no limbs what so ever

Questions about unexpected problems.
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deathbatbabe6661
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no limbs what so ever

Post by deathbatbabe6661 »

my long time hermit crab, ive had for about a year, the lady before me had for about 5 years, was surface moulting and dropped ALL his limbs, and both claws the poor guy looks like a shrimp i dont know what to do he cant move, hes just kind of rolling around, and its making me tear up its so sad i just dont know what to do please help i know theres no hope for him but what would you do every one keeps telling me to put him out of his mizery and theres NO WAY i could do that im sorry im like having a panic attack but it just seems like hes just going to dye slowly and painfully he cant even get in his shell,hes been trying and i dont want to put him in there because i know ill hurt him i can tell hes not just laying there hes trying his hardest to move around but i cant stand to see this please help
~*Miko,Malibu,Mr.Finger,&Pedro<3*~

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Wai
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Re: no limbs what so ever

Post by Wai »

I hate to say this too, but I'm afraid death is inevitable. If I were you, I would hold the hermit crab until he/she passes away. You can hand feed the hermit crab food and water in case he/she is hungry, but I'm afraid there's not much else we can do.

It's the cruel society of pet care. Hermit crabs are offerred no medical treatments whatsoever. :(
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emmac350
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Re: no limbs what so ever

Post by emmac350 »

Wasn't there someone who managed to hand-feed a legless crab until it managed to molt and get back its limbs? She would hold it in the food bowl close enough that its mouthparts could get in there, and she fed it a paste of high protein foods like shrimp until it could molt.
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Rack, 23 Sep 08; Benny, 23 Sep 08; Slightly, 3 Jan 09; Nibs, 3 Jan 09; Curly, 3 Jan 09; Spaz, 5 Jul 09

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ladybug15057
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Re: no limbs what so ever

Post by ladybug15057 »

It is possible to nurse him until he grows gel limbs and regenerates his missing limbs. This is time consuming and will require extra TLC, but in the end it will be up to him to try to manage to molt when it comes time.

http://crabbywiki.com/tiki-browse_categ ... =off&type=

However, you must also troubleshoot what happened that he has lost all his limbs. For this to happen something is drastically wrong!
I have read back through some of your messages, (not all, there are over 100+)
Do you still have that 1/2 log in your tank?
What had/have you decided to use as a substrate? (last you wrote was about purple substrate)
What have you ended up getting for water dishes?
What dechlorinator do you use?
What ocean/sea mix are you using and how are you mixing it?
Have you taken them outside since the weather got warmer?
Did you ever get rid of the mites the one hermie had?
Marie (aka ladybug15057)

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deathbatbabe6661
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Re: no limbs what so ever

Post by deathbatbabe6661 »

i dont see anything wrong in there all there water is declorinated in a plastic dish about 2 1/2 inches deep, they have all natural fresh food the temp was 76 and the humidity was 80 im using play saind that i baked, theres no mites, i havent taken them out side, all the others are running along just fine im giving them salt water soak ive been doing everything i could i dont know what happened im so confused and scared hes still alive my mom keeps telling me to take hom out of his mizery and freeze him like they do with lobsters but thats crazy!!! i could never do that but i dont know what to do how do i get him in his shell?
~*Miko,Malibu,Mr.Finger,&Pedro<3*~

RIP:krabby,hermy,mr.krabs,mrs.krabs,piwi hermit.Spanky,pipa
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Re: no limbs what so ever

Post by CrabbyJo »

Okay first, what do you mean by salt water soak? Do you mean you have an ocean salt water dish for him to climb into whenever he wants? Are you using ocean salt water, and not the hermit crab salt water sold for hermit crabs? What is the mixture you are using for that (measurements).
What about their diet?

Sorry to hit you with questions, but something had to go really wrong, sometimes we have to do real detective work to figure out where we might be making a mistake. Don't feel bad, we all make mistakes, and trust me, we have ALL had our share of mistakes and lost hermies because of them.

Someone else may have advice on how to get him into his shell.

