Crab under... Heating pad died in small tank!

[Nikkie]

I recently set up a larger tank & one of my guys is down for a molt.. I moved the other 2 & have been waiting for my smaller one to come up. I can hear him tapping around down at the bottom of the tank & he has become visible against the glass a few times but has yet to surface. He has been down 1 month 1 day today. The heating pad on the small tank he is in died last night & due to flooding I cannot get another one til the waters go down & are not holding us hostage in my neighborhood... I am scared to dig him up as we aren't supposed to do that but I am also scared he will not be ok without the heating pad at night. I moved the tank in the garage since its still hot (80°) & very humid during the day but tonight & the next few nights the temps are going to hit 65°!!


Does anyone know what I should do? I feel like he needs to be moved into the big tank asap with no heating source where he is but I'm not sure if he is fully hardened or anything of the sorts.. I can see him all red & glorious after the molt at the bottom through the glass & he changes spots where he is located so I am starting to think he is being a brat not wanting to come up! Also that tank is all EE so that worries me. He looks like he had a successful motor from what I've seen of him against the glass but again not too sure since I havent seen 100% of him all at once.

Any advice is welcome here as I'm worried when it comes to tonight it will not be safe with temps dropping for him.

Its a PP just so you guys know.

Thanks!

[fandt94]

Hopefully someone with more experience will respond soon but from other threads on here I’ve seen people heat up towels in the dryer (no fabric softener sheets) and cover the tanks with those....if you have a human heating pad you can use that also. Having the tank in your garage right now might also be a huge help because garages tend to hold in the heat of the day. (At least mine does).

I know it sounds silly but did you try plugging in your current heater into a different outlet to see if it really quit on you?

[Nikkie]

I have a human heating pad but in all honesty it sucks. I used a bungee cord to hold it to the back & then covered the tank in towels & a blanket but it seems to turn off every 20 mins automatically!! The outlet is fine, that was my first thought. If my big tank didn't weight 175+ lbs I'd move that & use the other side of my Ultratherm to heat it but I cant move the tank, I tried. Its on a stand & I can't even spin it to be able to get it away from the wall...


This is so frustrating. I will definitely be ordering back up UTH to avoid this happening ever again.

[AgentK25]

Do you have screw-cap plastic bottles (like soda, tea, etc)? Do you have or can you make hot water? If you have both of these and a way to strap them to the tank, you can fill the bottles with hot water and bungee them to the back of the tank. If possible, use blankets to insulate around the bottles and tank to trap heat in. This should at least last for an hour or more, depending on how hot the water is and how many bottles you have side-by-side. I hope this is helpful!

ETA - duct tape or packaging tape would work very well also.

[wodesorel]

If he's moving around and you have space for a critter keeper or large container to isolate him in the new tank, I would just dig him up and move him. You're not going to hurt him since he's mobile. He may however be attacked by tankmates, so needs to be kept secure for several days until he's eating and drinking normally, and he may need dunked in the pools to get any lingering molt smell off.

[Nikkie]

I don't have a critter keeper, I use a 10g as ISO... My garage did not stay as warm as I thought it would last night I used a real hot water bottle & strapped it to the back & stayed up til 2am turning on the heat pad & the refilled the hot water bottle before I needed to sleep. Woke up & its only 67° in the garage! Same as my house temp

My bigger crab has been down for 2 days in the big tank & my other crab that just a little bit bigger than the one who molted is snuggled in for sleep in the moss pit for the day.. If I dig him up, show him a nice fresh meal & dip him in the pools & let him loose in the big tank do you think he will dig down to hide in the next 11 hours? There isnt a lot of activity in the tank til 7-7:30 pm & like I said my bigger one went down 2 nights ago. He isn't going to survive the falling temps.. Its like im darned if I do & I'm darned if I don't at this point

[Nikkie]

I am so thrilled right now!! He came up!

[AgentK25]

I am so thrilled right now!! He came up!

WAHOO!!!!!

[fandt94]

I am so thrilled right now!! He came up!

Yay!!!