"Two" of my hermies molted together and were attacked by other hermies, and one went naked. I picked up the naked one and put his shell back on him, the poor guy. So I gathered what was left of their exo and them and put them together. I was trying to peice the story together for the next few days. Shelly, one of them that was attacked, seemed way more shy that usual, and the other one seemed way more outgoing than usual. Poor Shelly, he was missing a leg!! He either dropped it or it was ripped off. I finally filled in the blank spots for the story, and this is what really happened.
Shelly went down for a molt, and was dug up and attacked by the other hermies. One of them, (let's just call him Bob, he doesn't have a name) Bob took his shell, that is why Shelly was naked. Bob and the other hermies had eaten most of his exo. I thought that Bob had been molting too, so I ISOed an ATTACKER and MOLTER together!!!! I feel so horrible!! I ended up putting Shelly in Bob's shell because Bob was a shell stealer and I couldn't figure it out before!!! When I figured that out, I immediately took Bob out and put him where he belonged. Shelly is doing just fine now, thank God, and he already has a little gel limb where his missing leg is. Oh, this is the worst thing that has happened to my hermies since I have been crabbing. I feel so bad.
Last edited by Hannah on 24 Nov 2004, 06:38, edited 1 time in total.
It is unfortunate, but crabs do attack other crabs for their shells at times.
Even those not normally aggressive can be very mean and ruthless when it comes to shells.
My 'sweet' Megatron rather recently stole my mother's crab Astre's shell. I gasped when I found a crab naked in the shade of the crabbing log, hunched up in the dark. I thought it would never happen, but sure enough, nekkid crabbie. She didn't want his shell, or any shell for that matter. First and foremost, I tried to get her into a shell. Any shell! Crabs don't survive long if they aren't in a shell, so for the first hour, I put her in the shell-changing box, where everyone goes after their weekly bath so she could pick a new one.
After that hour passed, she had not picked a shell and was beginning to become lethargic. So, I picked her little butt up gingerly and tried to PUT her in a shell. Maybe they have muscles to tighten or loosen their abdomen, or have some really super-cool ninja move to get their butts into the shells, but I couldn't her ito a shell of appropriate size and dropped her into a shell FAR too large, but she fit into it. Even still, she kept climbing out of it when we put her back in the dark!!!
Eventually, I took her out of the ISO tank, put her /back/ in the five-sizes-too-large shell and handed her to her adoptive mommy...my mother, who held her mainly to try to keep her in A shell for longer than 10 seconds. Two hours passed and she was still trying to get out of the shell. I took her from my mother and examined her closely. All this time, she had been slowly weakening, putting up less and less resistance, less antennae movement, less strength, and now...she was heaving. Not just heaving, but I started seeing a clear liquid trickle down her side after getting a drop of it in my hand. At first, I thought 'Crab pee?' but no, she continued trickling this liquid.
Looking even closer, I saw that her exo was infact damaged, when I had originally thought she had come out unscathed. The back of her body was cracked. We had been expecting her to molt for some time, as she kept digging uncharacteristically, but she hadn't yet. Just when I thought all of the heaving and liquid combined with the increased decrease in activity would mean the death of her, I looked closely at her legs...the joints to her body were very pink and shiny. My mother and I conferred, and after watching her for two minutes, half of her leg-exo was off already. So, she was moved back to the darkness of ISO to molt in privacy.
And that, my darlings, is how it came to pass that a hermit crab molted in my hand. ^_^
Aww, I thought she was a gonner for a second, you scared me!! Poor hermie. Yeah, when Shelly was naked, (who I thought was Bob at the time) I tried to put him in a shell, but he wouldn't go. So I finally gave up, then tried about 30 minutes later. I got him in there, but he tried to get out right away. So he would hop half way out, then I gace him a gentle tap in the back to scare him into his shell, and it worked, He has been in there since then. I think the other hermies attacked him for his exo also. Luckily they didn't eat any of him, because crabs have been known to do that.
My crab Kali IV molted in my hand twice. She seemed to let go of her shell during it, too! I knew from watching her that whatever was happening was something big--she was either going to finally molt or finally pass on. It was much the same experience--especially that first time. I wish I'd had a video camera b/c molting is not often witnessed, as lots of crabs dig and hide to molt. Kali always molted above ground, and both times I picked her up I didn't know she was really molting at the time. I just kept spraying her w/ spring water for extra moisture and held her, figuring the warm hand might help, afraid to move her even to put her back down. It took her about half an hour both times to molt, and I had my friends at work (also Kali's friends) calling me to ask how she was doing (I called and told them).
She would also change shells in my hand, too. I learned how to "read" antennae movements that way. I once took Mom thru the process of shell-changing, telling Mom what Kali was concentrating on based on those antennae. Their longer antennae always turn toward whatever they are thinking about-- about to leave old shell = antennae flipping backwards towards it; concentrating on new shell = antennae forwards, facing the new shell. Adjusting body w/in new shell = backwards-moving antennae, towards the new shell the crab is in at the time. Kali loved to try on shells. I used to give her one and then watch her play w/ it for about an hour at a time. One friend told her, "Kali, change shells NOW," and she really did about a minute later, which was really funny.
Great molting story... I was worried your poor "nekkid" crab was going to die, too! Kali molted most between noon and 1 PM, and that's when she passed on, having survived more molts than any of my crabs have... with the exception of Saturn, of course: the 5 year or 6 year crab. Saturn is about half the size of Kali IV, but Kali was so active and perpetually hungry that she molted twice as much--4x a year.
As to little "Bob" the shell-stealer, I once put Saturn in the water dish of the main tank a few days after a good molt (tho she was still a bit weak, she could walk around some by then) b/c the dish in the iso tank is kind of small... and Little Guy II had about a MINUTE to attack Saturn, from about halfway across the tank, when I left the room. I came back that minute later to see Saturn naked in the water dish and LGII running off in Saturn's shell. I got Saturn's butt into LGII's shell, but LGII abandoned her shell as too small after a few hours so Saturn got her old shell back anyway. I had no idea that LGII would act so quickly. LGII had shown no interest in shell-switching for well over a year when this happened.
Naked crab tip: always keep the abdomen moist, b/c if it dries up, the crab can't breathe. If I have a crab who won't even let me put it into any shell at all, I cover it w/ a damp washcloth, usually w/ a shell inside w/ it, leaving a little breathing-space, a very small hole where air can get it. If I can stay w/ the crab (i.e., not going to work) I spray the crab's "butt" w/ spring water, which increases activity anyway, so that the crab is more likely to move into a shell. Poor Saturn, post-shell-stealing, moved herself right into the first shell I offered. If a crab leaves its shell (non shell-stealing events) it means something might be out of kilter in its environment--heat, humidity, etc. Or an odd pre-molt thing--they really do let go of their shells when they molt. I have been known to take such crabs into work, too, in the washcloth, w/ several shells to choose from.
Yeah, when Shelly was naked, the first thing I did was dip him in their nearest pool. (Don't remember if it was the saltwater or freshwater, but it doesn't matter, salinity helps more though I think) Then I tried to put him in a shell. I couldn't just leave him like that, I was worried from all the naked hermie stories. So finally he is in a shell.
*Update*
Shelly has now switched into a little tan ice-cream-cone-shaped shell. He has dug back down in the privacy of his own ISO and has molted again. He is growing back the leg that was dropped or ripped off. (at least, I think he has) He is doing better. I will post again when he comes up. I am surprised he is still alive after that ordeal. He has alot to look forward to in the main tank. I deep-cleaned it while he was gone and took out his favorite toy. (I had to, because it molded)