Good luck hon, and see if you can give us more info to help you figure out the problem.
6 hermit crabs - 3 PPs and 3 Equadorians
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deathbatbabe6661
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Re: no limbs what so ever

Post by deathbatbabe6661 »

the sand is about 6 inches deep, i have a dish with salt water(i use salt made for hermit crabs) and one with fresh water i use play sand one of the 50 pnd bags from home depot and i bake it before i put it in
~*Miko,Malibu,Mr.Finger,&Pedro<3*~

RIP:krabby,hermy,mr.krabs,mrs.krabs,piwi hermit.Spanky,pipa
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emmac350
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Re: no limbs what so ever

Post by emmac350 »

None of the hermit crab salt water products offer the ions that crabs seem to want. You should switch to an ocean water mix meant for salt water aquariums - if your crabs have been used to the salt water hermit crab mix, they will go NUTS over the real ocean water like they need. The hermit crab salt products only contain, as a salt, NaCl, which diffuses into Na+ and Cl- in water. But what crabs appear to want isn't the Na+ and Cl-, but rather the other ions in ocean water - Mg+, SO4, Ca+, K+, Br-, and so on. Humans use some of these ions to regulate our bodies - Na+ and K+ (Wai, feel free to correct me as I don't even remember what the process is called to look it up on my own) I believe are used on a cellular level in the production of Adenosene triphosphate (ATP), which is our cellular energy source. It is thought that crabs need the ions in sea water to regulate their bodies and provide them the same purpose as we get from our ions.

Also, do you have a half log in your tank like Marie asked? If so, that could cause your problem. It was recently found that the half log hideys are made either from pine or cedar, both of which will slowly kill crabs.
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Rack, 23 Sep 08; Benny, 23 Sep 08; Slightly, 3 Jan 09; Nibs, 3 Jan 09; Curly, 3 Jan 09; Spaz, 5 Jul 09

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CrabbyJo
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Re: no limbs what so ever

Post by CrabbyJo »

Unfortunately, like Emma says, that hermit crab salt is pretty useless. After just one day, if you were to test it, you would find NO salt content in it at all.
As well as needing things in the ocean salt to help them stay healthy, they need the ocean salt to help them "swell" to break the old exoskeleton so they can shed it, and without it, well, you can end up with complications like your poor little crab had, where the limbs come off with the old exo.

I highly encourage you to head to your local pet store and pick up a small package of an ocean salt mix that is designed for salt water aquariums. Your other crabs do need it.

I hope you did also read Marie's link to nursing a crab with no limbs. It does take a lot of effort, time, and focus, and may be more than some can manage to do. Do you think you may be able to put forth the extreme effort needed to try to nurse this hermie back to health? it may be more to take on than you can handle, and that's understandable.

Let's try to see if we can get him into a shell.
I don't know how hard your crab's new exoskeleton is, hopefully it is not still too soft. If it is very light in color, you may want to be extremely careful when picking him up. I'm going to suggest you try to get him into a shell, and ask that before you do this, please wait for others to post and either say no or agree, this is just an idea but there are those with more experience who may have a better idea.

In order to help your crab be a little more comfortable, clean his shell up first, boil it if need be, then twist it a round a few times to make sure all the water is out.
Make up a nice little bowl of dechlorinated water, make sure it is lukewarm - not cool or warm to the inside of your wrist when you touch your wrist to the water. Dip his shell in this bowl and you can leave a bit of the water inside. He needs it for moisture for his abdomen.

Then very gently pick your crab up, and dip his abdomen into the water bowl. I suggest you do not dip the whole crab, because if his exo is still hardening, the water will interfere with the process.
Gently try to insert the crab's abdomen into the shell. Hopefully he will latch onto it when you do this. Once he is in the shell, set him down carefully.

if you have his old exo, crush it up to as fine a powder as you can make it. I know it may seem kind of gross, but it is the best thing to feed him right now. Mix this powder with a bit of organic honey. The honey will give him energy, and help him to survive.

I believe Marie gave you a link earlier for nursing a limbless hermie. If you think you can take on this challenge, read it carefully, and make sure you feed him foods with the vital nutrients he will need. Those should be listed on that link if I'm not mistaken (I may be) but if you need it, I can also give you a link to a list of foods high in nutrients that hermies need. At present I am at work and don't have access to my links.

Speaking of that, time for me to go!
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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ladybug15057
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Re: no limbs what so ever

Post by ladybug15057 »

Great advice so far! Little note that was found out back when the information was shared with me regarding fresh water salt to ocean/sea water salt mixes. It has been noted that freezing is no longer a humane way to even euthanize fish, much less hermies. It has been found it is a slow and possibly painful death.
As well as fresh water drop, one should also place 1 drop of ocean/sea water too into the shell.
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