Claude the Clawless...

[Carrie]

To anyone who's followed the saga of little Claude;

Claude has died. This afternoon, in fact. I think she was unable to molt. Thanks to everyone here for offering us support and answers and best wishes.

Final name: Claudette (means 'persistent' while Claude/Claudia meant 'lame') Gustave (hurricane name vaguely un-gendered) - Katrina II (anniv. today and something impending, at least from the way the media's got it).

In honor of Claude... spend some extra time w/ the littlest ones or the ones who hide ... the ones who get overlooked sometimes. They're all special. Aren't they?

I apologize for posting a 'death notice' ... but Claude was a very strange case. I had such hopes... and he had a good mostly 5 mos. For a clawless little one... SHE, I mean.

Why did Kali IV molt in my hand? B/c I hold them for a little while when they've died, or perhaps dying, to say goodbye. I feel that sometimes maybe a warm hand and gentle touch will help ease the transition. I hoped so much that Claude would do the same.

Thanks to everyone again.

[krabby_katie]

Awww! I think I might cry. I thought that he was going to make it, and molt, and get his claws back. I'm sooo sorry.

[Carrie]

After I wrote that I did cry... I miss him so much. He got to be such a part of my life. I really thought he'd make it b/c he lived thru all that. I think he almost did. He wasn't able to molt, never mind the heat and humidity. I know he was ready to... and perhaps you aren't supposed to see the new skin at the joints after all.

It was a long shot. But I know he had a good last 4 1/2 months. He was bright-eyed and curious and always seemed to like when I'd feed him, once he realized I wasn't attacking... Only in the last 2 weeks has he seemed miserable, and that's just being pre-molt.

I really believed he... oops, SHE'D make it. She even got bigger. But she couldn't change shells w/o the big claws. She'd hold onto a new shell but couldn't seem to get past that point where you measure the shell w/ your claws. That was one thing I couldn't help with. Her shell was actually too small at the end. And 5 months was pretty soon to molt again, b/c these guys molt 10-12 months apart. We KNOW that crab got a lot of food... so she grew fast. But it was still a long shot. Claude knew what to eat but couldn't tell me. I got some good advice on here and took to putting different things out on the bed and letting Claude choose. Wait a few hours and Claude would be clutching the cuttlebone, or the side of the food dish w/ Treat in it...

Mass molts + weird hurricane seasons?? I was the one predicting hurricanes based on this year's mass molt. Just when I gave up there's several storms at once again (like 2005) and then Gustav... Hmmm... I wonder...

Claude should be a book for kids: How Claude Got His Claws Back... Only my book would have a happier ending. It's hard to believe she's gone. (And hard to change all these pronouns). I took several pics of her on 8/27. The gel-limbs. The times we NEED a hermit crab vet.

The clawless hermit crab who lives 5 months... not something likely to be seen again. I do know now it's possible to help them survive almost anything. And if anybody needs to know anything EVER about hand-feeding, I'm the one... and I learned a lot about nutrition and what foods crabs are drawn to in what stage of their molting/life cycle.

I know w/ Claude that I truly did everything I could, at least. He should've been dead in the first week of April.

Thanks for your condolences. Claude and Sandy and Calypso and Aleta somewhere. Claude turns out to like the new claws too much and turns into a bully.

[krabby_katie]

Haha, yeah. I wish Sandy was still here. I only had her for like a week, but I loved her so much.

[Carrie]

She's a cutie. Some of the ones we love the most we have for the least time. But the time they do have w/ us is pretty good since those of us on the Forum know what we're doing and share all our info. A lot of the time they're either too stressed by being caught, shipped, and spending too much time in overcrowded pet shop conditions (sometimes squalid and inhumane)... or their molting cycle's been destroyed b/c of the above. She got to escape the pet shop for a home w/ lots of food and water and shells and an owner who loved her, and that has to have been something for her, you know?

And for Claude, too. Claude was around since sometime before 2006--perhaps 4 yrs, perhaps only 2. I know some of these little ones have been around that long. I notice they're all GROWING, too. There's only one littlest one left and that one had to originally be tiny b/c I remember them not being this big.

Perhaps it's the new emphasis on protein as well as calcium. The chicken drumstick has become a weekly event. (They get 3 in strategic places in the tank.) Yes, there are some fried remnants on there, as well as the meat nearest the bone. In theory they need some oils every now and again. It's either to help their skins stay supple, or perhaps something they need nutritionally. Depending on nutrition each crab either goes for the meat or the fried part at each end. Arwen, who I've had the longest, is more drawn to the fried part. I think that's something she's lacking nutritionally. It's a theory I have b/c while everyone says butter is bad for them... I once saw Arwen rubbing butter into her skin w/ her legs. (The world's first self-buttering snack?) Ever since then I've let them have small quantities of the chicken's fried remnants, and a small amount of noodles or pierogi w/ butter. They don't get a lot of it, so they don't get our human "McDonalds" syndrome, but if they need it it's there for them. Some of them rub it into their skin while eating a little and some of them seem to go for the parts that are just meat or the noodle itself.

I've always offered them a variety of foods b/c they can't communicate what they need, but they most definitely KNOW. If something seems to be a favorite it gets repeated. The reaction to the noodles and/or chicken is amazing--everyone comes out and eats some. If they get the stuff too often they lose interest in it. That's why the mainstays are Tetra BabyShrimp or Bloodworms and FMR Treat, with some cuttlebones broken into easy-to-hold pieces around the tank. And oak leaves, green when they get them (in the summer) and brown later on. They seem to like both, but I can't supply green all year. They love their oak leaves. These guys don't like peanut butter but they love apples. No popcorn or eggs b/c there seems to be no interest (considering scrambled eggs as a weekly thing to try). Now that there's constant heat and humidity they're very active and I think they'll be able to find food more interesting, plus they'll be more likely to come across something in the tank when I put it in, of course. I offered AK a little bit of birthday cake but she was not at all interested. She loves apples. And grapes. And Treat. Her "sweet tooth" is directed in a more positive direction.

I got this "fruit/flower" powdered treat in a can as an afterthought online one time and they love it so much that I'm going to have to buy more.

There's the tall coral candleholder that they can climb; in the 3 sections on different levels for votive candles there are foods--the fruit/flower powder, BabyShrimp, and Treat at the top. That way they can have all 3 foods available at once and it's probably fun to climb it and discover something tasty. At first I was wondering if it might not be cruel to make them climb to eat (there is also a dish on the tank bottom that gets soemthing new--from the "staples" list--every few days) but they seem to enjoy themselves. It's also supposed to be an incentive to encourage them to climb and move around more. I know they're very curious and active so I want them to have interesting little discoveries here and there in the tank.

Weirdest thing I saw a hermit crab eat (besides melted ice cream): driftwood. They also like oak tree bark.

I digress... sudden essay on nutrition... suprise.

Hope all your molters show up soon.

[kellisdomain]

I am so sorry for the loss of your crab. It really is hard not to get attched to the little critters.