Help!!! Molting emergency

Post by **Carrie** » 10 Dec 2005, 18:41

My fairly large crab Katrina molted (she molted during the hurricane this August, so that's her name) and she lost everything but ONE LEG. She molted in the actual water dish (something that's never happened before) overnight, and I hope that didn't have anything to do with it. I salvaged her exo from the detached legs and I noticed her skin seemed quite thick...

Her eyes, antennae, and mouthparts, and this one leg, are fine.

She's amazingly enough still alive like this (this happened most likely early this morning.)

Does anybody have any advice (besides "let nature take its course"?) I'd like to try to save her or at least keep her from starving to death and dying of thirst--comfortable at the end. I have tweezers to hopefully feed her with and got some eye-droppers. I can stick Treat and bits of exo to honey on a toothpick and she can eat that.

She will not be able to walk like this (I was actually thinking of rigging up a sort of walker for her to attach to the side of the shell with no legs, with small wheels but that is a little while in the future).

Is it possible she could even survive to her next molt, to grow back these missing limbs? Rita lost her big claw just after a molt and molted a month and a half later and grew it back... has anybody had any success with such a thing, and how?

Post by **Wai** » 10 Dec 2005, 21:08

There is a chance that she'll recover, but it is very dim...

Keep her in a safe and relaxing place, and hopefully she won't be in too much pain in her last hours. I'm very sorry about Katrina...

Post by **Carrie** » 11 Dec 2005, 04:29

As of this morning Katrina's still alive. I'm giving her food and water b/c I don't believe that her death should be one of hunger or thirst, even if it does mean she lingers on a little longer--she will at least be comfortable. I thought about it... but I can't bring myself to 'euthanize' her by witholding food and water. She will probably leave her shell at some point and pass on that way... but I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I couldn't say I did all that I could for her while she was still alive. I know she would die of starvation, thirst, or predation in the wild... but she is not living in the wild. Cats, dogs, and even birds have vets who do all they can for these animals. I feel it's my job to do the same, so long as there is life left in her. (Vets do have ways to put animals to sleep in times like this but as I don't know a way to put a hermit crab to sleep this is not an option). I don't know if I could even do it if I knew how to. She appears to be in no pain at all, and that would be the deciding factor. In all respects she is a healthy post-molt crab, except she only has one leg; she holds onto her shell just fine, and can move (if not walk), and she can eat and drink if you give her food and water. I don't know if she will be able to eat enough to survive... but as part of 'making her comfortable' I have to make sure she isn't hungry or thirsty when she dies. I know this may sound bad but in this condition I wish she hadn't survived the molt at all.

Maybe there will be a miracle and she'll make it to her next molt, which should be soon--they seem to molt sooner if they are missing a limb, or at least mine do. She's a very strong crab. I know the odds are very much against her... but I will not let her die of hunger and thirst.

Thanks for your kind words, Wai...

ayianna · Post by **ayianna** » 31 Jan 2006, 13:21

I hope your crab has not yet passed, however I suspect it has.

Sadly, no crab in recorded ownership has survived having a single leg.

Two legs, however, is very possible.

I hope the best case scenario has occurred. ^_^

~~~Ayianna

vergil397 · Post by **vergil397** » 07 Dec 2006, 16:24

i used to have on crab it lost its body parts and i was so worried when it died i was so sad but hopefully you will have better luck

iluvhermies · Post by **iluvhermies** » 07 Dec 2006, 16:55

I bought one that was missing all its legs it only had it claws. It molted and grew back all legs. I had named her Hope.

Jaci · Post by **Jaci** » 21 Dec 2006, 06:35

i bought 2 whose big claws were deformed, unfortunately i lost both of them. i learned that if my new ones don't go under within a month of bringing them home, they don't survive.

iluvhermies · Post by **iluvhermies** » 21 Dec 2006, 15:35

I disagree with that I have several whom I have had for months who have not molted yet

Jaci · Post by **Jaci** » 22 Dec 2006, 03:43

so far i've bought 3 that have had limbs missing or their big claw was deformed in some way, none of them went down and i lost all of them. everyone who survived went under within a month after getting them. how weird. it probly depends on the crab.

refindangel831 · Post by **refindangel831** » 17 Feb 2007, 02:48

I everyone i'm new here. I bought a hermit crab probably about 3 weeks ago. Possibly a month. When i bought it i noticed it was walking weird and saw that it was missing a leg. I had put him in another tank with my other hermit crab..after letting them both walk around in a tiny layer of warm water, so that they could get to know each other. Well, that was the last time i saw puddles. next day there was a leg off, couple days later the big claw and another leg. My other crab kept crawling all over it...i thought maybe it was molting, all you could see were the eyes. I only had the compressed coconut on the bottom of the cage, it walked underneath this coconut hut i have and i never saw it again. I eventually seperated crunchy from puddles and put them in seperate cages. I think puddles is dead, first it wasn't a fishy smell but more like an iodine smell (like they say when they're molting) but now he smells like the sea..a lil fishy...does this mean he's dead? we tried to see if he was or not but idk...should i just get rid of him, clean out the tank and get a couple more? If i do get rid of him im going to bring him to the ocean, and put him in there so that his shell can be reused by another crab.

Help!!! Molting emergency

Help!!! Molting emergency

oh i am so srry