Goodbye Pearl

Saturday morning I found Pearl naked and dead. She was unharmed by the other crabs, was not premolt. Her death is quite a shock because I’ve had her since October of 2003. She was a very friendly, active, medium sized Caribbean. There was a small white bug on her body but I believe these to be the beneficial bugs described by some other crabbers, and not mites. I’m going to bathe everyone tomorrow if I get a chance to see if any other crabs have bugs on them. There was no explanation for Pearl’s death.

Little Phil didn’t molt while under but has resurfaced. He will have to remain in ISO alone until he molts and regrows his big pincher. He is just too small to be in the main tank missing his protective pincher.

20 comments

  1. AHH!!! Those BUGS!!! When Trancer was alive I saw 2 of them on her!!!! I hate those bugs….poor Pearl!

    Hi! Whats going to happen to Joey? He is getting very very SLOW and barely active…only at night he is active! While NOODLE clibes everywhere at night crashing his shell against the glass! Saydee, is the prittiest crab I ever saw! She has nothing brown on her body! Nothing red either! She is ALL blak and WHITE. Her ltiile claw is white and that one red leg they are supposed to have is all white and her Big claw is swirly!! She also has no spots, i dont theink she is a pp like Joey and NOODLE. NOODLE is a spitting image of Nemo. Joey probably says “OMG OMG OMG I FOUNDD NEMO!!!! My how you’ve grown!” hehe! I cant find NOODLE sometimes…he clibse too much and ya know what…he is missing 2 legs! I think Joey is sad. He is getting really inactive! I know he is not in his prmolt because He just molted in March. And after he was done…his exo sorta stayed pink forever! Okay I just have to say that Saydee is so pritty! But why does she have some legs that look like they’re cut? hmmm…. anyways I never seen another hermie like her! Okay I have to get to school. BYE~

  2. Sounds like Joey may not be doing well. Do you feed protein as well as calcium? After a molt, they need calcium too. This could be bits of cooked meats or some sardines. That would explain the exo not hardening right away. Its hard to say, I wouldn’t mess with him too much. I can’t remember if you told me if you have salt water for them.

    Saydee sounds very pretty, wish I could see a picture of her! Have you looked at my images to see if she compares to one of them?

  3. Maybe I should have just let Joey continue eating Nemo’s exo skelotin……he needed it and its not like Nemo was going to eat it…he was dead! I give them fruits and stuff it that good? They also have calcium sand. Also I feed them salt water AND fresh water at the same time, the shallow fresh water plate is for them to bathe in when ever they want to, but they also drink out of it, the salt water i use with sponges! Its not too salty though, You can barely taste the salt there is so little in it! And….where do I find the images? I want to see if she is a pp or not..I dont think she is, her big pincher is shaped really weird! I know NOODLE is a healthy crab… he clibes all over, saydee is healthy too…she clibs on top of Noodle, they both are always together now… Joey is getting a bit more active… and his skin is not pink compared to NOODLE’s skin…same color, i cant compare his skin to Saydee because Saydee is very very dark…..black and white!

  4. Fruit is good. But try some chicken, turkey or beef or some scrambled eggs. Crushed egg shells are great for calcium too.

    How are you mixing the salt water? What brand do you use?

    Also keeping sponges in the salt water isn’t a good idea. The sponges get nasty and can harbor a lot of bacteria. If your crabs are big enough that they won’t drown and your humidity is high enough, you don’t need sponges.

    The images are in my gallery. The link is to the right in the menu under MY SITES. First link!

  5. OMG I just woke up to see the crabbies! So I see NOODLE’s shell empty! So I see in the hermie hut…a little hermit in a bran new green shell and this happened out of no where! I have two green hermits now!

  6. Okay…well, Noodle is fine rite now in his comfy new shells, it used to be an icky snail shell, now its one of those green shells with the lines..yeah. Joey is becoming more active…but saydee is still missing half of her two frot legs after the claws…..it doesent seem to be growing back… i see litle stubbies where Noodle’s legs fell of and there growing fast…but this is like Saydee is missing half of her legs. And I have no idea why NOODLE picked such a heavy shell….jeez

  7. Alrighty…I made the tank way more fun….I took the sponges out, and I put a really big water bowl in there…its green and flat and usualy i use it for the bath tup…..I filled it with water and Joey just loves it….he goes into that water and starts dippin his big claw inside the water and drinking it its so cute!

    So how are your crabbies doing?

  8. I don’t know what I did wrong….I really don’t! Yesterday I realized that Joey wasent moving…he couldent walk. So I set him down in the hermie hut until the morning….then I nocticed he was way back inside the shell and he was in the same spot as yesterday……… i took a long then and see if he would move…but i moved his claw way o easily…Joey died and I am really sad….I dont know what I did wrong! 🙁 I am so sad right now and I didnt want to throw him away….but i had to ….PLEASE CHEER ME UP!!!

  9. Aw Sabrina I’m sorry to hear that! Its very frustrating when you don’t know what’s wrong or how to fix it. Hang in there!

    Thanks Robin… Its very depressing… such a mystery.

  10. You know what … Im sad but Im not that sad because I know your going throught the same thing….. and he is probably in a better place now !!!

  11. Hey um….how long does it take for hermie legs to grwo back…. I think Saydee I going to molt awfully soon. She has been digging like never before, she never used to dig. She has also been sleeping in the middle of the tank a lot. Usally she sleeps in corners. Thats must mean she’s been really tired.And Well, this is the bigest clue of all…Every morning last week… I woke up, then went you ckeck on my hermies. I picked up the cloth and there Saydee is right in front og the glass, in the water pit. I dont think she is going to molt , I know she’s going to molt, because I totaly forgot about that clue… don’t hermit crabs drink a lot of water before a molt, or is that eating? hmm…. Noodle is just hungry, hyper, sleepy, silly, bored all in the same day, well on the week end, I wouldent knoe during the week im at school, well,bye for now…

  12. Sounds like Saydee is preparing to molt. They usually load up on water. But not always. So the water, the in activity, and the digging are all signs.

    The legs sort of depend on the size of the crab. There should be some gel stumps visible where the legs are trying to come in. Once under you can assume it will take longer for the molt because those legs must finish growing. I don’t know if they grow before or after the exo is shed though.

  13. Uh-oh……I don’t think she is going to be molting anytime soon if the legs need to be fully grown. I see now jel-stubs and they are as short as they were when i got her. onw leg is missing 2 thirds the other one is missing 1 third. all her other legs are there. And she has been climbing just fine. She has been doing all the climbing, so so much climbing. But if her legs dont grow back is she going to die???

  14. They will only be little nubbies while above ground. Underground they will reach full size.

    She can live without her legs but its a normal process for them to regenerate them.

    Things are quiet here. We are planning to move into a new house in August so we are busy with that. After we move I hope to set up another tank, a 20 gal hopefully just for indos.

  15. I know how you feel I found my hermit crab dead to just 2 days ago her name was Candis and she was a baby I loved her so much she was really active so when I found her dead I cried my eyes out and buried her in the front yard.

    PS. Your little Pearl Is In A Better Place Than In A Cage With gravel/sand/bed coating!!!!!

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