Food for Eyes

[Carrie]

My hermit crab Arwen Kali Crab (had her for 6 yrs and a few days now) has a strange issue. She's a medium-sized PP, and way back when I bought her (and up until her late 2007 photos) she had the normal teardrop-shaped black eyes. Gradually they've been shrinking inwards from the sides (not the top/bottom), so that they're becoming elliptical, more like the eyes of an E. Her eye-stalks are otherwise normal, except for a tiny amount of actual eye space lost near the tip of her left eye. This doesn't change before or after a molt, so it's not the clouding of her eyes b/c she's pre-molt (she is starting to get pre-molt now, just a little). She is able to see very well with what she has, but of course doesn't have such a wide range of vision anymore. She's very active and eats a lot, just like the other (smaller) guys... it's just this weird thing w/ her eyes. I can't find anything about this online anywhere (even on here). Has anyone heard of this before? I follow the care guidelines (nutrition, heat, humidity, etc.) as set forth by this site, but if anyone knows of anything I can add to her diet or change in my environment to help her, I'd be happy to answer any specific questions about that. Attempting to post 2 photos. The first is Arwen in 2007, her eyes from the side (now you can't see the black at all from the sides); the second is Arwen today. I'm re-editing this to include a pic of Arwen's eyes from the side, very close up. She used to have normal large black eyes and it looks like they're being replace by exo...

[cometstream]

1st theory: your crab is going blind
2nd theory:your crab may be getting ready for a molt
3rd theory:It could be something with age of crabs because crabs are caught in the wild you do not know how old they are, so it may be an aging thing we never discovered(because after all there isn't alot of extensive research on hermit crabs
4th theory:You crab may have a disorder
5th theory: your crab may have an exo problem
6th theory: It may be a development in your crab

Hope any of that helps . tell us if the exo completely covers the eye.

[cometstream]

Forgot theory number 7
theory 7: it may be perfectly normal

[Carrie]

Thanks for writing back, Cometstream! I've got lots of pics of Arwen, considering I've had her so long. Trick is actually finding them. This one I found shows her pretty soon after her last molt (late July 2010), and when I looked close, her eyes were still the same. It's something to do w/ her development, not an impending molt... I was hoping it was a weird pre-molt thing, since she's just going into her fall pre-molt phase now (lasts c. 3 months--she's just now starting to slow down a little) but it seems her eyes don't improve even immediately after a molt. All the 2008-2010 pics are like this, post-molt and pre-molt... BUT in one from early 2008 there's part of her right eye actually missing (like she lost it in a fight) that you can only see very well close up, and she's grown that back since, so that both eyes now look the same. I wish we had veterinarians we could go to! She's not even a jumbo yet and I've seen jumbos w/ "regular" eyes, in comparison--that have developed proportionally to their body size. I inherited a crab who is Arwen's size from one of my customers at work, and that crab has perfectly normal eyes. However, I don't know a lot about that crab's history, except that it was owned for about a year, which means a lot more time in the wild in recent years (i.e. under normal non-captive conditions?) than Arwen. So I figure it's something to do w/ her being in captivity all this time--either growth- or nutrient-related, or both. The new crab of the same size is what got me wondering about Arwen's comparatively peculiar eyes. Thanks for the reply, Cometstream... for taking the time to come up w/ the theories!

[Carrie]

Is there any food that's known to be specifically good for normal hermit crab eye development, or has anything do do w/ the eyes? (Ref. in the "anatomy" section my post about "shrinking eyes.") An appeal to the nutritionists out there...

[ladybug15057]

Prior to Coenobita Research Site going on leave there was research being done about hermies eyes that appeared as your little ones after a spell. From memory she was also speaking with her herp doctor and it is/was believed to be an infection of the eyes. Possibly due to substrate since many who had these types of eyes develop seemed to burrow and happen after molting and shrinking with each molt. If one looks closely as to where the 'pupil' meets the 'eye stalk' one can see a little 'puffiness' where it almost appears like it is swollen right along the edge of the eye stalk where the pupil is. (sure hope that made sense)

[Carrie]

Thanks, Marie! Arwen has burrowed for every single molt. Everyone does. Did they happen to have any suggestions as to what to do about it, or what substrate was best to use to avoid it from happening? Arwen's of course had more molts than everybody, but they're catching up to her. No one molts above ground. No one else has developed this eye trouble yet... And... is there a possible way to treat the infection that Arwen already has?

[Carrie]

I grabbed a flashlight and Arwen... and that's what it appears to be!! The puffiness is there... is there a link to that site, Marie? There are a lot of different sites that come up if you Google the site name.

[ladybug15057]

Sadly, no. It is a Sister Site and it is "On leave". There was a LOT of great info there, and there were pictures of various things that were discussed too.

[CrabbyJo]

I apologize, I merged the question on food for eyes with this topic, and the post managed to squeeze itself in right below the original first post! Anyway, It is better to keep the questions relating to the situation all together so we can read back to see what information has been shared.

As for food specifically for eyes, personally I do not know, but I would focus on making sure your crab has a good variety of seaweed/algae sources, and a good balance of all the nutrition available.

Here is a good beginner's list: http://crabstreetjournal.com/xoops/modu ... =epicurean

Hopefully someone has a better answer for you, but that list should be a good start.

Good luck!