new crab

[hermione]

How do you know if a crab has died for sure? Lola in iso still has not moved for days. Smelling a bit fishy. ???

Hermione is still under. Ginger has been out and about lately. She seems fine. Eating, changing shells every three days or so, climbing and just watching us. She is sitting quietly in the little house right now.

[NotaMallard]

If it smells fishy or falls out of its shell, it's dead. Sometimes they don't fall out of the shell because the abdomen dries onto the inside of the shell. Creepy, huh?

[ladybug15057]

But please remember too that a hermie who is actually molting will slide out of their shells too due to not having any 'muscle' control. Some hermies do also smell fishy when in premolt/molting. Some also smell of dead rotted fish. (I have had a few of these and they be very much alive) If in doubt, leave them be, if they have passed there is nothing one can do. But if the hermie is molting, (and they look very dead when they are actually molting)

Hermie_molting

if they are disturbed it can be lethal. But always check for any little twitch of life before taking any further action, and do not blink when doing so. You may miss that slight twitch of life, I almost did several years ago.

[hermione]

Yea, that has my thought. So I just still have her sitting there in the little carrier. Keeping the humidity and temp stable. I just change the water food every few days until I see some sign of life. I guess I'll give it a month or so unless she it to stink. It is not a problem.

[Hermie's rule]

Give her a long time of total isolation and no handling. I had a very stressed hermie like that once. It took him like 2 months to pull out of PPS but he made it!

[hermione]

Wow. That would be wonderful. Okay, we'll keep it going for at least two months unless I smell more evidence. Thanks.

[hermione]

Hermione, my good old crabbie, is up! unmolted! Yea! I just need some time to de-stress myself, phew! Not entirely sure about their interactions. Seems they are rather forward with each other, but they are intact, if not tactful.

[klbroad]

Woohoo! So glad to hear that she was just messing with you -

I have 11 newbies right now and all but 2 of them are buried - it is taking everything I have not to go in there and dig them out - I just keep sticking my nose in the tank and sniffing almost every hour on the hour!