New Hermie has black patches on him

Questions about unexpected problems.
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hermiemommy101408
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Re: New Hermie has black patches on him

Post by hermiemommy101408 »

yea i kinda figured he's fixing to molt he's been diggin alot and hangin out by the water bowl...
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CrabbyJo
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Re: New Hermie has black patches on him

Post by CrabbyJo »

Glad he's doing okay :)
Emma, thanks for that description, I'm slowly finding little bits of info about how crabs behave and look premolt so I'm beginning to really know what to watch for. Thanks ;)
Theres so much info out there, its taking a while to trickle it all in to my little brain.
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emmac350
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Re: New Hermie has black patches on him

Post by emmac350 »

What I listed there aren't premolt symptoms. I was describing what the crab would look like if it were to have the infection she was worried about.

Premolt signs are mostly ashy colored eyes, lighter colored exo, seeing the limbs actually pull away from the old exo, etc. They hang out a lot in the salt water bowl (just sit in it) and their mood can change (aggressive getting shy, shy getting super-shy, etc.). They show an interest in digging or staying in the dark, and can eat a bunch to store it up for during the molt.

Honestly, though, most of my guys display premolt signs all the time so don't assume that behavior = molting soon...especially my two antisocial PPs. They just sit on top of the sand, opening down, or dig partway in and just stay there for up to a few days before moving...they just like to be left alone, so I leave them alone. My four new guys (well, three...Nibs has been dug under for a week or so by now) are still shy in general but are getting much better at not running away when I come by the tank, when I change the food, etc. They don't like when I mist in the tank...guess they don't like the rainstorm or something...they're all getting ready to dig down though, which could have something to do with it. One (Slightly) just dug down between my salt and fresh water bowl, presumably to molt as I've caught him several times in the saltwater...as shown by the giant pile of sand that suddenly materialized there. Toodles and Curly have both dug under a few times for a day or so, but are mostly just enjoying basking in the heat lamp.

They're easiest to tell when they're postmolt...they have such sharp foot tips! My PPs actually had black tips on their feet...we'll see what Nibs looks like here in a few weeks. They sometimes seem smaller, but give them some time and they'll "beef up."
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Rack, 23 Sep 08; Benny, 23 Sep 08; Slightly, 3 Jan 09; Nibs, 3 Jan 09; Curly, 3 Jan 09; Spaz, 5 Jul 09

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ladybug15057
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Re: New Hermie has black patches on him

Post by ladybug15057 »

I'm slowly finding little bits of info about how crabs behave and look premolt so I'm beginning to really know what to watch for.
I have done an article on the many pms's I have observed on our hermies here. There are quite a few. I had done the article a few years ago, because at one time hermies were being treated for illnesses when in reality all they were doing was displaying different pms signs. Each hermie can display a different pms, and I have also have had it happen where the same hermie has displayed a different form of pms as well.

http://crabstreetjournal.com/xoops/modu ... storyid=80
Marie (aka ladybug15057)

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CrabbyJo
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Re: New Hermie has black patches on him

Post by CrabbyJo »

PMS lol. moody... reclusive... hahahhahah.
Sorry couldn't resist.
Anyway, glad you cleared that up and it looks like I need to spend even MORE time reading! There really is so much to learn about these guys.

I get a lot from the info articles, but it gels more for me when I read about people's actual experiences.

Glad that the crab is doing well!
6 hermit crabs - 3 PPs and 3 Equadorians
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Please feel free to share information from this website, but please be sure to give credit and a link back to the information. Failure to give credit is plagiarism. Don't take credit for someone else's information.
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