Bil-bo streaking!

[Guest]

I got up this morning and right in front squeezed into one side of the tat trying to get water but there wasn't enough water for him to reach so I carefully poured water in for him and he started drinking it very carefully with his small pincher. But he looked shriveled! and before I thought he was moulting or de-stressing I can see his trail from the food dish( where he was buried) and his antenna were all wonky. could he have been to week to dig a hole big enough for him and his shell? am I doing something wrong?

[OIF_VET]

Create a Very Warm and Very Humid Environment. Thus, my hopes were to make the Nakey Crab to want to reshell.
It seems to work best in a Small Container. I had Suggested a Hot Wet Cloth
over the Container with a Light Bulb Shining down onto the Wet Cloth...Hence Heating the Micro Environment to very very Warm. and Humid. Have Appropriate sized Choice of shells...Look in on the Hermy frequently, but not too frequently..5-10 Minutes. I And others have had success.
Good Luck!

[Guest]

Thanks for the advice. I did what you told me but bil-bo looks shriveled and his bp is missing as-well as some legs, I fond one in his shell which was full of sand. I also put some food in the plastic jar he's in. Can i do anything else? is there something wrong that i doing? Because Shadow just did a surface molt but he lost a leg and his bp too.

[Guest]

I'm sorry he's losing limbs and is naked, he is one serverly stressed crab and other than reshelling him there's not much you can do, you want to leave him alone as much as is possible.

If you fill out the template on the sticky in this forum we can see if the conditions in the tank are contributing to these crab's stress. But please don't beat yourself up, it could be PPS too, and theirs always a learning process with these guys, I still learn every day.

[Guest]

1. Substrate used? play sand

2. Humidity % level in crabitat? 76%

3. Temperature of substrate in crabitat? don't know

4. Temperature of crabitat? 79

5. Location of gauges? 4-5 in above sand

6. What is your heat source? lamp and my house

7. Types of water available? salt and fresh

8. Dechlorinator used? zoomed

9. What do you feed?eggs, fruits, veggies, crakers, honey, shrimp, nuts(almonds and pecans)

10. How long have you had the crab in question?4-5 months

11. Do you know the species?pp

12. Do you bath them, if so how often and with what?used to don't any more

13. What type of housing are they in? Tank? Plastic box? tank

14. What size is your tank? 20 or 25 g

15. How many crabs are in the tank? What size are they? 5 i'm not sure there names but shadow is about the size f a tennies ball, grumpy about the same a little smaller, laruas about the size of a hackey sac, jesse about the same little smaller and bil- bo is a little smaller than jesse.

16. How deep is the substrate? about 4in

17. If you take your hermies out daily to exercise, do you mist their gill area first? yes

18. Has there been any cleaners, paints, perfumes, air fresheners, candles, or smoking near the crabitat?no

19. How often do you clean/sterilize and how? when no one is done under the sand i take every thing out and spray it with lime hermit crab cleaning spray then sift the sand with a straner then spray the tat and sand with the lime stuff about once a week or 2. I now know not to use the lime spray but I haven't cleaned the tat yet cause a few are still under.
20. Any unusual odors? think it's molting smell.

21. Do you use sponges? Are they rinsed daily with dechlor water? Are they exchanged every 2 days for a sterile one? no

22. Do you feed fresh food? When do you remove it?in a day or two depending on what food it is

23. Are your hands clean before handling?yes

24. Has there been anything new added to your crabitat recently?a second level but I took that out, a plastic basket thingy and a new plastic plant
_________________

[Guest]

Thanks for filling out the template. Everything sounds pretty good to me.

Your humidity level sounds right, do you use annalog or digital gages? You might want to check your gages.

I'd read some questionable things about the zoomed salt water, it's not near as salty as it should be which causes problems at molting time. Since you've had your crabs a long time and everything else sounds good (except that there's a lot of good sized crabs for a 20gal-but that can't be what's causing this) I am thinking this is the issue. I'd change the salt water to API or Oceanic and I would exspect you won't have any further issues.

[Guest]

bil-bo's still alive and still nakey. Is there anything else I can do?
Thanks for your advice though.

[Guest]

Have you been sucessful in reshelling him at all?

[Guest]

No

[Guest]

I think Bil-bo has died.