Please Help...molted crab naked

[galaciel21]

I went ahead and placed the honey in the tank.

I read your suggestion about the margarine tub. Unfortunately, its hard to place anything over him in the spot he is laying because its that awkward. If I were to try to put something there it would partially rest on him.

As I put the honey the tank, he moved his claws without me doing anything. I came back a little later and lookin through the glass I noticed he was moving his claws away from his face, moved his eyes and even his body a little. I'm def. a little bit more relaxed tonight seeing he is moving a little and with your help.

I'm sure I seemed ridiculous with the way I been stressing but, this is my first experience with having a surface molter and him being naked at that. I just really didn't want him to die.

[ladybug15057]

I totally understand and being one who has hermies who are comfortable enough to molt on the surface (in huts, partly under something, slightly burrowed containers) IMO I would go nuts if they burrowed and I had no idea how they were for a week or months! Given the time lines of those who have hermies who burrow and those who surface molt, it certainly appears they recover faster and are moving about sooner than those who burrow. Possibly due to the dampness it takes them longer to harden? In the past there have also been a few who had surface molters and used damp substrate. It seemed like it was taking them longer to harden so I suggested a dry sand for them. Within a couple days the hermies did harden?
From the hermies I have seen molt majority of them do so on their sides. They are mostly out of their shells, only the very tip of their tail within the shell. So it would not be hard at all that even if another would step on the shell for the molters little bottom to flop out of their shells. I would just keep his original shell very close to him with a misting of ocean water within it and leave him be.
Would you happen to have any darken colored tupperware lids that you could sort of make a barrier so no shadows pass over him for him right now?
This is Thursday, let us know if he is munching his exo by tomorrow...

[galaciel21]

So he still hasn't ate his exo.

I couldn't stand it anymore and went in there and tried drizzling a bit of honey on the exo he could reach in hopes of it enticing him to go for it.

As I was doing this, I noticed something I didn't notice before. He appears to be missing half his limbs. From what I can see he def has his big and little pincher and one leg (one next to his little pincher). I guess that prob. explains why he hasn't gotten up.

:sigh: that just really made me feel worse, esp. since I just noticed this now. I guess I was so concerned about him living or not and trying to leave him be as much as possible I overlooked that major detail.

I don't even know what to do now. Leave him? Try to put him back in his shell myself? Do you know what the prognosis is for a crab with half his limbs? It just seems that he either can't feed himself or doesn't even want to try and will eventually die due to starvation.

[ladybug15057]

I am sorry to hear this, but contrary to what some may believe he CAN pull through this, but it means a little extra TLC on your part. I myself have been through this with 2 hermies who were severely mutilated during a surprise molt in my main tanks. One was an E hermie named Vanessa
Vanessa right side gel limbs

Vanessa left side
(note, the top section of her feeder pincher is missing and almost had her large pincher totally pinched off)

and one of my straws name Binker. My heart broke when I saw them both (at different times) but they are now both happy healthy 'whole' hermies!!

Binker with only pinchers left
(Binker only had his large and small pinchers left)

But with a little extra TLC, and their strong will to survive:
Vanessa happy and whole (note scar still on large pincher)
Vanessa recovered

Binker happy and whole

Please note too, that our hermies here are use to being handled...as in picked up. (we do not let them crawl on us, but to pick them up for out of the tank exercise and pick them up to be placed back in the crabitat.)

I kept them both in iso for their own protection, on a dry substrate (that I use anyway) which hopefully prevented the possibility of a mold/bacteria complication. Diet is extremely important daily now so he will grow healthy gel limbs to regenerate healthy limbs.

Since the links to the archived posts below have been done, please not since then a question arose as to what type of water was used in baby foods. We did write to a few companies, to this day still have not got a reply back. So some have quit using baby foods for this reason.
Also, the water dishes will need to be put down in the substrate due to him lacking limbs. With both pinchers and a leg left he should eventually be able to pull himself very small distances.
As for the shell, if possible try to dampen the inside with ocean water, slide the end of his tail within it, (if possible do this without lifting him) and hopefully he will retract back into it himself.
If you have any questions at all, please do post them.... but here are the links:

http://crabbywiki.com/tiki-index.php?pa ... 2C+one+eye

http://crabbywiki.com/tiki-index.php?pa ... aby+Sydney

http://crabbywiki.com/tiki-index.php?pa ... ce43-+Sabu

P.S. for now... if it were me I would put a drop of ocean/sea water where the missing limbs would be in hopes of if per chance an infection may think of starting it would ward it off.

[galaciel21]

I'm relieved to read that you and others have experienced this with good outcome. Thanks for the posts.

Noticing that he has half his limbs, I decided to move him into my iso tank. Its a 10 gallon and since its iso, its not all fancy like my main is. It appears that when my crabs are in tight quarters with nothing to climb on and roam, my two most active ones tend to team together and bother my other crab.

