Lost all limbs UPDATE**5/05/14

[crabbienewb]

Checked on them today and one of them has no limbs, and is inside the shell, i can't tell if dead or not, nothing is falling out, and there is very obviously still crab body in there but no limbs at all, not sure about eyes because it's tucked into the shell and not moving.

I am guessing this crab is going to die and ill try and get a picture of it, it's small though so it's hard to see, rather ill have my husband try to take a picture up close so someone can maybe tell me what they think is left.

Does not smell. Don't want to give up on him if he is still alive and could molt back everything.

this crab is from the "40 crabs need help" thread in chit chat section in case anyone is wondering. went through bad conditions. getting stuck 4-5 extra days while our mail was cancelled from storm and the petstore let me take them all for free.

is there anything i can do right now? in iso within tank. maybe anything that might tempt him to pop his head out if he's still alive? would honey on a cue tip put near him tempt him out?

[kip.rogers357]

At this point I wouldn't be concerned about whether he comes out or not, letting him rest is the best thing to do. An ISO within the tank (like a deli cup) would be great to make sure temp and humidity are right, and to make sure he doesn't get further injured.
I would definitely leave honey on a cotton swab, maybe even peanut butter or crushed up shrimp on a cotton swab, but only for when he's ready, not by forcing it on him to coax him out. The most important thing is to not freak out, crabs know more about being crabs than we do.
There are several members here who have managed to get limbless crabs back to good health and regrew their limbs. I'm not sure if you've read through those threads, I'll find the links for you.
I sure hope everything works out with him and the other crabs!

[crabbienewb]

This crab is alive! Has feelers that I saw move. No limbs though,hopefully mouth parts.
I thought this crab was dead so now im not sure what to do. He's not coming out of shell at all and i don't know if he can.
Do I give him water if so how?
I know to put food infront on a cuetip

but should i cover him in darkness to see if he molts, or wait because no gel limbs

[crabbienewb]

Pics
He does have eyes. I really neeed help. What does he have left that you can see? What do i do. he won't come out but it kinda looks like he may be eating something thats stuck into the inside of his shell. I could dab food in there for him to eat off. Not sure.
Any advice needed on where to go from here

[CallaLily]

You'll have to hand feed her and help her get water. Here's a thread of Wodesorel's where she nursed an almost limbless crab back to health. Hope it helps.

http://www.hermitcrabassociation.com/ph ... hp?t=82507

[wodesorel]

It's really hard to know when to start going at them hard with food and assistance. If it were one of mine I'd very gently bath him in freshwater and do the "crab rinse" technique of letting water into the shell and then carefully pouring it back out. That shell looks like it's full of sand and debris, and legless crabs aren't able to clean off their bodies and the inside of the shell like normal crabs can. That means we have to do it for them. It'll help make him more comfortable so it's nothing but his body and the shell in there.

I would also recommend propping him up in the substrate as if he was sitting like a 'normal' crab does. Even a bit more tilted back then that so you can watch him easily. He won't be able to position himself so making it as natural as possible for him so he can move his body normally and peak out of the shell safely will go a long way to helping him get in the mood to eat.



Put food around where he can lean over and eat it without having to strain himself. I offered Sunshine water three to four times a day - 5 or 10 minutes in about 1/4 inch of saltwater and then the same with freshwater, and walked out of the room so she had privacy.

It can be done so long as the crab doesn't have severe internal injuries, but there's no way to know that unless he starts eating and drinking and is able to molt. It'll be touch and go for the next month or so until then. It really sucks not knowing if all the work your doing will actually make a difference in the end, but you will be keeping him comfortable and doing everything you can in the meantime.

[crabbienewb]

It's really hard to know when to start going at them hard with food and assistance. If it were one of mine I'd very gently bath him in freshwater and do the "crab rinse" technique of letting water into the shell and then carefully pouring it back out. That shell looks like it's full of sand and debris, and legless crabs aren't able to clean off their bodies and the inside of the shell like normal crabs can. That means we have to do it for them. It'll help make him more comfortable so it's nothing but his body and the shell in there.

I would also recommend propping him up in the substrate as if he was sitting like a 'normal' crab does. Even a bit more tilted back then that so you can watch him easily. He won't be able to position himself so making it as natural as possible for him so he can move his body normally and peak out of the shell safely will go a long way to helping him get in the mood to eat.



