surface molt?:o

Questions about hermit crabs moulting and its symptoms.
CrabbyJo
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Re: surface molt?:o

Post by CrabbyJo »

rinse his shell, mist it with ocean salt water, and place it near him. You can only hope he moves back into the shell.
It's important that the temp of the tank is close to the same temp as the tank he was moved from, and that it has a warm end and cool end so he can regulate his body temperature.
You might try boiling up and placing more shells in the tank with him in case he feels the need to move to a different shell now that he's molted.
I've had crabs toss their shells before after molting, only to pick a different one up again that they switch out of later.
Just give him all he needs, bother him as little as possible, and hope he goes back into his shell. Keep that temp and humidity regulated.
Good luck!
6 hermit crabs - 3 PPs and 3 Equadorians
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ladybug15057
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Re: surface molt?:o

Post by ladybug15057 »

There is no set time as how long it takes a hermie to eat their exo, this can change from hermie to hermie. When they first molt they ooze a fluid and do eat/drink this right after molting. (it is the beginning of the hardening process) So sometimes it may take a couple days for them to munch the exo.
Misting to boost a humidity percentage is ok for a quick fix, but something more reliable and stable is needed. With him being shell less, you may want to boost the humidity level a it more, like to 80% so he doesn’t dehydrate. In the morning, afternoon and evening put a drop of dechlor water on his abdomen since he is on a dry substrate. (I use a dry sand substrate) Did you boil his original shell, let it cool and shake it out and offer it back to him in case something was inside bothering his soft little abdomen? After giving it a good shake, try misting within it with ocean water to make it more tempting. Aussie hermies are close to the U.S. & Canadian E’s and must have an ocean water source available 24/7 as well as a fresh water pond.
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thegatti
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Re: surface molt?:o

Post by thegatti »

I cleaned the shell, but he didn't move last night. He changed to a darker colour and one or two legs r black. I think I've lost him -.- I feel like such a bad owner
CrabbyJo
Coenobita
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Posts: 1849
Joined: 21 Jan 2009, 13:31
Gender: Female
Hermit crabs: 7
Total gallons: 85
Total tanks: 4
Location: Alaska

Re: surface molt?:o

Post by CrabbyJo »

Please don't feel too bad. Hermit crabs are not as easy to care for and keep alive as pet stores would have people believe. Pet stores are amazed if hermit crabs live for even a year in captivity. They are actually pretty tricky to keep alive, especially if we keep feeding them commercial foods and mistakenly give them hermit crab salt water instead of ocean water, things like that.

I wonder if Aus crabs are a little more sensitive than PP's or E's, anyone know?
Jon and Kate are PP's, I'm wondering if anyone has had Aus crabs in captivity for a length of years as well. Just an idle wondering.

And Gatti, we all lose crabs due to inexperience, lack of knowledge even when we try hard to learn it all (we do miss important things at times), and we have to just chalk it up to learning, forgive ourselves, and do our best to correct whatever mistake we might have made. I made mistakes that cost the lives of two different crabs myself, and I know every crabber on here has probably lost at least one.

So do your best to try to figure out what the problem might be, and move on from there.
Here is a good article for helping you to get off of commercial foods and make sure your crabs get all the nutrients they need:
http://crabstreetjournal.com/xoops/modu ... storyid=48

Personally, in addition to using the list as a guideline, I also ordered organic foods from websites that had seaweeds in them and copepods as well as earthworm castings to make sure they had nutrients that I knew I couldn't pick up at my local grocery store.

Do you need some help troubleshooting what may have gone wrong? We'll be glad to help you, we have all had to scramble at one time or another to figure out what we might be doing wrong. It's natural, don't beat yourself up about it, okay?
6 hermit crabs - 3 PPs and 3 Equadorians
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Please feel free to share information from this website, but please be sure to give credit and a link back to the information. Failure to give credit is plagiarism. Don't take credit for someone else's information.
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Wai
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Re: surface molt?:o

Post by Wai »

The only person I can think of who may have had C. variabilis for a few years is Vanessa, but she seems to have disappeared from the online world. As for myself, I have had Eris for almost 13 months and Haumea's adoption anniversary is on 10 Dec. They are definitely not easy to keep alive - ever since I started crabbing again late last year, I have had six die (not including the ones from the 2003-2005 group), although Varuna was the only one at the time who didn't appear very beaten up to begin with.

thegatti, you tried your best and almost all crabbers will have at least one hermit crab die. On the bright side, I must thank you for researching online for the sake of your hermit crabs. I didn't research online when I first started crabbing and consequently had many deaths.
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ladybug15057
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Re: surface molt?:o

Post by ladybug15057 »

Wai possibly if you keep it up you can make a record. The oldest hermie I remember Vanessa having was Big Red? (I think that was his name?) He just made it past the 2 year mark.
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Wai
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Re: surface molt?:o

Post by Wai »

I certainly will keep a record in my Journal. :P
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ladybug15057
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Total gallons: 305
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Location: Southwestern Pa., U.S.

Re: surface molt?:o

Post by ladybug15057 »

I will be routing for you to break a record!! Sometimes reading can be a little deceiving. I know of a site that the owner claims to have owned hermies for 30+ years. Catch being, they forget to mention it took them 26 years to have a successful molt!
But waiting for your record... thought too, make a posting with the info, do not edit it so this way the date shows too. ;)
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