Hermit not moving

[TBrewerton]

Hey guys,

My hermit has stopped moving for the last week, I know its alive cause i put some food on a spike and placed it in front of him and he grabbed it and started eating. I was wondering if he might have outgrown his shell or something?

A couple of days ago i cleaned out the tank so i moved him to see what he would do, and he crawled along the sand to the nearest rock and has been there since... (he had been in the same spot for three days before doing this)

The only change to the tank is I added a (so called sand sifter goby) (although I haven't once seen it sift sand...) So maybe the crab has gone into defence mode and is staying hidden - but now with it being over a week im getting worried... Any ideas?

 

[emmett0122]

its molting more then likely

 

[TBrewerton]

So should I put some more shells in for it or will it be able to carry on using this one?

 

[emmett0122]

depends on how big the hermit is compaired to the the shell its not a bad idea to have some bigger shells so if it feels it needs or wants a bigger shell he can have it

 

[poksal]

I have a 1" (out of his sheel) zebra hermit and lots of shell choices. This guy has on a different suit almost everyday... he is a hoot. Unlike his brothern he has a shell change fettish... of some kind.

 

[TBrewerton]

I got rid of the Demon Goby as i called it... And after a day or so the crab was back to normal, whether it was coincidence or not I have no idea but glad to have him back with me!

I am going to try get to the beach in the next few weeks to collect some shells to add to the tank for it.

Thanks everyone for the advice and reassurance.

 

[TBrewerton]

So since my last comment the crab has moved a bit but nothing like when i first got him home... I decided to just leave him be and not disturb him and see what happens. He would move a few cm every day or so but nothing much - and i would check on him a couple times a day to see if i could see his "feelers" moving.

I just went away for work for 2 days and when i came back I couldn't see my crab anywhere - then i spotted one of his claws on a rock and freaked out. Just as i saw it I saw him climbing up over the top of the same rock happy as - and he is back to his normal self cleaning my rock like mad! Its so good to have him back and im glad he got through his molt fine - and glad i now know thats all it was :-)

Thanks everyone for your comments on this - I had extra shells in there for the last week but took them back out before i went away cause he didn't seem interested - I might try them again now :-)

 

[Amba]

It's always a good idea to drop some different size shells in your tank for critters to live in as they grow. LFS usually sell them cheap; here you can get a handful for just a couple bucks.

 

[TBrewerton]

yea theres a few shops here that sell em - I just got a few from the beach rinsed them in rodi water a few times then left them soaking - then rinsed them in some saltwater and left them for a bit too before putting in the tank.

Although the ones i got are quite a bit bigger than the one he has - its hard getting perspective with a curve front tank lol

 

[TBrewerton]

So the crab took to one of the sea shells the other day - but only for enough time to clean his shell then he went back - hahaha

This morning I had a freak out cause I got up and the crab was hanging out of his shell not moving, I picked up his shell and he fell to the bottom, looking in the shell there was no sign of him so i assumed he was dead... After placing the shell back in the tank about 5 mins he crawled out and walked off....

That means he molted again!! thats twice in about 4 weeks - is that normal? The first molt he was still for about 2-3 weeks leading up to it - this time it was only about 2-3 days.

Is there anything bad that could cause this...? He has been getting a decent feed lately from all the algae die off my tank has had.

Any advice or reassurance would be great!

Cheers,

Tim

 

[poksal]

I'm no expert but I would imagine a molting crab is a happy crab. I know I have a California king snake, and they say they will shedt a coupe of times a year.. mine has shed about 15 times in the past two years. I know she is very happy. and they say a shedding shake is a happy snake. .. but NOT while they are shedding. I would think it would be the same for crabs, and a sick or weak hermit would not molt.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong.. so we all can learn.

 

[Bifferwine]

Imbalances in water quality and stress can cause frequent molting in shrimp. Perhaps it's the same for crabs. So it's not always a good thing.

 

[poksal]

Imbalances in water quality and stress can cause frequent molting in shrimp. Perhaps it's the same for crabs. So it's not always a good thing.

Wow, I learn a lot here. .. that.. is interesting.