2 small crabs moulting - burial time?

[emmac350]

Hooray! I love the tiny noises freshly molted crabs make. My Benny has a habit of opening a window to the outside world and then scraping her new sharp leg tips on it. It makes a weird noise that's halfway between a squeak and a fingernails-on-chalkboard noise.

[Ginger]

Update above (don't think an edit appears red on the topics, not meaning to be pushy, just seeing if this works). Thanks, ginger.

[emmac350]

Ginger - how many crabs are still molting in your main tank? I've never removed non-molters to an ISO so the molters in the main tank have peace and quiet, so I'm a little unsure on what you're waiting for to put the crabs back into their normal tank.

Typically an ISO is only used for sick crabs or surface molters (or if you accidentally dig up a freshly molted crab during a deep clean). Beyond that, there's no real reason to move your surface crabs as long as you have enough space in your main tank for all of the crabs in it.

[Ginger]

Apologies Emmac, maybe I wasn't very clear!

On my holidays 4 weeks back, I decided it was a good time to do a deep clean of my tank, as a lot of my gear also needed recalibration, cleaning, buying new stuff etc.What I really needed to do was replace my substrate as I was unhappy with what I was using, clean the rust off of the screen lid of the tank, and wash the glass walls because they were getting marks left on them from the de chlorinated water spray. I was unable to do this with any crabs in the tank, up or down, so I moved my surface crabs into an isolation tank thinking the the 2 moulting crabs would only be a short while, when they surfaced I would be able to move them into the iso also while I performed maintenance before moving all 4 back into the main tank. The two moulting crabs had moulted with me about 4-5 times each, so I was familiar with there usual times... Gilly came up, But Sal has suprised me and has now been down for around 2 months... (He is the size of a 20c piece/little smaller than a walnut). So I was asking whether I should wait a little longer for Sal and leave the crabs in the ISO on a small covering of sand, or should I provide moulting space for them?

If you have more questions please ask

[emmac350]

If you think he's probably done molting but is just hardening/being stubborn, you can very carefully remove the substrate in layers. You'll need a third location to put him while you finish the deep clean and put the crabs in ISO back into the main tank then can put him into the ISO. Does that make sense? Even a Kritter Keeper would work for that purpose as it wouldn't be for more than a few hours.

Being dug up post molt won't necessarily kill a crab - I did it to my Nibs, who I'd just seen four days before, and she was very freshly molted. I put her in my ISO tank (the other crabs were in the Rubbermaid gym) under a hidey with fresh food, water bowls, and her exo with her and she did make it, but it took a while for her to calm down afterwards.

[Ginger]

Ok, thankyou very much Emmac, when I have some time probably next weekend I will try this.

[emmac350]

Good luck and hopefully he'll come up before then so you don't even need to find him yourself!

[Ginger]

Ok, so today I spent 5hrs With the HCs. GREAT news!!! Sal is fine, I found him in the substrate and gently lifted him out, put him into an empty icecream container with a coconut hut over the top of him. He immediately came out, wiggling his antennae and climbed on top of the hidey to get a better view of things (I think!) so at the moment, I have put him into the freshly cleaned ISO in a quiet room with: kidney dishes of salt and fresh water, a moss pit with extra shells, fresh and dried food, a hidey hut, 1/2 inch layer of mixed sand/coco fibre, and a towel over the whole tank to make it dark. Is this OK? How long should I wait before returning him to the main tank? Should I provide burrowing space?

Thanks for all the help ginger.

[emmac350]

I'm glad he's okay! I'd say to leave him where he is in ISO until he's back to his usual level of activity and eating/drinking regularly. At that point, feel free to reintroduce him to his fellow tank-mates!

[Ginger]

Ok, will do emmac. Thanks very much for all your help, will post an update when I move him back in.

Edit to ask:
Emmac, I was not sure of your reply, but do I provide moulting space for Sal? He has been eating, drinking, upturning ornaments, looking at new shells, etc. but also he has been digging through the shallow layer of sand a lot. I'm not sure if he wants/needs to go back down to finish moulting...?

Edit:
After 1 week and 2 days in the ISO with normal, curious activity and plants of food and drink, I put Sal back into the main tank on Monday (had a few days to keep an eye on them). He seems fine at the moment, plenty of activity, food/water and interaction with the other crabs. thanks for everyone's help.