Tiny missing BP, dragging body and lethargic, in ISO

Cydonia1 · Post by **Cydonia1** » Thu Jan 15, 2015 5:34 pm

This is all for the ISO, I don't think you need the deets for the main tat but I can get them.
1. What kind of substrate is used in your tank and how deep is it?
Playsand, I didn't measure bu it's atleast 4 inches, he could bury himself twentyfold.

2. Do you have gauges in the tank to measure temperature and humidity? If so, where are they located and what temperature and humidity do they usually read?
I do, but it's not acclimating

3. Is a heat source used in the tank? If so, what?
UTH on the back insulated with a fleece blanket

4. What types of water are available (fresh or salt) and how is the water treated (what brands of dechlorinator or salt mix and what ratio is used to mix it)?
Fresh and salt, Prime and Instant ocean

5. What kinds of food do you feed and how often is it replaced?
Everyone other day for dried and every night for fresh, He's got FMR Mango fruit treat and Dried Cranberrries(?), apples and banana softened with reptil-cal

6. How long have you had the crab and what species is it, if known?
1 week, PP

7. What type of housing are the crabs kept in, what size is it and what kind of lid is on the housing?
ISO is a five gallon (?) KK with the original lid, plastic wrap underneath

8. How many crabs are in the tank and about how large are they?
1 tiny

9. How many extra shells are usually kept in the tank, if any?
None in ISO

10. Have there been any fumes or chemicals near the crabitat recently?
Nope

15. Please describe the emergency situation in detail.
Got 4 small crabs last Thursday, Adoptee had then in KK with about 2 inches of EE. Shell fight happened recently and the crab in question lost his BP. None of them had molted recently by physical signs, she'd had them for 6 months. Other 3 are acting completely normal
I couldn't see any sighs of a molting sac, he's a straight peach color with extremely thin legs and an overall soft appearance. No gel limb where BP was. The whole week he's been lethargic, first two days he stuffed himself in the food bowl and soaked in the saltwater. Rest of the time he stayed near the heatlamp, walking very unbalanced, shuttering and getting stuck in small craters. Tried to bury last night and fail, found this morning hiding under Chia pet. Later this afternoon, got stuck again in hole then tried to wedge himself against CHE holder (Piece of PVC)

He's now in an ISO, there's two water bowls, the food, a cocohut that I dug a large pit under, some small vines and a sponge sitting in the corner with a blanket thrown over half. When I put him in the ISO he walked straight into the cocohut then I walked out. What else should I do?
The first two days he was here he got whole shrimp that I can confirm he ate, I have some calcium powder mixed into the dried fruit and softened it all with dechorl-ed freshwater.
What else should I do? How long do I leave him in there? How often do I check on him? The conditions in the main tat is a stable 85-90 humidity and 87-90 temp. Out of the other three, two are down and one is up and active (and aggressively throwing himself off of the showercaddies and vines....)

YYWW · Post by **YYWW** » Thu Jan 15, 2015 6:01 pm

If he can eat on his own, that's fine. The foods you are feeding seem fine. Keep his food fresh and nutritious. Keep his water freshy fresh. When he stops eating, he will prob start digging or go into the hide. At that point you can take out the food and make sure he can dig. If not, dig a hole and put him in it, put the hide over him.
Get that guy molting!

Crabbers unite!!!

Cydonia1 · Post by **Cydonia1** » Thu Jan 15, 2015 10:11 pm

He's moving around and playing on the vines in the ISO, while face dragging. It's like he's incredibly top heavy. He's only missing his bp, checked. It looks like he only has shield legs left with the way he walks. Could his walking legs not be supporting him? They're disproportionate width wise to the rest of him, I can picture them not holding his body up.
The shell is a tanish green turbo shaped thing and it fits him perfectly. How long do I keep him in the ISO?

YYWW · Post by **YYWW** » Thu Jan 15, 2015 11:15 pm

That sounds like a multi-molt fix. When they regrow limbs they can grow back disproportionately compared to the other legs. Other times it can just be a skinny legged crab with normal looking pinchers

Either way assume, for now, that as long as he eats, he wants to live. Keep him in ISO until he stops face dragging, meaning it could take several molts. Keep his foods tempting and nutritious so that he will eat as much as possible. Eventually he will appear to reject food and look to start molting. If you see him repeatedly try digging but not getting anywhere, help him out like i said before. Stick him in a hole taller than himself, and about twice his size in diameter. If he wants to, he will only need to dig sideways.

