Naked, Soft, Translucent Crab

Questions about unexpected problems.
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HGShells
Zygote
Zygote
Posts: 1
Joined: 15 Jul 2018, 05:24
Gender: Female
Hermit crabs: 2
Total gallons: 10
Total tanks: 1

Naked, Soft, Translucent Crab

Post by HGShells »

Hello, I came across this forum in a Google search. It's kind of an emergency.

I live in the tropics, right next to a beach. This is where I found my first hermit crab -- I call him HG Shells. I've had him for two months now and he's doing really well. He looooves papaya.

A few hours ago I went on my daily walk on the beach and found another hermit crab. This crab was naked with a shell lying right next to it. It's abdomen was facing up. I used an oyster shell to scoop it up to gently coax it into the shell, but while it was wriggling in the oyster shell, it refused to go into the shell. As it was getting dark I decided to bring it home to see what I could do for it.

On the way home it righted itself, so it was sitting abdomen downwards on my oyster shell. I removed HG Shells from his tank and put this new crab inside, still on the oyster shell. I spritzed it with non chlorinated water and put a bit of papaya right next to it. I also rinsed its shell (which was full of debris) in non chlorinated water and placed the shell right next to it. There is another similar sized shell nearby too. However the new crab has since resumed its original position, abdomen upwards, curled up. Both the pincers are also facing upwards.

In the light I noticed that this new crab is very soft looking, very translucent, and the claws are very thin, almost wiry, compared to HG Shells.

Please help me, I really want to save this crab.

Thank you in advance,
Andrea
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