Almost certain large crab is molting. A few questions

[llmercll]

I've already moved the E away, but should I check on (disturb) the PP or let him be? He's already been down almost a month so should be coming up soon anyway...assuming he wasn't eaten...

Is it possible he's in distress and by checking on him I could help?

thanks!

[Wai]

Leave them alone now and do nothing.

[ladybug15057]

You mentioned he went down about 3 days after I posted last, which would of made it Sept.. 20th, a tad over a month ago. This is not very long for one to be burrowed, and being he was possibly already disturbed a little by digging him up will only stress him even more so and could be lethal.
If this helps any...if he was gotten to there is nothing you can do, but if he is still recovering and you disturb him it could possibly kill him. So it is time to put on those pacing slippers, let nature take its course and believe everything is fine.
If the urge gets to you... come here and post instead for the next few weeks.

[llmercll]

He came up today!!! It seems to be a successful molt, I'm so relieved!!

The only negative thing I noticed is that he's missing part of one of his legs. Just the bottom joint on one of them. Before molting, he wasn't missing any of his legs. What do you think caused this? Is it likely the E ate part of his leg? I would think not, considering the E was only down there a few days ago, so I doubt the PP was vulnerable.

Does he need special care? Can the missing leg cause an infection or anything of that nature? He's up from molting pretty early...maybe the E ate his old exoskeleton and he surfaced to find food?

Any ideas on what to do next would be really appreciated. I still have them separated and don't know if I should reintroduce them yet or if the PP needs special care. I don't know what I'd do without you guys,

thanks so much!

[ladybug15057]

He should be fine, just offer both waters and keep an eye on the end of the leg. Sometimes they find it hard to remove all their exo, and at times a joint may not come off.
I would suggest to watch him for a couple days and make sure he is not longer weak. What does his coloring look like, solid or blotchy?
Offer him some high calcium, protein, chitin foods for today and tomorrow and back to his regular nutritious diet. Prior to introducing them a dip in the community fresh water pond or a bath together to wash off the molting odor and so they smell the same to cut back on aggressive behavior.
Congratulations on the successful molt, and see how well pacing slippers work?

A little note too, CrabWorks does use Eco earth, but only in the molting nest and uses small river rock in the crabitat. (use to be very ultra fine gravel)

[llmercll]

He looks pretty good actually, aside from the leg. His exo was always a little blotchy, with some darker marks, but after this molt he definitely seems more vibrant. His activity level is good too, he's climbing all over the place.

He's what I consider to be my "weakest" crab, since compared to my other two he's not as vibrant, active, or antenna crazy. He just never seemed as "healthy" as the other two, and maybe the leg has something to do with it. Maybe he was in captivity for a while or was stressed bad, or just held off molting for longer than most, idk.

But yeah. He's doing well. I've got him separated still with fresh, salt, food, cholla, and a hut coco mat and net. I will keep it like this for a day or two, give him a good bath, and remove the separator =)

Thanks a lot for your support both of you =)

Now that all three of my crabs have successfully molted, and hopefully won't again for a couple more months (haha), I need to figure out a better way to "handle" this. I can't be the only one with this issue, so what do you guys do to prevent the potential dangers of cannibalism? I can't make my substrate too much deeper in the 10gallon, and don't know how to spot a pre-molter.

thanks again!

[Wai]

It is impossible to prevent cannibalism besides keeping two hermit crabs in separate tanks. If you have hermit crabs that stay above the surface all the time except to moult, you could isolate them when you notice them digging everywhere.

[llmercll]

Separator is out and all the crabs are doing great =)

Do you iso or partition your tank if you suspect a molter? I'm having difficulty managing three....you guys must have one molting almost all the time!

thanks!

[Wai]

I have a critter keeper (which I nickname the 'VIP room') inside the main tank to isolate a suspected moulter. I put Eris in there at least three times, but he kept popping back up unmoulted so I gave up. Usually I only target the larger hermit crabs - I don't bother isolating the small ones since they dig for fun more often than the larger ones and their moulting patterns are less predictable.

[llmercll]

That's interesting, Wai. When you suspecting molting do you actually put the crab in the vip room, fill it with substrate, and then partially bury it? Or do you just put it on top of them, upside down.

For now I guess I will just keep dividing my tank. I bought something meant especially for that so it should do a better job than the taped up piece of cardboard I had before =p