Dead Crab

[MarkW19]

I put 5 small blue-legged hermits in on Thurs, and I've found one dead this morning. Half of it's there, half of it's been eaten (shell nowhere to be seen).

Should I get him out (to avoid an ammonia spike etc.) or will it be ok to leave him in?

I can see 2 of the crabs now, but the remaining 2 are nowhere to be seen!!

 

[Atari]

Are you sure it isn't a molt?

 

[MarkW19]

How can I tell the difference?

 

[Atari]

The molt looks exactly like the front half of the crab.

 

[revhtree]

It's ok to leave in.

 

[MarkW19]

Hmm...

I can see 4 legs and then a whispy bit of white "flesh" stuck onto the back of it...

 

[XXFirefighter]

sounds like a dead crab...
Your clean up crew should deal with him overnight.

 

[revhtree]

Yep, dead. Sorry.

 

[BlueDolphin]

Mark,

I actually think it may be a molt. I remember the first time one of my hermits molted it looked exactly like you describe. Unlike the shrimp molts, I think the hermit molts look remarkably similar to the actual crab (but with their back end looking like it was eaten). If your hermit did molt, I assume he is hiding now.

Let us know if he turns up!

 

[MarkW19]

Yeah he does look like he's molted from the descriptions! Haven't seen him though (still 2 crabs missing!).

I'll let you know if I see him!

 

[Atari]

Did you put extra shells in yet? You might want to do that soon since when they molt they generally look for a bigger shell and might start fighting each other for them.

 

[MarkW19]

I haven't put extra shells in yet!

I'll get down to the LFS over the next day or two and get some - do I just want some similar-sized abandoned snail shells?

 

[Atari]

Yeah they generally prefer Cerith snail shells but any others that are small enough should be fine.

 

[MarkW19]

I'm thinking about adding some snails too - how certain is it that my hermits will kill the snails for their shells??

 

[Atari]

You definitely shouldn't get any Ceriths. Other than that, if the snails are much larger then the blue legs generally don't go near them except to pick at the algae off the shells. However if the snails fall on their backs then they will get eaten if you aren't there to turn them over.

 

[MarkW19]

I think I might leave the snails and get some more crabs - crabs are much more interesting!! Cleaning the glass once a week isn't a big job, whereas cleaning the rock and sand is

 

[BlueDolphin]

My electric blue hermit once went into hiding and I didn't see him for several days! I know your crabs will turn up!!

 

[Brad]

It doesn't matter if it is a molt or not. You are fine to leave it in there. Regardless of what it is, the other hermits/pods and whatever will make pretty short work of it. That is what they're in there to do!

 

[MarkW19]

Well, sure enough, all 5 hermits are still in there - although it's rare to be able to see all 5 of them at the same time!

 

[Atari]

Heh.. it's pretty rare for those little buggers to die so easily.

If you're developing a liking for them then you should grab yourself a Mithrax (Emerald or Ruby) Crab. They look more like how you'd imagine a typical crab to look, and they do a good job with the larger algae.