I'm here for, honestly a sad reason. We think Gabby might be dead.
My daughter came screaming from her room, crab in hand, shrieking, "She's dead! She's dead!" I looked at the crab, with a sinking feeling, and am worried she's right. But not convinced. I don't want to be one of those people that buries them alive. Here's the situation. She's not tucked into her shell, as they usually are. She isn't hanging out, but is partially out, can see legs. She was on the surface, under a climbing log, in a very shallow pool of spilled water, that she must have spilled herself. Not moving, not responding to pokes. My first fear was that she may be molting, and when my daughter freaked out and pulled her out and poked her, that we may have signed her death warrant anyway. But in my daughter's behalf, she LOOKS dead. Here's the tricky part. She smells a little fishy, bit not overwhelmingly so, where it's obvious. She has not fallen out of the shell, and my husband gently tugged and she isn't coming out. But she's responding to nothing, and lost a leg. I placed a two liter top over her and decided to track her position. It does not appear after 36 hours that she's moved at all. Flame is fine and safely tucked in his hermie hut, where he's largely ignoring the drama. I'm at an absolute loss. I don't know what's going on. I know we should err on the side of caution and leave her for a bit but their tank desperately needs to be cleaned and needs more substrate as it's broken down to a thin layer now. Plus, if she IS dead, it seems macabre to leave her in there. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!! Thank you!!
