Hey all, I accidentally bumped one of the little crabs today while switching out his food... he's been 'buried' for about 4 days now, or so, and when I bumped him I saw he definitely moulted. He hasn't touched his exo yet...that I could tell from what I saw briefly, and was still very pale from what I saw of him. I'm happy he molted, but fear I may have disturbed him at a wrong time... :/ Just to prevent further stress on him I put a plastic container over his hole, that has 2 exits, to provide some extra darkness and to prevent me bumping him again til he's ready to come up.
Do you guys think he'll be ok?
The other lil guy (the other of the 2 I'm crabsitting...temporarily, possibly permanently ) is moulting too I'm pretty sure. He hasn't been on the surface for 4 days or so as well...and put all the sand on his section of the tank in a huge mound which he is under...and strategically put his hole under the cork wood and propped sand up with shells, and even dug under the tiny terra cotta pot I have in there.
Hope they're both ok!
Skip is doing great in his 1/3rd of the tank too...can't wait til the other two come up so I can get the tank back in order and put some climbing things in for skip. He needs to exercise badly! lol. He's quite a friendly little guy; I take him out once a day or so to run around.
"My chief concern is to try to be an humble, earnest Christian."- Robert E. Lee
"If you are ashamed to stand by your colors, you had better seek another flag."-author unknown
Owned by 2 Belgian malinois, 1 mixed breed, 3 parrots, 3 bettas and 6 hermies: Blu, Skip, Theo, Scuttles, Spudnut, and 3 new E's. Rip Blaze,Luka, and Banjo.
I would take out the plastic container with exits and replace it with a container without exits. If there is a way for the crab to get out (openings in the sides), what's to stop your other crabs (like the other buried one) from going IN and stealing his exo? When your crab is able to come up from molting, he'll be digging anyway and can dig his way out safely.
Oh, the tank is still divided into 3 sections...has been for a week and a half. No way any of the crabs can get together.
"My chief concern is to try to be an humble, earnest Christian."- Robert E. Lee
"If you are ashamed to stand by your colors, you had better seek another flag."-author unknown
Owned by 2 Belgian malinois, 1 mixed breed, 3 parrots, 3 bettas and 6 hermies: Blu, Skip, Theo, Scuttles, Spudnut, and 3 new E's. Rip Blaze,Luka, and Banjo.
It's likely that the little bump wasn't too much for him. If your crab is healthy and not stressed and in a good environment anyway, a little bump shouldn't be too much.
I am inclined to think those that are truly greatly disturbed during a molt are the ones that will generally die, and often there are other factors as well, such as proper ocean salt water wasn't provided, or a healthy balanced diet, or many other things.
6 hermit crabs - 3 PPs and 3 Equadorians
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) is moulting too I'm pretty sure. He hasn't been on the surface for 4 days or so as well...and put all the sand on his section of the tank in a huge mound which he is under...and strategically put his hole under the cork wood and propped sand up with shells, and even dug under the tiny terra cotta pot I have in there.
