Question on Hermit Crab disease ...?

Question

I bought three hermit crabs about three weeks ago, and everything was fine. I went out and bought some sand, some little rocks, shells, two bowls (I had two different kinds so I put out a bowl of fresh distilled water and a bowl of salt water), food, and etc. I cleaned the rocks about once a week by soaking them in soapy water, and kinda sifting through so any food or anything would rise to the top. The littlest hermit crab I had, Piddler, never moved much. When I first got him, he'd move around a little when I held him, but he was very inactive. I would never see him come out, but around the time I would be going to bed, the other ones would be out and doing their thing. After the first few days, he wouldn't come out at all when I would hold him. This being the first time I've had hermit crabs, I didn't know what to think so I left him alone. Today, I noticed he hadn't moved an inch since I last saw him, and when I picked him up, sure enough he was dead. Now, I don't understand. Is this some disease he could have had? I changed the food daily, I sprayed them with the little water bottle, I kept the humidity at or above 70 (sometimes it'd be around 80), and the temperature was usually around 77 degrees. I don't know if this is abnormal, but when I pulled his corpse out of its shell (after three legs coming loose) his back was a pinkish, but his abdomen a complete soft pink. His legs were nice and hard, though. Is this the result of rotting or something else?

Answer 1

it was probably old or sick. it just didn't work out. you did all the right stuff. there was no way to help him. he was too sick. if he is VERY stiff- dead. if he's regular he could just be molting. If he still has all of his color, there may be a chance. but i think he is dead. so i'm very sorry. get a bowl, put warm,

NOT HOT water in it and put him in it, and if he doesn't move, he's dead. sorry.this happened to my crab too.

Answer 2

If he's dead he will smell like rotting fish.

If there is no smell your crab is most likely molting. (:

Hes definitely molting-as long as his abdomen is a soft pink.

What your crab is doing is responding to all the stress of being taken from his tropical home, taken to a wholesaler's and then shipped to a pet store. That is a lot of stress on any animal (even people!) and for a small animal like a hermit crab, it can have devastating consequences.

Answer 3

It sounds like your hermit crab may have molted. (Hermit crabs grow a little like snakes do-- they must shed their exoskeletons to get bigger.) It's hard to say from your description, with no pictures. If he is in fact dead, you'll know it-- a dead crab had a powerful, foul smell, like rotting fish. If you don't smell anything like that, it was a molt!

Assuming it was a molt, then, you need to stop handling him and leave him alone to let him recover. Molting is a difficult and dangerous proces. Disturbing him will at best hinder his recovery, at worst kill him. Just leave him alone-- his instincts are telling him what to do. And don't throw away his shed exoskeleton, either. He needs to eat it in order to regain the lost calcium and minerals. If you already threw it out, give him some ground or powdered cuttlebone (found in the bird supply section of any pet store; it looks like a flat white oval) mixed with organic honey. Good luck! I hope he pulls through okay!

Now, I have some remarks to make about your setup... I understand that you want to do the best you can for your crabs, and that is very commendable! But there is a ton of misinformation out there about how to care for them, so forgive me if I'm repeating information you already know-- I have no idea what your setup is like. I just want to make sure you're doing your best for the little guys!

1.) Crabs should never be housed in anything less than a ten-gallon glass aquarium tank. I don't know how big your enclosure is, but it bears mentioning.

2.) Crabs should never be housed on gravel, rocks, or anything like that. They need to dig and bury themselves to be happy and healthy. Use moist, sand-castle-consistency sand as the substrate, or moist coconut husk fiber such as Eco-Earth. And the substrate needs to be deep enough that they can bury themselves by at least twice their height (i.e. for a two-inch high crab, use four inches of substrate, etc.)

3.) You really should stop cleaning the crabs' things with soap-- the chemicals are bad for them and may be poisoning them. Don't use any kind of cleaner on their tank or their stuff. You can clean things with a vinegar-water mixture. Make sure the water is dechlorinated, of course!

4.) Again, I don't know if you know this already, but it bears mentioning: make sure you are giving them dechlorinated water only, never untreated tap water, and make sure you are mixing their salt water with marine aquarium salt and not table salt.

5.) Many people including myself feel that handling the crabs isn't a good idea. This is debated, of course, and ultimately it's your decision. But many are of the opinion that handling hermit crabs causes unnecessary environmental stress on their delicate systems, and is therefore best avoided.

6.) What are you feeding them? Most commercial foods are full of chemical preservatives that are ultimately harmful to hermit crabs, such as copper sulfate, exothyquin, and BHT. These have been linked to causing deformities. I personally feed my crabs foods that I mail order from http://www.thehappyhermitcrab.com, which sells cheap and extremely healthy, great quality food mixes.