crab-sitting...CRAB MOLTED!

[kate.e.m.]

hi! i work with special ed. kids at a middle school. last year i had russian tortoises in my classroom (not my choice because they need super specific requirements to be healthy and happy so they have since moved to a super fab home with a relative who has an entire room that is a terrarium). however, i have somehow acquired a reputation at work as being some sort of animal genius. i'm not. but i wound of crab-sitting. i have 7 cats and a red-eared slider turtle who is 25 years old but i know next to nothing about hermit crabs. however, i do know how to google things.
here's the original crab set-up: 20 gallon glass tank, wooden hut, wooden drift wood, two fake plants, waaaaaay too many shells (most of them painted with stupid designs), one small water dish with moldy sponge, one shell with food, and about 2 cm of very dry substrate.
i got the five little crabs home and did a little redecorating. i set the tank on a heating pad, upped the substrate to about 3 inches of coconut core (soaked in purified salt water), cleaned all the shells and dishes, added another water dish for salt water, rearranged the tank so that there is a clear path for wandering, and removed all painted shells (i replaced them with regular shells). to raise the humidity, i covered the tank with a warm damp towel which i remove every morning for 2 hours for air circulation. i surrounded the outside of 3 sides of the tank with potted plants and the other side is open for my cats to enjoy some crab watching.
the temp is about 80 degrees and the humidity is about 80%.
this morning i went to check on my little pals. one of the guys, spotted shell guy, has been very shy and retiring since he came home with me december 8th. when i looked in the cage today, he was sitting next to the drift wood with his exoskeleton next to him. i made bad choices. i picked him up and saw his little pink legs curled up in his shell. i set him back and threw his exoskeleton away. then i read and read and read. i quickly dug his exoskeleton out of the trash and washed it thoroughly in purified water. i made him an isolation tank with deep coconut core substrate and dug a whole 2 inches deep and wide and set his exoskeleton inside it then set him on top. there is a dish of freshwater and a dish of food in there. i covered the tank leaving a 2 cm wide by 1 foot long space for air to flow and the covered all but the air flow vent with a black towel.
is he going to die because i'm an idiot?
the science teacher i'm crab-sitting for wasn't really doing a bang-up job caring for these guys but it would break my heart if i was the one that killed one.
help!

[Teedeums]

If you have it there, maybe try feeding him honey or peanut butter on a q-tip. Also, try and get him some saltwater asap. Other then that, there is sadly not much else you can do but hope he survives. Good luck, and prayers coming your way for the survival of the crab!

[kate.e.m.]

If you have it there, maybe try feeding him honey or peanut butter on a q-tip. Also, try and get him some saltwater asap. Other then that, there is sadly not much else you can do but hope he survives. Good luck, and prayers coming your way for the survival of the crab!

okay so i should put honey and peanut butter on a shell and in his isolation tank as well as a dish of salt water? what should have happened? should he have stayed buried for a long time? he's alive, his exoskeleton was completely detached but he hadn't buried himself for any of the molting and it seemed to have happened just over night.

[megmaholm]

A normal molt would have been if he had dug down, shed his exo, eaten it and come up on his own. It can take a few weeks to months. It sounds like in the previous conditions, the substrate was completely wrong and didn't allow him to dig down. A surface molt is never healthy or normal. The molting process itself is really quick, but while underground they'll dig to get the perfect cave, chill out for a while, maybe move somewhere else, and then finally molt. So, him pulling a surface molt overnight is completely possible.

It sounds like you're doing what you can - keep him in the dark with his exo, provide freshwater and saltwater, and once he's eaten most/all of his exo you can start offering real foods. Aim for all-natural peanut butter, honey, a calcium source like cuttlebone, etc. I wouldn't bother putting food in until he's eaten his exo; freshly molted crabs don't really have an interest in food/water until they've finished the process.

I'm not sure how much influence you have on their future care since you're just crabsitting, but I would encourage you to check out our basic care sheet (viewtopic.php?f=51&t=92457)

Thanks for caring for the little guy and improving the conditions a bit! Please keep us updated in how he does. I had a crab who molted in the moss pit right after I got him, and he did just fine. So in your guy's case, it's not an automatic death sentence. It's good you found out about the exo and gave it back to him.

