so a couple months ago, I got a hermit crab from petsmart which later died. he didn't do much, never came out of his shell, and seemed tired and weak. he came with a beautiful shell that left marks in the sand, the only way I knew he was alive lol. anyway, I looked into the enclosure one night and he was finally peeking out. and seemingly foaming at the mouth. his color was a little off, but still red. he had just eaten some strawberry which I saw on his little face, so I thought I poisoned the poor crab. I didn't know what to do, so I left him alone after moving my other crab away. when I checked on him a while later he was curled in the shell, and when I tipped it, his lifeless body fell out. it was very scary, his color was all wrong like he was fucking rotting or something. not wanting to just throw him in the garbage I put him in the plastic container he came in and put it in the freezer. that might have been what really killed him. I thought he was sick and dying, but he might have been trying to molt. fuck I wanted to cry when I read this, but I'm glad I know now: "Surprise! One day you pick up your crab and he falls out of his shell! He was just moving around last week, what is wrong? In this case, molting is probably the culprit. Unless there is a strong fishy odor the crab is more than likely not dead. Note that freshly molted crabs also have an odor, but it is different from and not nearly as strong as the ‘death smell.' It smells more like epoxy or iodine. A molting crab may appear to be dead, however --the exoskeleton falls from the shell as if the crab has died. Check -- no reeking smell? Check the home shell. You probably have a newly molted hermit crab. You can also see if the discard is hollow or crumbles when you squeeze it." so I probably murdered the poor creature. please educate yourself about proper molting care if you have hermit crabs, I should have known the signs. give them 6 inches of sand in a private tank, and don't ever dig them up! http://crabstreetjournal.org/blog/2012/10/14/is-my-hermit-crab-dead-or-molting/ http://www.hermit-crabs.com/molting.html
That's sad to hear, poor little guy. I guess the morale to the story is always do research on the pet(s) you plan on owning
awesome post! i have been looking for a little something to keep me comfy whilst i am browsing pron...eh, looking over the internets. upon further investigation i think i will be getting 2 or 3 purple pinchers to start. here is a link to wiki how that has tons of great info! thanks again for the great post!
they get stressed and die. or you fuck up their molting cycle and things like their gills can be damaged and they can suffocate slowly to death.
I dont know much about them, but man, that kind of is sad...Lil dude might have been like alll chillen, waiting to molt, and then, poof, literally ON ICE. I go crabbing a lot, and well, those lil fuggers foam at the mouth...Is it just a "crab" thing? Maybe? I always figured it was some form of food or air filtration or something.
I'm in the process of setting up a nice isolation tank, should probably get one more just in case since I have 4 now. my original crab must have molted multiple times without me noticing, because I've had him about a year and he has grown very much (they can only grow through molting apparently). they're supposed to bury themselves for about a month. poor fella must have done it in a matter of days each time