Bathing after a moult?

hermiesrokmysox · Post by **hermiesrokmysox** » 22 Apr 2006, 08:23

Is bebe in a ISO tank? she should be, espcielly if her exo isn't fully come back. You shuld let her rest before playing, a molt is very stressful to the crab. I leanred most of my info from CSJ (crab street journal) the members there.

Thanx JaciA. (lol, my nic name for you). I never heard about the "salt water good for about-to-molt crabs", maybe i will try that. For now i will just mix fresh and salt water together for bathing. That seems to work.

hermiesrokmysox · Post by **hermiesrokmysox** » 22 Apr 2006, 08:25

PS- cool! I bet Bebe is having a great surprise LOL!

Jaci · Post by **Jaci** » 25 Apr 2006, 04:57

bebe has dug another hole behind the salt water pond, which i find interesting because she just came up from under the sand. fortunately she's dug in the corner so i can see her through the sides. i look in and her antennae are moving all over the place and she moves a little bit, so i know she's ok, but i'm confused. anyway, ike is under, has been for about 2 weeks. he could be considered a medium size. he could be under for another 3 weeks. lemi also went under again a few days ago. he's going for his 2nd molt. it seems like just yesterday he came up from his first one, but it has been 5 weeks. he's considered a small crab, so he's constantly molting it seems like. like i said, not sure what bebe is doing. maybe her exo isn't hardened so she's gone back under until she felt like it has....? should all molts go into ISO after resurfacing? how do you know when their exo is hard? bebe is a smallium, lol, bigger than a small but smaller than a medium. she was under for a little over 3 weeks. she looked different than lemi however. lemi was a light orange, she was more dark, her claw was definately more of a rich purple. they were both very active when they resurfaced as you can tell from my previous reply about bebe. what she's doing now, i dunno, i'm so confused!

hermiesrokmysox · Post by **hermiesrokmysox** » 25 Apr 2006, 07:53

jacicauthon wrote: should all molts go into ISO after resurfacing? how do you know when their exo is hard?

I say yes to the ISOing, unless the exo is fully hardened which brings me to:
you can usully tell when the exo is hardened when the crab look shinny and not like pastel. Some crabs come up with their exo all the way back because they site their in their little hole and wait forever, lol!

molts take time, depending on the crab. Some just sit there until they decide to molt then after the molt sit there until their exo hardens., other keep digging until their hole is so perfect, then molt. Others sit and sit then come up--eat--and burry agian, and some just go down molt, come up.
---it all depends on what the crabs wants to do! so the time really varies.

Jaci · Post by **Jaci** » 26 Apr 2006, 00:13

ok, from what you just told me, bebe was fully hardened and lemi wasn't. we'll see what he looks like after he comes up after this 2nd time, if he's light orange again, he'll go into ISO. but what's interesting is that he was extremely active, let me play with him, he was in the water, on the wall, scaling the huts etc. he stayed a light orange. could it be his age? i mean, he's tiny. i don' thave a picture that shows how small he really is and he's under right now. the shell that he's in is a conch shell, 1 inch long. if that tells you anything.

hermiesrokmysox · Post by **hermiesrokmysox** » 26 Apr 2006, 05:52

do you have any cuttle bone or egg shells you could add to his diet for more calcium?

Jaci · Post by **Jaci** » 26 Apr 2006, 06:58

i've put eggshell in there a few times, i haven't recently because everyone's been under. when should i add eggshells again?

iluvhermies · Post by **iluvhermies** » 26 Apr 2006, 10:59

I have tried the cuttlebone before and my crabs seem to lie the egg shells better. I keep them in there all the time. I also have star fish and coral in there too.

weber86 · Post by **weber86** » 27 Apr 2006, 03:54

How do you put the egg shell in? Do I need to do anything to it after taking the egg out? My crab just molted last week and seems bigger and more energetic and I want to do what is best for him - when I thought he may no longer be with us, I was soooo bummed that I'm willing to do whatever it takes to keep him healthy and happy!

Jaci · Post by **Jaci** » 27 Apr 2006, 04:09

that's a good question weber. i'm going to add to it, hopefully we can both get our questions answered at once. should the eggs be hardboiled in distilled water or does it matter? how big should the pieces be? how often are the shells replaced? are they on top of the other food or in a separate dish?