Leg Found

[H.Crabby_Guy1984]

I had refreshed my crabs food and water and next thing i know i found his leg laying beside the food shell and he is staying in his shell and not coming out. He is the only one in the tank right now as i won him at a carnival at a game somewhat like the goldfish game that everyone knows of. The people had em in mini critter keepers with 2 shells (1 w/ food & 1 w/ a watering sponge), sand, and an extra shell. He has been doing great and his tank has been staying warm and slightly humid. I am feeding him an assortment of baby foods, meat, cuttle bone, and fresh fruits & flower heads (from my personal orchards & flower beds where no pesticides are used).

Can anyone tell me why he mght have done this? I have had hermits for years and have never had this to happen not even to a big pincher. My oldest crab is going on 6 yrs old and is a monster and has his own tank with his girl who is about 5 yrs old and is huge too, but my newest crab is a medium hermit.

~Michael Drake~
aka Randy / Eky

[Wai]

Limb loss is due to stress - perhaps the temperature was either too high or too low? What was the temperature at the time? Your hermit crab may also be pre-moult.

[H.Crabby_Guy1984]

it was between 75 and 80 as we have the wood stove going at night so i wouldn't have the tank heater on but it would usually get around 65 to 70 at night. But unfortantly Herman has died. i went to check on him last night and when i picked him up he fell out of the shell. He had already molted b4 i got him cuz his colors were just starting to come back. But he had been eating as i put a small about of baby cereal, fish flakes, and some baby carrots in his food shell and he ate alot of it beforer i found the leg in the cage. But i will hopefully be getting another crab or two soon to take his place. I was a lil upset when i found him dead as i held him 2-3 times every day to let him exercise.

~Michael Drake~
aka Randy / Eky

[ladybug15057]

I am sorry to hear of your loss. During the winter months we use a wood burning stove. (Have been using ours now for over a week towards evening and the last few days all day due to the cold) In our great room where we keep our crabitats the temperature is normally 80-80* + F in this room...thermometers on the other side of the room from where the wood stove is. Even though the thermometer within the crabitat does read 75-78* F, the substrate is cooler than this. Numerous times throughout the day the Electronic Temp controllers I have on all our tanks and iso's turn on the UTH. The temp controllers are set to 78* F on the warm side of the tank where the UTH is located and plugged into the temp controller. Please do monitor the substrate temp as well as the air temp of a tank because there is usually a difference and sometimes can be up to 10-20* F.