HCA: Hermit Crab Association

So one of my PP's just came up from a molt recently. Two of his legs near the tips on one side are both bent funny. He/she is moving around fine.

The color is also very orange... could he/she just surfaced early? I've been watching and no one is going after them or anything.





I'm pretty sure this is an old pic of him/her because he/she is in a shiny green turbo and I think I only have one that seems to have a shine like that.
Sometime in 2012:




And taken in February:




And from when I first got him/her last 2011, I think December?

I had a crab when it came up , was kind of sprawed out looking funny, almost looked like he was missing some of his front pincher or legs. but after a few days he straightened out.

It was a bad molt, most likely from another crab coming through and scaring him right when the exo was coming off. If they get frightened enough they'll retract into their shells before the exo is completely off of their legs, and since they're still so soft their legs will bend as the exo gets tangled up in them. The bendy bits will stay like that until his next molt, but as long as he can dig and move around all right he'll be okay.

The color shows he molted within the last few days. It would be safest to iso him so that he stays safe even when you can't watch. Make sure he's got lots of calcium sources (eggshells, cuttlebone, oyster shell) and protien (shrimp, cricket) so he can restore some of those lost minerals since I doubt he finished his exo since he's still so pale.

wodesorel wrote:It was a bad molt, most likely from another crab coming through and scaring him right when the exo was coming off. If they get frightened enough they'll retract into their shells before the exo is completely off of their legs, and since they're still so soft their legs will bend as the exo gets tangled up in them. The bendy bits will stay like that until his next molt, but as long as he can dig and move around all right he'll be okay.

The color shows he molted within the last few days. It would be safest to iso him so that he stays safe even when you can't watch. Make sure he's got lots of calcium sources (eggshells, cuttlebone, oyster shell) and protien (shrimp, cricket) so he can restore some of those lost minerals since I doubt he finished his exo since he's still so pale.

thanks tie to get my ISO up to proper conditions and put him/her in how long should they stay in ISO?

If he's moving alright now (which is normally the way to tell), I would wait instead until he darkens up just to be safe. With those legs he's not going to be able to lock into a shell properly if someone else starts trouble. A quick bath would not be a bad idea either once he hardens all the way up and is ready to go back in!

Alright, should be good now. I put way too much food in like 6 protein sources and 4 calcium. Plus I put in some of the frozen cuttlefish I got today.

Now I'm just freaked out because I have another crab that just came out of the substrate zombie style (been down a month or two atleast) and they have pointy nails and hairy legs... no deformed limbs though. And not as pale, but the one that came up I think was Tremble, who was one of my darkest colored PP's. Definitely not as dark as she used to be, but not sickly colored like the one with the bum legs.

I was already planning to add another inch or two of sand tomorrow and rewet the top layer of sand, so hopefully that'll help to have them find each other less, since that's probably what happened. I just have to remember to add some more each week since I haven't done it for 2-3 weeks and I know I have to add more since I have a large hermie now and should have more than 8 inches substrate.