Put food around where he can lean over and eat it without having to strain himself. I offered Sunshine water three to four times a day - 5 or 10 minutes in about 1/4 inch of saltwater and then the same with freshwater, and walked out of the room so she had privacy.

It can be done so long as the crab doesn't have severe internal injuries, but there's no way to know that unless he starts eating and drinking and is able to molt. It'll be touch and go for the next month or so until then. It really sucks not knowing if all the work your doing will actually make a difference in the end, but you will be keeping him comfortable and doing everything you can in the meantime.

The shell was full of sand when I picked it up, I thought it was an empty shell as i was moving the empty shells to the corner since there was a mess and several were full of sand so i was rinsing them in a bowl of salt water and saw body and stopped. I will rinse her to try to flush out anything.

What are the blue things you used for food? Are they lids off water bottles?
For size reference this crabs shell is about the size of a bottle cap, and you can see how far the crab is inside there, would 1/4 inch water still be right? Will she be able to change shells? I have some tiny reevoli turbos (spelling is wrong) but they would fit her if she wanted to switch eventually.

I have an empty 5g tank, can I move this crab into that tank and use Eco Earth only, or something else other than sand? If she does molt she won't be able to dig anyways so I wondered if that would be ok to at least keep her in something damp that is edible incase she wants to eat some of it or just get moisture.

Does this crab look like a PP? From the pics i thought the eyes did. This store mostly only has E's, like 90% of their crabs are E's, but randomly they have a PP or two in there.

[sofiaee]

Here's a link with a viola who lost all her legs too, just like yours viewtopic.php?f=27&t=94239

Hope it helps, and good luck!!

[wodesorel]

It is a PP.

Cocofiber will work so long as it's stiff enough so you can get her propped up. Moss is another option. If it gets that far, she'll give you signs when it's time to molt - refusing food, getting fussy when bothered. Then you can cover her over with a hide and let her do her molting thing. You may want to give her some cover now so she feels more secure. Any crab sitting out in the open can feel vulnerable. I kept Sunshine in a small tupperware container and covered her with a solid lid when I wasn't tending to her so she felt more comfortable.

Definitely an attack if she was packed in sand. It's a good sign that she was still in the shell and not naked when you found her. That means another crab wasn't able to get to her body, although if there was a tug of war happening over her legs she still could have injured her abdomen by hanging on tight.

The blue things are lids to replacement eraser tubes for mechanical pencils. I tried bottle caps but she was too small and they took up too much space. I had those stuffed in the back of my desk and they worked better. Honestly, she wasn't eating out of them. She liked the Q-tips coated in honey and rolled in mushed or crushed food instead. While she had some appendages (half a back leg, the small pincher) both had been so badly damaged all she could do was prop herself up. They were basically immobile. The Q-tips were easy for her to manipulate with just her mouth parts and she'd go through four sets of them a day!

Go with enough water so that it's not getting into the shell but is still deep enough so that she can reach out without trouble to drink. Maybe an 1/8 inch or so for a crab that size.

[crabbienewb]

It is a PP.

Cocofiber will work so long as it's stiff enough so you can get her propped up. Moss is another option. If it gets that far, she'll give you signs when it's time to molt - refusing food, getting fussy when bothered. Then you can cover her over with a hide and let her do her molting thing. You may want to give her some cover now so she feels more secure. Any crab sitting out in the open can feel vulnerable. I kept Sunshine in a small tupperware container and covered her with a solid lid when I wasn't tending to her so she felt more comfortable.

Definitely an attack if she was packed in sand. It's a good sign that she was still in the shell and not naked when you found her. That means another crab wasn't able to get to her body, although if there was a tug of war happening over her legs she still could have injured her abdomen by hanging on tight.

The blue things are lids to replacement eraser tubes for mechanical pencils. I tried bottle caps but she was too small and they took up too much space. I had those stuffed in the back of my desk and they worked better. Honestly, she wasn't eating out of them. She liked the Q-tips coated in honey and rolled in mushed or crushed food instead. While she had some appendages (half a back leg, the small pincher) both had been so badly damaged all she could do was prop herself up. They were basically immobile. The Q-tips were easy for her to manipulate with just her mouth parts and she'd go through four sets of them a day!

