asking for the recipe and explaining your dilemma)
One of my PPs had a hole in his exo on his back on the side before to, but after two molts it looks mostly healed over. I think that the exo is fairly thin at that part of their body.
And from what I've seen in videos, they come out pretty far during fights, so it wouldn't be hard for a crab to get his pointy toe up there.

[wodesorel]

There isn't much that can be done, aside from salt-water baths. There are medicinal baths that can be purchased from the hermit crab sites, and honey may also be effective in preventing the spread and treating the infection. With the wound being an exposed lung I'm not sure if I would feel comfortable using any of that, simply because it is a lung and it is directly to the bloodstream (lymphstream?) with whatever touches it. It's also an extremely delicate organ and I would worry about burning or otherwise injuring it while trying to help.

Hermits do seem to be capable of fighting off infection quite well. I've had them come with a variety of injuries to big pinchers and legs that were black, fleshy, and obviously infected, and I left them on their own to heal. They molted with no help or treatment from me and were fine.

I know other crabs owners though feel very strongly about treating any wound they find, and they have had success as well.

[tonycoenobita]

oh~~~~I think need to isolate him, so that he will not be distrubed by others......hope he could recover after next molt

[Ashmash]

How is he doing?

[Alma]

yeah how's ur little buddy doing?

[merrybrakefield]

any update on this thread?