Crabbers unite!!!

YYWW · Post by **YYWW** » Thu Jan 15, 2015 11:17 pm

BTW i missed this before: does he still look soft? If he is he needs to harden ASAP because if not his next molt will be very difficult.

Crabbers unite!!!

Cydonia1 · Post by **Cydonia1** » Fri Jan 16, 2015 12:23 am

Do you have an image of an unhardened crab? I don't know it it's soft, he just doesn't seem to have the same "armor" as all of my other crabs and he's a nasty peach color. I've had a pale crab before and he is NOT pale, he's flesh colored.

KellyCrabbieLove · Post by **KellyCrabbieLove** » Fri Jan 16, 2015 2:47 am

This is Berry when he surface molted and wasn't hardened at all.

YYWW · Post by **YYWW** » Fri Jan 16, 2015 6:14 am

This crab was also soft: viewtopic.php?t=102536

This one, too: viewtopic.php?t=102567

Crabbers unite!!!

Cydonia1 · Post by **Cydonia1** » Fri Jan 16, 2015 3:42 pm

He's the same color as that one E. I haven't seen him today though, I think he's sitting in the hole in the hide. On a happier note, the original Little dude came up and regrew his BP, and he's darkened alot! He looks like chocolate in some spots.

Cydonia1 · Post by **Cydonia1** » Sat Jan 17, 2015 12:42 am

I checked on him tonight when I changed his food and water. He didn't face drag when I held him up, he's got a tiny gel limb and he's really lethargic when he's in the tat. I think it's lethargy. He'll go to one spot, not even an interesting one and just sit for hours. Last night it was on op of the sponge and today it was in front of the sponge, just sitting still "out" of his shell but face down. He did this too in the main tat by the heater.
I stuck an extra UTH on the ISO because I couldn't get the temp to stay up. The sand is awful cold I'm never had this issue oh how I hate small viv's, have fun getting anything stable that's not room temp and dry.
How long do I keep him in? Until a molt? I was thinking until either a molt or until he starts showing signs of being able to "crab", dig, walk and not act like spaghetti.

YYWW · Post by **YYWW** » Sat Jan 17, 2015 2:25 am

Awwww the poor lil guy!

he could be sleeping?
Did you skip 11-14 of the template questions? Not that i know what they are, i just noticed the numbering..
Can you try offering him some honey! See if eating a sugary sweet will perk him up. Mix it with pb if you want to give him more nutrients.
Where does your sponge sit? In water?
This face down thing is weird. Has he any missing antennae or feelers?

Crabbers unite!!!

singlemomwithcrab · Post by **singlemomwithcrab** » Sat Jan 17, 2015 2:57 am

One thing I have noticed is that my littler crabs, the one's that have decided to pick a shell that is just too big, tend to walk with the shell pushing them down so that it looks like they are face dragging. This might be what you have going on....

Cydonia1 · Post by **Cydonia1** » Sat Jan 17, 2015 6:30 pm

I skipped 11-14 because most of it wasn't applicable to the iso or nothing's changed. The sponge is sitting in the corner, out of the water bowl so he has something to sit on and So I have something to keep wet for humidity.
He got a big strawberry chunk last night and a grape, tonight I'm going to add some banana to it that I got today. I haven't been able to find honey before but I'll try at the farmers market tomorrow.
I THINK he's trying to molt. This morning when I went to spray the tat I couldn't see him, lifted up the cocohut and saw his shell looking empty flipped sideways. Picked it up because I though I had a streaker/dead crab and he had just pulled back really far. He chirped (noisiest little baby) Then crawled out and walked along my fingers while I tried to get him back in the tat. I dug a deeper hole inside the cocohut, stuck him in there and covered the tat up incase he was trying to molt.

YYWW · Post by **YYWW** » Sat Jan 17, 2015 6:40 pm

That's great, I would have done the same thing. Hope he molts!!!! Fingers crossed!!

Crabbers unite!!!

Cydonia1 · Post by **Cydonia1** » Sat Jan 17, 2015 9:54 pm

I guess I like lying? 5 Minutes after I posted that my parents come home from the store and they've bought some honey. And when I went to check on him he was up and eating strawberry.

HCA: Hermit Crab Association