Before that death, we'd only had 1 die in 3+ years, and that one came to us as a rescue.We've added a few more crabs from the local Houston pet stores, all in an iso tank, and a few of them died. I suspect it was stress or illness.
I upgraded the regular (non iso) tank to a 55gallon tank at the end of Thanksgiving. When I put the new play sand in (that I got from Home Depot, just like I have every time I've changed tanks or done a deep clean), I noticed these seriously teeny bugs...like so small I can't get a picture of them. They do not appear to be on the crabs at all, just in the food and on/in the dirt.
A few days ago I was cleaning the tank and found a dead crab without a shell. I don't know who this crab was (I gave up long ago on trying to keep up with who is who, given all the shell changes that go on), but I suspect it was one who had just finished molting in the iso tank last week, who I had brought down and put in the big tank.
I've been watching the crabs more carefully since then and have noticed a few of them "twerking." It sounds stupid, but it's like they are moving their shells back and forth, toward the head end, then the butt end (for lack of a better term) quickly...almost as though something is making them itchy. When I found the dead crab, I examined it carefully to see if these little bugs were on it, but there were none that I could see. Everytime I see a twerker, I grab him out of the cage to see if I can figure out what's going on.
I should also note that this giant tank has proven quite difficult to warm properly. It has the overhead fluorescent hood lights, that we keep on during the day (which provide no warmth) just for lighting; I have 3 UTHs on the back (2 are small and one is pretty big), as well as a 60 or 75W black bulb aimed at one end of the tank (where the shell shop is). On the side with the light, it's about 82F. On the other side, it's in the mid-high 70s. I did just put a towel over the back and top of the tank b/c it's been cold here and the tank is against an outside wall.
The humidity seems fine, but the top layer of sand is kind of crackly.
Anyone have any ideas about the twerking and/or crabitat environment improvements? I was considering some isopods, but I'm not sure where to get them. Would they eat the little bugs?
