Serious help/advice/opinions. Ty

[Julsie]

Hey guys. I’ve been inactive for awhile and lost a lot of interest in crabbing (and other things I used to enjoy) due to mental health. All my crabs are still alive even though i’ve slacked on keeping up/maintaining their crabitat. Maybe part of that issue is because I’m also grossed out from the food mites (I think that’s what they are). I know they’re harmless but i’m scared to reach in the tank nowadays because of this fear that they are jumping on my skin or I’m breathing them in somehow. I don’t know. It grosses me out and makes me itch. Their tank needs be tidied up. Decor has fallen down or fallen apart or is crawling with mites. The top layer of substrate needs to be tossed around/fluffed up. Glass needs to be wiped down. I know a part of me wants to rehome all the crabs or sell everything together but i’m scared that if I posted them and the tank & everything else up for sale somewhere that they wouldn’t be taken care of (even though I’m slacking at doing a good job right now). I tried to post them up for adoption here in the adoption forum, free to good home, but nobody messaged me & the post was up maybe a month? I do care about these lil guys, I may be slacking at tidying up things but they still get fed & the humidity/temp hasn’t changed really in a year, the substrate is still 6 inches, the water still gets changed. I see them move around about the tank everyday. I know my mental health & life outside of the crabs plays a factor in this but the mites also play a big factor in this too.

Any advice? Any opinions? Rehome them somewhere online? Post another free to good home, adoption post here in the group? Deal with the mites somehow? I don’t really know what direction to take. This post has been long overdue. Please be kind though.

I also apologize if this isn’t the right place to post this. I didn’t know what category it’d fit into.

[wodesorel]

I am so sorry you're going through this! Having a pet should not stress you out so severely.

There are adoption groups on Facebook that might be able to match you with another crabber. You have your location listed as Texas, and traditionally that has been a challenging place to find established crabbers. If you wanted to rehome I do think the online groups might be able to help. It violates Facebook terms of service to exchange animals so we don't allow it on our group for fear of being deleted, but others are taking that risk to help rehome.

As for cleaning your tank up, just do it!!! Pull those babies out and dump everything. Physically wash the tank down, replace all the substrate (straight playsand may help with mite control, they can use cocofiber as a food source), and scrub all decor and bake/boil/extended freeze to make sure the mites are dead. The crabs don't need a lot, something to climb on and something to hide in. Make it easy to observe so you feel better. I would suggest moving the tank as well to a new location.

So long as the crabs aren't molting, you can do this as needed. Not changing substrate is because of convenience, not because doing so is somehow bad. If the crabs are on the surface you can replace stuff every month if you want. It's only when they are molting do they need left alone.

[mool]

I'm sorry your crabs are giving you more anxiety than pleasure. Please take care of yourself.

Where are you at in Texas? I live in Austin and could give them a good home--if that's what you want to do.