Dying Hermit Crab???

[Okamira]

Since you've come to the emergency forum, we know you want a fast answer to your question. In order for us to figure out the problem as quickly as possible, we ask that you answer the following questions as best you can. Some of them may seem odd, but they're all designed to give us the information we need to give you a good solution for your problem. The things in the [ brackets ] are there to make this post easier to read once submitted. Thanks!


1. What kind of substrate is used in your tank and how deep is it? Mixture of Playsand and Coco Fiber and it’s 6 inches


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?
Yes I have one digital gauge, it is positioned right above the substrate and usually reads 70-80 humidity and 70-80 temperature. Currently the humidity says it’s at 99 and the temperature is 75.


3. Is a heat source used in the tank? If so, what? Yes I have three heat pads on the back of the tank, one is really big.


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)? I have a saltwater and freshwater pool, the saltwater I treat either Spring water or distilled water with Zoo Med and the freshwater I just give them spring or distilled water.


5. What kinds of food do you feed and how often is it replaced? I feed them all kinds of freeze dried and dried hermit crab foods that I get from either Etsy or eBay and ocasionally will give them fresh foods. I usually replace it 2-3 times a week but sometimes only once a week if it’s freeze dried food and looks good


6. How long have you had the crab and what species is it, if known? the species is back strawberry and I’ve had him for a few months.


7. Has your crab molted, and how long ago did it happen? I’m unsure if he’s molted or not


8. What type of housing are the crabs kept in, what size is it and what kind of lid is on the housing?
I have a 40 gallon terrarium tank with a mesh lid that is wrapped in plastic wrap to keep in humidity.

9. How many crabs are in the tank and about how large are they? there is 4 crabs total 2 larger ones and then two smaller ones.


10. How many extra shells are usually kept in the tank, if any? I usually keep at least 13 extra shells in the tank if not more.


11. Have there been any fumes or chemicals near the crabitat recently? Not that I’m aware of.


12. How often do you clean the tank and how? I usually clean the tank once every few months and I do a surface level clean, picking up leaves and sticks and stuff like that and I’ll very ocasionally boil some of the decorations If I feel they need it.


13. Are sponges used in the water dish? If so, how are they cleaned? Sponges are not used


14. Has anything new been added to your crabitat recently? No nothing new has been added other then a reptile food bowl that I just added the other day, there is no paint on it.


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.)? my other three crabs are all purple pinchers, whenever we got Jumbleberry he was originally supposed to have a species buddy but the other crab died soon after arriving and didn’t have a shell. Overall Jumbleberry usually gets along fine with the other crabs, they usually leave eachother alone or play on the wheel together. Sometimes the other crabs will try to show their dominance but they never looked like they were trying to harm him until recently.


16. Please describe the emergency situation in detail. I was gone on a little over a week long trip on a cruise and I didn’t have internet so I couldn’t check my crab camera. I didn’t have anyone watch over them because I’ve left my crabs many times in the past and there was never any trouble also didn’t have anyone close enough to check on them. I think the humidity might have gotten too low while I was gone since I wasn’t able to mist it daily. I came back to my small hermit crab Jumbleberry being very slow and not moving much. I’ve been keeping an eye on him for the past several days and I’ve been making sure to keep the humidity and temperature high, I also added more shells and gave them *a lot* of food of different types in case they weren’t getting all the nutrients they needed. Despite that he is still slowing down some and staying still majority of the time and only moving to drink some water and ocasionally go get some food. Some incredibly concerning behavior that I noticed when watching the playbacks while I was gone is that my two large crabs (both purple pinchers) have been bullying him, I saw that they were getting on top of him and sometimes flipping him upside down which would cause Jumbleberry to hide in his shell for longer periods of time. It’s possible that there wasn’t enough shells and they wanted his shell but he’s way smaller then them so they wouldn’t fit in his shell so the only other thing I could think of is they were trying to eat him and they weren’t getting proper nutrients. I’ve made sure to add more shells and lots of different types of food since then and I haven’t really seen much bullying other then climbing over him a few times. The reason I’m making this post is because today Jumbleberry has had some INCREDIBLY worrying behavior, he’s been completely emerging himself in the fresh water pool a lot last night and then today he was in there for close to 2 hours kinda just letting his legs fall out until I got really worried and took him out of the pool. I’m now 100% sure he’s dying and I’m not sure what I can do I even ordered a starter mist king mister because I thought that might help maintain high humidity better but I can’t set it up cause I didn’t realize you needed more stuff for it and I don’t have a bucket or the other stuff you need for it. Anyway I think the cause could be due to low humidity while I was gone and the bullying and if it’s not that then he could have some hidden infection but is there anything I can do to help now?
I’m panicking and don’t want to lose him so soon, I haven’t even had him long.

.

[I<3mycrabbies]

For your pools I would recommend not using distilled water and to use sink water and use prime to treat it. (It's only about 10$ for a decent container and lasts forever)
If the other crabs were bullying him put a lot of protein in their food dish and I would maybe even set up another dish for the strawberry crab by where he hangs out the most.
He may also be getting ready to molt. That could be why he is soaking so much in the pools and why hes been inactive and on the slower side.

[Okamira]

For your pools I would recommend not using distilled water and to use sink water and use prime to treat it. (It's only about 10$ for a decent container and lasts forever)
If the other crabs were bullying him put a lot of protein in their food dish and I would maybe even set up another dish for the strawberry crab by where he hangs out the most.
He may also be getting ready to molt. That could be why he is soaking so much in the pools and why hes been inactive and on the slower side.

Got it, I’ll keep that in mind that he may be preparing to molt and I put a bunch of protein in the food dish but I’ll make a seperate food dish for Jumbleberry. I currently have him in a small dish with honey mixed with an oats and coconut mixture because I saw that the natural sugar may help give him some energy. Is Zoo Med fine instead of prime? I have a bunch of freshwater dechloranator bottles of those that you can add to tap and other water

[I<3mycrabbies]

I believe the zoo med is fine but when they run out I woukd switch.
If you have any you can also add peanut butter to his food dish the can help with energy boosts as well.

[Okamira]

Okay I’ll try giving him some peanut butter, I just deep cleaned the pools and replaced the water also added some aquarium pebbles to them that I boiled. Thank you

[I<3mycrabbies]

Of course!!
I hope everything ends up working out!