Bubba

[freetoki]

Right now I am in the exact same situation with my biggest crab, Bubba. I just now found him limp. After I come home from school, I immediately check the animals. Bubba was sitting in the salt water dish of the terrarium, in a drinking position, but I could already tell he was lifeless. His body hangs out, and if I lift him up all the way, he may fall out. His eyes are down, so I suspect he is dead. He has recently moulted by the way. No twitches, nothing. When I went to bed last night, he was in the same spot. In the salt water dish, so I am assuming he died overnight.

ISO for a few days perhaps, or is the "eyes down" position a definite gaurantee?

[ladybug15057]

No, the eye stalks laying down is NOT a definite sign of death. When a hermie is actually in the molting process their eye stalks lay down then too. Due to being so weak and the loosening of the old exo from the new exo when molting they will also slide out of their shells, no way for them to hold on. A molting hermie looks EXACTLY like a dead hermie so it is always best to give benefit of the doubt.

[emmac350]

The smell is the way to tell death - there's really no surefire way other than that. I have a few crabs who sleep with their eyes tucked down between their claws (it's rather cute, really, but I've only seen my Es do it). I hope everything works out with your crab!

[freetoki]

Today, when I lifted him up, he did not slip out of his shell as easily. He only slips out o reveal his eyes. Does this indicate anything, negative or positive?

( Bubba is about the size of a clemintine. I suspect he has lived about 10 years?) If he is dead, I think he was overstressed. I have a ten gallon, and he lived with two other much smaller hermies. When he began to moult I knew it would be a dificult time for him, so I tried to take every precaution. But as a beginner, unfortunately you have to learn things this way sometimes. I truly hope he is just molting. He does have a very faint fishy smell to him though.

[ladybug15057]

When in doubt a hermie should be left alone. If he is molting and is disturbed it can be harmful/lethal to them. If they are dead, there isn't anything we can do so best to give benefit of the doubt and leave them be.

http://crabstreetjournal.com/xoops/modu ... storyid=57

I am sorry too, but the dead rotted fish odor is not a guarantee of life or death either. I have had quite a few rotted fish smelling hermies throughout the years. (not sure why) and they were very much alive. So please ALWAYS check for any slight twitch of life prior to taking any further actions. You'll be happy you did, I know I have been especially with my first dead smelling hermie back in June 2001 and SnowMan is still very much alive today and still scooting about. He was our first dead smelling live hermie/molter.

[CrabbyJo]

I know I definitely appreciate the input of people like Marie who have had their hermies for 9+ years. She really knows her stuff, as she's got over 80 hermies, and has lost only one or two is it, Marie, since you started crabbing?

But please do take the advice and not pick up a hermie that seems to be in distress. If he is not dead, picking him up may stress him enough to push him over that way.
Best to leave him alone, even for days, until you smell a very rotten fish odor coming from the tank. A slight fishy odor is not enough, it should pretty much knock you over, if the crab is on the surface. Especially a crab of the size you describe, it will smell very strongly of death within a few days of passing.

[emmac350]

So how exactly do you determine death, Marie? I know I've had a few dead crabs (two), and the first one had stopped moving (hadn't started smelling yet) and was just gazing blankly out of the glass, no movement, no response to being handled. Second one dropped his shell, stopped moving, and husband walked into the apartment and said that it reeked, to get him out of there. However, after my initial 'I think he's dead' diagnosis, I can't say I looked much closer.

[ladybug15057]

No lost a few more than that CrabbyJo, but a few were due to PPS. (knocking on wood for this next statement) our last passing was 6 + years ago. A couple were lost due to blunders unfortunately. Lack of knowledge about the difference in E's and PP's our first year of crabbing and lack of ocean water. Shell shock passed in 9 months. One due to being overheated why I am so persistant about checking substrate temps and have temp controllers on all tanks and iso's here. And I had a post molter pass, we had a water leak under our slab home and they jack hammered for 2 days. I assume it was just too much for a post molter who should of had quiet during his recovery.. well at least our 'normal' home noises which did not include a jack hammer being used indoors.
My way of telling, it is hard and I am leery when trying to determine if one passed. Smell, yes is sort of a way, but I always place water within the shell and do not blink to see if there is any type of a twitch. If not then place water within the shell and have it mainly upside down... really more of a slant to hold the water in. This way if the hermie is that weak they can still usually flip their shell down. If the shell moves.... there is life. This can only usually be determined in a iso type area. Also, the underside of the abdomen of a passed hermie is almost a smokey black where normally it is not.