[kate.e.m.]

A normal molt would have been if he had dug down, shed his exo, eaten it and come up on his own. It can take a few weeks to months. It sounds like in the previous conditions, the substrate was completely wrong and didn't allow him to dig down. A surface molt is never healthy or normal. The molting process itself is really quick, but while underground they'll dig to get the perfect cave, chill out for a while, maybe move somewhere else, and then finally molt. So, him pulling a surface molt overnight is completely possible.

It sounds like you're doing what you can - keep him in the dark with his exo, provide freshwater and saltwater, and once he's eaten most/all of his exo you can start offering real foods. Aim for all-natural peanut butter, honey, a calcium source like cuttlebone, etc. I wouldn't bother putting food in until he's eaten his exo; freshly molted crabs don't really have an interest in food/water until they've finished the process.

I'm not sure how much influence you have on their future care since you're just crabsitting, but I would encourage you to check out our basic care sheet (viewtopic.php?f=51&t=92457)

Thanks for caring for the little guy and improving the conditions a bit! Please keep us updated in how he does. I had a crab who molted in the moss pit right after I got him, and he did just fine. So in your guy's case, it's not an automatic death sentence. It's good you found out about the exo and gave it back to him.

*sigh* thank you! the main reason i don't have animals besides cats and turtles is that i get a little too invested in them. i talked to the teacher who owns them and she said if i want to, i can keep them until the end of march. my husband may not like it, but i know these guys can live 25 years and it seems really unjust not to help them fulfill their potential. thanks for all the help!

[megmaholm]

No problem at all The great things about crabs is past the initial setup they're relatively inexpensive. Your temp and humidity are good; once you're past the current crab crisis I would try to get your substrate deeper (aim for 6") by mixing playsand in, then moisten it to sandcastle consistency. The crabs will thank you for it and hopefully that will prevent any future surface molts.

Oh, and thank you for removing the painted shells! They make my eye twitch, and I think they're so much uglier than natural ones.

If you have any more questions, we're all here to help!

[kate.e.m.]

thanks so for all this! i actually have two more blocks of coconut core and some playsand so i can fix the substrate tonight after work. tiger spot guy MADE IT THROUGH THE NIGHT! i put peanut butter and honey on part of his exoskeleton claw and i just went in there to check on all the crabs and i peeked in his tiny window and he was chowing down on the candied claw! in the regular tank, two of the other crabs have buried themselves since i added the deeper substrate. should i leave them alone in prep for a molt or do you suppose that they're just remembering what a nice dig can feel like?

you have really calmed my fears!

[megmaholm]

thanks so for all this! i actually have two more blocks of coconut core and some playsand so i can fix the substrate tonight after work. tiger spot guy MADE IT THROUGH THE NIGHT! i put peanut butter and honey on part of his exoskeleton claw and i just went in there to check on all the crabs and i peeked in his tiny window and he was chowing down on the candied claw! in the regular tank, two of the other crabs have buried themselves since i added the deeper substrate. should i leave them alone in prep for a molt or do you suppose that they're just remembering what a nice dig can feel like?

you have really calmed my fears!

Woohoo, go crabbie go!

It's hard to say what the other 2 are doing - they could be enjoying the deeper substrate, but I would suspect if they've been without something deep enough to dig in for a while, they're probably desperately needing to molt as well. If it were me, I would go ahead and dig them back up since the extra substrate will be for their own good. They won't be molting yet, and once you've added the sand and more cocofiber they can dig right back down and be much safer and happier. Just a tip: when you're adding the new substrate and moistening it to the proper consistency, use saltwater. It'll help cut down on future mold problems.

[kate.e.m.]

okay, perfect! that is precisely what i'll do. i hope they're all happy now! one more question: if these other two diggers do molt, should i isolate them or leave them in situ, dug down and with their exoskeletons? i isolated spotty guy because he had no place to hide and the thought of the other crabs eating him pretty much terrified me.

