My large E’s seem to really have troublesome molts, while the small ones molt like its nothing.
Saturday morning I found a naked, soft E in the salt water dish. I don’t even know who it is! I gently moved it to a ISO with some more water, egg shells, spirulina and honey, plus some empty shells. There was no empty shell visible or a place in the sand where the crab surfaced. I had to leave Saturday and drive north to pick up 4 Cavipes from Tammi (yah). One didn’t survive the night 🙁 Meanwhile the naked baby has put on a shell. I searched the tank and found the exo remants and a very small rock shell buried. Okay that shell was either Eric or Erins shell and way too small to belong to the molter. I found a tiny E in a mauve shark eye that is too big. Probably the molters original shell. I still am not sure who molted but I thought it was Eros but that doesn’t match the shell. I’m so confused! THis morning the molter has been eating the egg mixture I cooked up last night. So far so good. I know that his little bum has to be all sandy but I can’t give a bath until he’s hardened.
While he was sitting naked in the water dish I was able to get a good look at the soft abdomen. It was definitely very gel looking. WHich made me think of the Indo on LHC that seemed to be covered in gel prior to dying. The molter’s abdomen looked like it was filled and covered with gel. I’m even more convinced that Indo died from a very bad molt.
I put the second level back in this weekend also. Giving my babies more room to roam and places to hide if they molt on me.
I put Oscar, Trooper, and Violet all in ISO tanks for digging. I need to check Oscar today. Trooper went down and came up. Violet went down, came up, went down. Sheesh … it always has to be an ordeal! I believe its too soon for Oscar to be molting again based on his size but I could be wrong.
I have several new crabs that remain unnamed. These are the Petco/Petsmart crabs. I’m waiting to see if the rest of them survive. I have 3 Cavipes to name also.
I’m so grateful to Tammi for picking them up and offering them to me! Judith will surely love her new buddies. They are in these god awful long shells. I’m sure they are native shells but they are cumbersome and heavy so I hope they change soon.