Weird Mouth Goop?

[jadewolf]

Okay, what on earth is Drake doing here?

https://youtu.be/5-YB4PECcA0

It almost looks like he's spitting something up, balling it up, and then wiping it off his mouthparts with his claws. He gets his little grooming legs involved a little, too.

It's not bubbling, it's not foam. I've seen crabs foam and bubble, but this isn't really like that. This is more like a sticky, off-white goop.

He seems to be in fine health, just came up from his most recent molt 12 days ago. He's was a little lethargic for a couple days, but that's normal for him after a molt. He's been active and sociable with the other crabs since then. Conditions are fine and stable (though it was a bit warm--about 86F--in there a few days due to a massive heat wave here in SoCal, even with the AC on it was still mid 80s indoors.. but we're back down to 82F/85% now).

He has been showing some possible mate-guarding with my big female. Found them together again this morning when I woke up, legs all peacefully laced together. A few hours later, he was down under the plants doing this. Soo.. not sure if he's... er... cleaning up leftover spermatophore? I dunno. I've never seen this behavior before with any of my crabs, so I'm just guessing at this point.

Tried to get a sample to take a look at it, but he wasn't having it. Shoved my swab away when I tried to gently wipe some off his claw. I'm pretty hands-off with them, so I didn't want to push it and left him be.

Any thoughts?

Edit: I should note that he's not doing it anymore. He's wandered off and is going through his grooming routine now. He's a very fastidious crab and spends a lot of time grooming.

[hermiwormi]

That's weird. I wonder if it's what you said, cleaning up leftover spermatophore. Were the male and female breeding for sure when you saw them?

ғɪᴠᴇ ᴘᴘs: ᴋᴏᴀ, ᴍᴏᴊᴀ, sɪᴀᴍ, ᴏᴢᴀʀᴋ, ᴀɴᴅ ᴄʜᴇʟʟᴀ

[jadewolf]

Didn't catch them in the act, but there was what might have been guarding behavior that morning.

I dunno. I'm so stumped by what he's doing here. He seems fine, hasn't done it since and is behaving normally... but... ????

[hermiwormi]

Didn't catch them in the act, but there was what might have been guarding behavior that morning.

I dunno. I'm so stumped by what he's doing here. He seems fine, hasn't done it since and is behaving normally... but... ????

That's really weird. It doesn't sound like overheating, especially since your temps weren't way too hot for a long period of time

ғɪᴠᴇ ᴘᴘs: ᴋᴏᴀ, ᴍᴏᴊᴀ, sɪᴀᴍ, ᴏᴢᴀʀᴋ, ᴀɴᴅ ᴄʜᴇʟʟᴀ

[AwesomeHermit]

Could also just be using their maxillipeds to groom with a liquid.