Naked, pale, thin crab, yikes.

[arosenbaum]

1. What kind of substrate is used in your tank and how deep is it?

Play sand and Eco earth mix (idk the exact ratio, but maybe 2/3 play sand and 1/3 Eco earth). It's 6 inches or half full basically (10 gallon tank).

2. Do you have gauges in the tank to measure temperature and humidity? If so, where are they located and what temperature and humidity do they usually read?

I have an AcuRite digital thermometer/hygrometer. It's located in an area where the crabs spend most of their time. The temp is consistently between 80 and 85, and humidity is consistently between 80 and 85 (sometimes it gets a little higher, up to 88 or so) as well.

3. Is a heat source used in the tank? If so, what?

I have 2 Fluker's UTH attached to two different sides of the outside of the tank. I also have to throw a blanket part way (so as to let air in and not cover the UTHs) over the tank in the winter at night because the temp will dip down to <80 if I don't.

4. What types of water are available (fresh or salt) and how is the water treated (what brands of dechlorinator or salt mix and what ratio is used to mix it)?

Both fresh water (treated with Prime) and salt water (treated with Prime then Instant Ocean) are available to the crabs. I use just a few drops of Prime for each bottle of water (they're about 1L each) and a couple tsp of Instant Ocean for the salt water.

5. What kinds of food do you feed and how often is it replaced?

Probably need to do a better job of feeding him more often, could this be the cause? I feed him a variety of organic fresh/frozen fruits and vegetables, Fluker's freeze dried shrimp (the only store-bought food I feed him), walnuts, almonds, chia seeds, pumpkin seeds, oats, etc. I check all foods from the safe foods list before I give it to them. I change the food out about once a week....yikes. I need to do better, he's just always been fine, and since he's the only one and doesn't go through it too quickly I forget about it.

6. How long have you had the crab and what species is it, if known?

Not sure of the species. I've had him since June 2020.

7. Has your crab molted, and how long ago did it happen?

He has molted just fine before. Come to think of it, I don't think he's molted for a year at least. The last couple times I thought he was, he was only underground for a week or two, and he usually molts for a month to 6 weeks. I thought he was molting earlier in the month because he was underground for about a week and hadn't seen him around, then he came up and was all pallid and sad looking so I'm not sure what's going on. That's what's making me think he's underfed.

8. What type of housing are the crabs kept in, what size is it and what kind of lid is on the housing?

10 gallon Aqueon tank, glass lid.

9. How many crabs are in the tank and about how large are they?

Just one crab. I know they like community but this crab has eaten my last 2 crabs and I just didn't want to deal with that anymore.

10. How many extra shells are usually kept in the tank, if any?

There's 5-6 other shells in there for him, various sizes.

11. Have there been any fumes or chemicals near the crabitat recently?

Nope.

12. How often do you clean the tank and how?

I deep cleaned the tank like 3 months ago; just replaced the substrate and cleaned/got some new decor. I also added new water dishes that were bigger/deeper (I used that plastic net stuff so they can climb out). Other than that, I pretty much keep my hands out of there.

13. Are sponges used in the water dish? If so, how are they cleaned?

No sponges.

14. Has anything new been added to your crabitat recently?

See above.

15. Is there any other information you would like to share that might be helpful (anything that is regularly part of your crab care, playtime, bathing, etc.)?

I don't play with my crabs. I only pick them up when absolutely necessary. Reasons being that I don't want to stress them, and that I don't want to be pinched lol.

16. Please describe the emergency situation in detail.

So as I said above, a couple weeks ago, thought he went down to molt, but he came back up after a few days. When he came up, he looked really pale and thin, so I fed him a bunch (not sure if it works for crabs like it does for humans but it made sense to me). He didn't really go straight to the dish like he usually does, but didn't think about it much. That was about a week ago. Ever since then, he has looked about the same, and been very inactive, even at night (I work night shift so I am nocturnal with him, and usually get to see/hear him moving around all night). Today, I peeked in there and he's just chilling without his shell on. He's never done that before. So that is why I am here. I will follow the naked crab instructions until I hear otherwise from folks on here.

[JoeHermits]

Changing out food once a week shouldn’t be that bad, he’s not gonna starve if he has to go a few days without fresh snacks. Does he get access to protein regularly? I noticed that most of his protein intake comes from shrimp and nuts


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[arosenbaum]

Okay good to know, that’s kind of what I thought, but I’ll try to do it more regularly. Yeah he gets the shrimp almost every time. I don’t usually have the right types of other protein on hand, like unseasoned cooked chicken. Any other suggestions? Just took him out of “shell isolation” because he did finally choose a shell. So he’s in there with fresh food and water and a blanket over top so he can just chill out for a bit.

[JoeHermits]

Protein is needed for molting and animals are a little more rich in amino acids. Shrimp is good but other options like dried bloodworms or mealworms are also available if you want to add variety. If they get shrimp almost every time I’m not worried about it though (plant sources are also good although a little less rich)

Nothing you listed raises any red flags husbandry-rise with me so I don’t have any other ideas


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[arosenbaum]

Well that didn’t last long. He’s out of the shell again already. Any suggestions? Is something wrong with him? I’m gonna try to put him in the smaller container with just shells like before but don’t know if the same thing will just happen again.

[curlysister]

A crab will drop it's shell when it is too weak to carry it. But he will die without it. Do the naked crab protocol again, then give him some high energy foods like honey and peanut butter to see if that will help get his energy level back up.