1st crab death

[kismewil]

Hello all...it's been a long while since my last post.

We've had the crab's for 1 1/2 years...thought we were doing pretty good. But we just lost a guy

I live in washington state, so we are in summer right now. 2 weeks ago I did a deep clean. Cleaned the glass with water and vinegar. Boiled all the beach rocks, new coco fiber, baked in the oven. Baked the coco hut, logs and moss pit made out of hemp. Everything that I would regularly do. Nothing is different or new besides the coco fiber.

2 of them have already molted and come up. They seem to get "happy" and molt whenever I change the coco fiber and they come up pretty fast.

The biggest and darkest guy I have had been sitting on a rock for the last 3 days, drinking fresh water. Today since he was still in the same spot, I decided to check on him and touch him. No movement. I took him out and he fell easily out of the shell. Looking at him closely, I see maggots on his abdomen. Not sure how long he has been dead for...

I have noticed that there are fruit flies in there and am having a hard time getting rid of them.

Since the deep clean the humidity has been very high (85-90%)and am having a hard time getting it to go down. Keeping the lid slightly open during the day is probably how the fruit flies have gotten in there. The other thing I have noticed (even before the deep clean) is that since it has been so warm here this last month, the crabs have been out and very active even during the day.



Im sad to loose this guy..he was a favorite with the biggest personality. I will take pictures and post them if anyone would like to see them. Not sure if it was male or female or even what kind it was. I loved his dark red coloring.....We will miss the little guy....

[CrabbyJo]

I'm so sorry to hear of your loss It's always sad when we lose one, especially one we've loved for so long.

I'm going to suggest that you first identify your fruit flies - make sure they are what you think they are. Here is an article with pictures to help you: http://crabstreetjournal.com/xoops/modu ... storyid=12

if you aren't sure from the pictures there, do a google search in images for the one you think it might be. I myself had what I thought were fruit flies, but they were in my moss pit and around it, so I read up on them and discovered they were the humpbacked flies (phorid flies), which are carnivores. They came from the moss itself. I now boil ocean salt water and soak my moss in it before putting it into the crabitat.
Fruit flies are generally not harmful, and would not have harmed your crab, I think. I do not know where they generally lay their eggs, so can't be sure. Maybe someone else here may have more info to share.

Again, I'm so sorry for your loss.

[JamesW]

I am so sorry for your lost, Expecially as it is your first loss, Try to keep the flys out and then it will keep the maggots out.
JamesW

[Wai]

That is so terrible to hear... sorry for your loss.

[ladybug15057]

I am sorry for your loss, and even with our best attempts sometimes things happen.
Fruit flies are known to lay their eggs in the substrate and a little reading about the phorid flies:

http://crabbywiki.com/tiki-index.php?page=Phorid+Flies

[Gizaroo]

So sorry for your loss

[kismewil]

Thanks for your concern everybody...

Are gnats and fruit flies the same thing? I havent looked it up yet, just thought about it.

Keeping a good eye on the other guys at this point. I may even take most of the cocofiber out and bake it all over again....along with everything else. I just really dont want to stress the others out.

[ladybug15057]

Technically, No, fruit flies and gnats are not the same pest.