Crab molting, worried

Panther_Shadow83 · Post by **Panther_Shadow83** » 11 Nov 2005, 00:34

OK, well, when I checked on her last night she was sitting on top of the sand... I moved the terra cotta pot so it would shelter her, and gave her more food ad water. This morning I caught her sitting in the salt water bowl. When I checked under the pot to make sure it was mold-free I saw she has dug herself a little hole (barely an inch deep). I don't know what's going on right now or what to do... gah I'm worrying and going through the what-ifs... what if she didn't really molt and there's just something wrong with her?

Post by **Wai** » 11 Nov 2005, 19:45

She should be fine, don't worry about the odd behaviour. Just keep the temperature and humidity constantly at the safe ranges and avoid fiddling with her too much.

Panther_Shadow83 · Post by **Panther_Shadow83** » 12 Nov 2005, 01:28

OK... you guys have had a TON of patience with me! Thank you! Please try to endure me a little more >.<

I was observing her last night and her exo is ashy-colored and doesn't seem to have molted. Could this all be pre-molt symptoms? It will be easy to isolate her now because I'm going to be moving her and Stellar to a 20 gal, so if I just move Stellar, viola, instant ISO!

She dug down again last night and this morning she was above ground again. How often do hermit crabs play mind games to stress out their owners?

Post by **Wai** » 12 Nov 2005, 11:34

She's probably showing some pre-moult symptoms, but otherwise she's fine. It's great to hear that you can get a 20 gal tank and ISO Eclipse without moving her!

Panther_Shadow83 · Post by **Panther_Shadow83** » 08 Dec 2005, 11:51

I'm sorry to post after all this time buuuuuuut..... Eclipse is doing GREAT! She has sucessfully molted, and a few days ago was ready to return to play with Stellar! Her exoskeleton is looking very healthy. One thing, though... she doesn't seem any bigger at all... she also doesn't seem any smaller... is this bad, or am I just not paying attention properly?

BTW... I recently got two other hermies, who will be joining Eclipse and Stellar on Saturday! Yay! Their names are Japan and Aurora!! I can tell their personalities already... Aurora seems very shy but very curious... after letting her destress for a few days, I picked her up. She refused to come out of the shell when it was laying flat on my hand, so I propped it up a bit with my fingers. She then poked her head out veeeeeeery slowly, took one look at me, wiggled her eye stalks, and started walking around! So cute! And Japan... what a stubborn lil guy! He's in a shell too small for him but refuses to move from it!

BTW, Aurora is a PP, but I can't figure out what Japan is... he's black-ish colored... either that or someone's going to molt soon...