Go with enough water so that it's not getting into the shell but is still deep enough so that she can reach out without trouble to drink. Maybe an 1/8 inch or so for a crab that size.

Good point about the cocofiber, I don't think it's stiff enough. She's in iso inside an iso, maybe that's easier to just leave it, and Ill cover her with something.

My crab back in august who lost all but 1 leg was still moving around the tank, and using that leg to eat, and dug in to molt, so this is way different than him, he was so easy.

What foods worked best rolled onto the cue tips?
I still have sponges even though i never use them, if i soaked one of them would she be able to use that to drink off? I have enough of it i can throw them out often.

are you able to tell in the pics what parts she does have?

is she definitely limbless?

[crabbienewb]

I took her out and was giving her water, which she didn't come out for, and then i picked out some shells and was lining them up to see which ones to put around her just in case, and she popped right out. So at least now I know she can come out of her shell to eat, I haven't seen her do it yet and I don't think she likes the ISO, since she came out for me when i had her out of the tank but inside the tank she won't, so im going to set up the little 10g, i thought it was a 5g but it's 10. I wish I had something small i could keep her in she seems a lot more comfortable when i take her out.

she has something weird on her, like past her 2nd set of gripping legs. it looks kinda like crystalized honey, i don't know what it is. it's yellowish orange and not sand but that texture.

I figured out she is definitely limbless.
and shes not interested in any of the foods ive offered her. trying something else now.

pic of her checking out the shells i was trying to pick out. First time she came out at all


and UPDATE as of noon today SHE ATE!! Apparently she just didn't want what I was offering (hcp surf and turf), but she wanted the crabby din din which for some reason all of my crabs love.

[crabbienewb]

Wodes thank you so much for having me rinse that shell well, ever since she has been popping out, so now you've given her at least a chance.

I found a bunch of bags of cali sand that I had when someone gave me the PP's, and I put some of that in a food storage container thing, definitely was not expecting the texture it gave when moist. But it worked out, i shoved a lid into the sand which propped her up nice (i set her shell inside the lid), and then filled a turbo shell with water, a small one and shes been able to drink out of it. I put some foods in some of the normal dish like shells, small ones, which she IS eating out of, but im thinking i may just switch to filling small turbos with food because they take up way less room so i can keep more closer. also have cue tips with honey/food on them.

Question with the cali sand, since i know it can cause problems how often should i switch it out? She is not touching it at all, shes on top of a lid, and everything is propped up with shells and stuff, and she will not be using this to molt, but i figured it would be ok to use just as a base to hold up all her things. I can change it out as often as needed until i run out, or i can just open a 50lb bag of sand, but this stuff is so thick/sticky that it's holding things at perfect angles for her to be able to reach a lot of things.

[happycrabbymama]

Glad to see she is eating and drinking!!! Hugs... Looks like she is doing well and fingers crossed she pulls through!!!

YAY... happy ending are ALWAYS the best!!!

[Guest]

I rescued a pp from a pet store in November that only had a small pincher but was missing half of the pinched. I had hand fed it until this week, Wednesday the clear nubs turned pink and Thursday morning it started surface molting. When I checked on it this evening it had ate all of the exoskeleton and had regenerated it´s legs and large claw. Good luck with your little crabby. It is hard work, but in the end it will be rewarding when you see the crab whole and well!

[crabbienewb]

She doesn't seem to want any of the protein sources, although she is plowing through the honey calcium. going to try to crush up the exo parts i found in the tanks and feed that to her. I've decided to name her Boo, because when i bring her out for water she first pops her eyes out at me and then comes out.

i had her in the bowl facing my husband for water yesterday and he was looking at her and hes like, is she supposed to come out, because shes not, so i said maybe she doesn't like your face, and he turned the bowl to face me and she popped right out. lol. i think she knows im trying to help her.

Boo keeps dunking her head in the w ater, does that mean anything? since she has no limbs she has no way to submerge if she wants to, and i don't know what to do about that, what if she wants to refill her shell?

She ate off my hand today, she eats a lot im surprised at how much shes packing down considering her size.also she drinks for way more than 5 minutes, will that slow down? she takes about 15 mins at eat bowl, drinking and doing stuff the entire time.

if this crab lives i will be keeping her, even though shes from the group i said i wasn't keeping. She's very sweet.