[megmaholm]

No need to isolate a crab during a normal molt, so you can just leave them be. You definitely did the right thing with spotty guy since his was a surface molt and he was very vulnerable

I can't remember if I already said this, but if I did it's worth repeating again: THANK YOU for helping these crabs out.

[kate.e.m.]

no, thank you for all the help! i don't know that i can give these crabs back to the science classroom. i just can't tolerate the thought of them dying! maybe the teacher will agree to let me keep them. my husband will just have to live with it!

thanks again!

[megmaholm]

I understand..hopefully the teacher will say yes! Your hubby may surprise you. Mine was barely tolerant at first of 3 crabs in a 15 gallon, and now I have 18 in a 55 gallonand he's been amazingly okay with me upgrading the tank size as needed.

If you do manage to keep them, I highly suggest upgrading their tank size at some point 5 little guys will be okay for now in a 20 gallon, but they'll grow quickly. Just something to keep in mind!

[kate.e.m.]

YAY!!! the teacher agreed the crabs were maybe too much work so they'll be in my classroom at school and home with me on holidays (that way my husband doesn't yell at me AND i get to keep these guys).

now i've had to do some serious care research because clearly store-bought food ain't gonna cut it. I've got their substrate of coconut core at 6 inches and deeper in some places where i've mounded it up and around their caves. i moved them into a 40 gallon tank that i had in my garage from when my when my aquatic turtle was smaller. temp and humidity are both at 80. i have purified fresh and salt water. talk to me about food. i've been putting fresh veg and fruit and pieces of my turtle's calcium banquet block in the food dish along with fluker's freeze-dried treats (which i also use with my turtle). how much total food should be in the tank and should i change it daily or every other day? so far, 2 of the 5 crabs have successfully molted and the other 3 have buried down and i haven't seen them since so i'm assuming they're busy molting too.

how can i improve things? i've been draping a towel across the top of the tank to keep my cats out and the humidity in (the towel is damp with purified water). is this trapping too much carbon dioxide in the tank and suffocating my crabs? without it, i lose all my humidity.

what's your advice ?
thank you thank you thank you!

[megmaholm]

Great news!!

Okay, so for food! If you want to feed fresh, it can be scraps of anything you would eat, minus any seasoning, etc. Raw or cooked meat, veggies, fruit, natural peanut butter, honey, and so on. A cheap, easy calcium source is eggshells, cuttlebone, or crushed oyster shell (or all of the above for variety). They need a good variety of food since they hate getting the same stuff more than couple days in a row. If you want to simplify things, you can feed dried food - check out http://www.hermitcrabpatch.com/ for a huge variety of dried foods that are easy to rotate in for variety. Personally, I feed about a billion different foods from there and supplement with fresh when I can. I highly recommend getting some organic worm castings from them or elsewhere, since most peoples' crabs go crazy over it. Worm poop, yum There are other places to get pre-made food, so check out the shopping resources at http://www.hermitcrabassociation.com/pa ... pping.html

If you feed fresh, you can leave it in for at least a day, I would say. I change their food daily whether it's fresh or dried because they drag sand and poop through it. You can get away with every other day if you're feeding dried, I would say. As far as an amount to feed..they don't each much. I do a small amount of various things so they have plenty to choose from.

What kind of lid is on the 40 gallon? If it's a screen lid you can cover it with aluminum foil or plastic wrap, and just leave a small section for airflow. You could add a moss pit to help boost humidity, as well.

Edit: Forgot to mention, check out the sticky posts under food and water (http://hermitcrabassociation.com/phpBB/ ... m.php?f=25) there are guides to safe and unsafe foods, general nutrition, etc. The lists aren't 100%, of course, but it's a great starting point!

[kate.e.m.]

okay cool! that's seems pretty simple! i have a mesh lid for the 40 gallon but i was worried about the syran wrap idea- what do you think, maybe a 2 inch wide strip open down the center?

i read through the list of good foods and i was happy to see that basically my new pals can eat the same raw foods i do, table-scrap style

i am so grateful for all your help! it has made a world of difference for these 5 little crabs! the other teacher didn't even bat an eye when i asked if i could just keep them she's really nice, but she's more of a dog person i think.