I never see my crabs!! :[

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namoosa
Zygote
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I never see my crabs!! :[

Post by namoosa »

Not long ago I lost my first and what seems to be youngest crab (Lil Buddy):[ He was always hanging out with Shay(another crab) until he became weak. After Lil Buddy passed away Shay started burying himself under the sand. He has nothing to do with Shy(my 3rd crab). They don't fight or anything, but they don't hang out either. He is still under the sand, but I know he's okay because today I looked under the tank and seen him moving. He just hasn't acted right since his friends death! I have seen him come up for water, but he went back down and has been down for 6 days now. The weird thing about this story is.... Shy was always climbing a tree branch and walking around on the surface until a week ago. Now he's also buried! I don't bother either of them because I don't want to stress them. I miss seeing them! I was thinking about putting another crab with them but I don't know if this is a good time. Should I wait or do you think it's okay to bring in another crab? Thanks for reading.
I Love My Crabs! *Shy* *Shay* *Blister*
I Miss You Lil Buddy and Boo :[
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ladybug15057
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Re: I never see my crabs!! :[

Post by ladybug15057 »

Do you have an iso tank that is set up with all the critieria a main tank has? One should iso new hermies so they have time to adjust to having food, water and extra shells. (things they normally need to fight for in the wild to survive)
Depending on how long you have had them and your tank conditions they may have molting on their minds too.
Marie (aka ladybug15057)

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crabcrazygal
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Re: I never see my crabs!! :[

Post by crabcrazygal »

some times my cabs just dig down, for no aparent reason.
like ladybug 15057 said, you should always put new crabs in iso, to make sure they dont have any bugs, and so that there arnt as many stressors, that could add to pps (post purchase stress)
which can lead to death in some crabs.
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CrabbyJo
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Re: I never see my crabs!! :[

Post by CrabbyJo »

Namoosa, are you familiar with molting? Your little crab may have dug down to molt and could be there for a few weeks. Please resist the urge to move the tank and peek at him, this stresses him, and during molting crabs are at their most vulnerable. Enough stress can kill them during this time.
Imagine if your world suddenly moved without warning when you were enjoying a nice nap.

To learn more about molting, visit This page about molting.
You'll find some good information at that link to help you understand why your crab is digging down and staying down.
Don't worry about him, he will be fine, as long as you give him a nice comfortable place to do what he needs to do.

If you do get any new crabs, definitely do as Marie suggests and isolate the new crab for a few weeks before putting him with the others. He needs to learn that he won't have to fight for food or space, and also you need to make sure he's not carrying any diseases or bugs that would spread to the others. These little guys are harvested from the wild and shipped off as quickly as possible, so could very well be carrying something. Also, it's stressful enough on your crabs you have now to add a new guy, so give the new guy some time to learn to relax and not be so competetive when he does finally get to go into the main tank. Everyone will get along better then. :)
6 hermit crabs - 3 PPs and 3 Equadorians
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namoosa
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Posts: 19
Joined: 05 Oct 2009, 09:53
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Total gallons: 10
Total tanks: 1

Re: I never see my crabs!! :[

Post by namoosa »

Thank you all for the responses! I have decided not to get any new crabs at this time. I have peeked under my tank to see what was going on, but I didn't dig up my crabs! I have read a lot about molting, but I've never had a crab molt, so I'm kind of nervous about this situation. I can't wait to see them again!
I Love My Crabs! *Shy* *Shay* *Blister*
I Miss You Lil Buddy and Boo :[
CrabbyJo
Coenobita
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Joined: 21 Jan 2009, 13:31
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Total gallons: 85
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Location: Alaska

Re: I never see my crabs!! :[

Post by CrabbyJo »

Molting crabs still make us all nervous, no matter how long we've had our crabs. :)
We always worry, as it's the most vulnerable time for them.

Your little guy could be down anywhere from just a week to a couple of months. Each crab is different. I had two who were down for only 4 weeks each. Don't worry too much, if you hear the occasional scritching and scratching on the glass, you know they are still okay. Always keep fresh food and water available, because you never know when they will come up.

When I had one alone in isolation molting, I just changed his water twice a week and put dry food in his tank, putting in maybe one or two pieces of fresh fruit or veggie or meat, just in case.
Sometimes they will come up in the middle of their time underground to refresh their water or get some more food to eat, then go back down again. We just have to let them take care of it, they know what they are doing and it we leave them to it, they do great.

So put your pacing slippers on, it may be a while!
6 hermit crabs - 3 PPs and 3 Equadorians
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Please feel free to share information from this website, but please be sure to give credit and a link back to the information. Failure to give credit is plagiarism. Don't take credit for someone else's information.
User avatar
namoosa
Zygote
Zygote
Posts: 19
Joined: 05 Oct 2009, 09:53
Gender: Female
Hermit crabs: 4
Total gallons: 10
Total tanks: 1

Re: I never see my crabs!! :[

Post by namoosa »

You sure are right! The crabs know what they need better then we do! I never put my crabs into the water, I figure if that's what they want then they'll go themselves! I think there is a limit of what humans can do for animals, they seem happier this way.
I Love My Crabs! *Shy* *Shay* *Blister*
I Miss You Lil Buddy and Boo :[
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