Pale crabbies...:[

[hermiesrokmysox]

feed them cutle bone mixed in with their food. That really helps my crabs. And feed them fruits and veggies and meats.

[Hermies4Ever]

alright. well i have given them raisins and cranberries today. my other crabs went crazy in the food dish but pokey wanted nothing to do with it. he is dug down rite now along with the other resuce crab so hopefully they will molt and come up bette then they went down.

[whitepurplefrog]

I've bought hermit crabs that were pale before, It's mostly the poor conditions that make them pale. Like lack or good nutri, humidity, heat, water, salt, calcium. Just take care of your new crab like you do your others and once he goes though a molt he should be nice and pretty again. Also sometime before they go into molt, they look pale because of the old sick is about to come off.

[z06vette387]

Don't hermies get a little pale before they molt?

[Jedi_Sena]

Good question! Well, prior to a molt the surface looks dull (not shiny) and kinda pastey/crusty white, but the color underneath should stay bright even though it is less visible through the crustier surface.

[z06vette387]

Does this always happen though? My largest hermie, has been down for a while. He is very colorful, beautiful purple/red colors? Is he molting or what.

FYI: his big claw is a little smaller than a quarter. Just an idea on size.

[Jedi_Sena]

It is hard to read pre-molt. I'm only now getting an idea and they still pull surface molts on me and suprises of all kinds. Tank does get a crusty film and stays fairly active and keeps his appetite right up until his molt. Zamboni seems to starve and go underground long before he gets his business done. He came up from a molt looking fabulous, ate everything in site for about 3 days, then went underground and I would have thought he had died (he's been down there for so long) but he keeps leaving me a window to the cave that moves slightly form day to day so his premolt lasts forever and he's almost completely inactive long before he gets into the actual molt. They are both PPs, but they behave differently in pre-molt.

The only thing I know for sure is that when they are freshly molted they have long black fingernails and they generally don't molt until those are worn down quite a bit.

[Jedi_Sena]

I don't have any straws, so I don't know what your guy is up to. He's also bigger than mine, since mine have dime-sized claws. Bigger crab means longer molt, but the actual shedding of exo only takes a few minutes, the rest of the time is spent resting/recooperating and allowing their new exo to harden--that's what takes so long.

Mine don't always look crusty before a molt. Usually the first one to go underground looks crusty and then everyone else starts tunnelling. I always have mass molts or domino molts so mine signal each other and then my tank is a ghost town for a month.

[z06vette387]

I don't have any straws, so I don't know what your guy is up to. He's also bigger than mine, since mine have dime-sized claws. Bigger crab means longer molt, but the actual shedding of exo only takes a few minutes, the rest of the time is spent resting/recooperating and allowing their new exo to harden--that's what takes so long.

Mine don't always look crusty before a molt. Usually the first one to go underground looks crusty and then everyone else starts tunnelling. I always have mass molts or domino molts so mine signal each other and then my tank is a ghost town for a month.

i have all PP...if you are referring to my post????

[Hermies4Ever]

thanks. what about banana or watermelon? my crabs loves those but i cant seem to get the color back into this crab!