I carefully moved him, covered him and got to survey the damage. He def only has a total of 3 claws remaining.

I tried to move him into a shell without picking him up but had no success and didn't want to push it. Is there any trick to doing it? While he lays there, his abdomen appears relaxed. Its coiled but not tightly. The moment I tried to get him into the shell, he immediately tightened his abdomen.

I also noticed that he doesn't move his big pincher (which is intact). His claw is open and it just stays like that. I see him move everything else but that. Its prob. the reason why he doesn't get up.

I also can't seem to get him to eat or drink. He just seems to shun everything I put near him. I tried placing a bit of honey on a toothpick but he just moves his antennas around and leaves it at that. Should I just be patient and try to feed him throughout the day?

[ladybug15057]

I fed my mutilated hermies during the day a couple times and then took time before I went to bed to offer food again. Each time, something different. It is easier to do at a table or such where there is a light so you can see to put the toothpick near the mouth parts. What is scary, the first time you may need to ever so gently touch his mouth parts with the food to get his interest. If this is hard to do at first, try putting it on the inside part of his large claw. He should attempt to take some of it with his feeder claw and pass it to his mouth. With some foods after they are made into a powder you may need to moisten them with dechlor water a little so they will stick to the toothpick for feeding. (I usually had my little lids prepared and all when I was about to feed Vanessa and Binker.
Do you have a clean dropper of any kind?
To help re-leave some of the stress a bit, did you put a little of the substrate from where he was in the other tank, to where you moved him to now? Doing this will give the iso the 'scent' from where he was and make it a little more familiar to him.
For getting him into a shell... sadly chances are handling him too much will only stress him more. That as well as how soft he is due to just molting. Maybe put him in the shell nose first, as in put it in front of him with his large pincher in it so he can check it out?

[galaciel21]

I actually don't have any droppers. I should prob. go invest in some though. I have a feeling, if he survives, he's gonna need to be babied for a while.

I did put some of the substrate in his tank. I do a half sand and half earth in my tanks so I scooped both from my main and did the same thing in my iso. Now that he is no longer laying in between the glass and the water bowl, I was able to place a cocohut over him and his shell. He lays on his large claw that appears to be immobile so I don't know if he'll try to reach for food with the feeder. I'll give it a shot though. Anything to get him to eat it worth trying.

When I realized getting him in backside first wasn't going to work, I did place the shell opening to his nose in hopes that he would scope it out. He did move his antennas inside of it and stopped. I grabbed another and tried placing that one to his nose and got the same results. He feel it with his antennas and stop. He doesn't use his claws to feel around in either of them. After attempting to feed him that first time and tryin the shells, I left him alone to rest.

I guess before bedtime I'll try again to feed him and see if that has any results.

[ladybug15057]

The shell you're attempting, is it the original shell he was in prior to coming out of it?
The sand, is it dry?
He should attempt to eat, this is going to be how he will begin to regain some of his strength back.
He will need extra TLC, at least up until he is able to molt and regenerate his missing limbs. Due to how severely handicapped he is, it will not take him too long before he molts again so timing is relevant as to helping him with what he needs.

[galaciel21]

Yup, I attempted with the shell he occupants. He had it snagged from him a couple weeks ago (I don't know if he left it because it had something with him getting ready to molt or the crab that snagged it chased him outta it). When the snagger changed back into his original shell, he dumped the shell he used for a temp and went right back into his original immediately.

Since the day he has been attacked, I keep his original shell close by and that was the shell I tried to get him back in. I have several other shells in the tank for him but, he refuses to get in any of them. I picked him up a new one today while I was out and tried that one after I tried his original but, he didn't want it.

I haven't noticed any gel limbs on his body and since I've moved him to the iso, which yes, the sand is dry, he has def hardened up considerably. He is no longer a salmon color and more orange, purple.

I did try feeding him one more time before letting him be for the night and offering him a sponge with water but, he just tries fighting me off. He waves his two mobile claws using his little pincher to grab whatever i'm offering but doesn't put it near his mouth. Just drops his pincher and assumes the position he's taken these few days. His big pincher doesn't move at all. It stays open and thats it. He doesn't move it, he doesn't open or close it either. I tried using a toothpick to have him sample it by placing it near his mouth and putting stuff in his big pincher. He just reacts by waving me off or curling up.

He is being very uncooperative. I'm sure being stressed doesn't help and he was my shy crab. My older sister brought him for my daughter from Pet Smart over a year ago and he was very shy. He rarely came out of his shell and kept in the corner to himself for months. I take the crabs out for exercise and would often take him out on his own. After a while he come out and walk around. The past couple months he really seem to have a breakthrough. He never retracted in his shell when someone walked by the tank or looked in and he was always out and about. It was nice to see he was coming out of of hiding and being a little more outgoing.

I'm just gonna continue to take it a day at a time, see how it goes. If he just eat or drink I feel so much better about things.

[galaciel21]

I forgot to add this....how often do they molt being in a condition like this?