(no subject)
Yesterday evening before close, I was doing the rounds for animal wellness when I peeked in the hermit crab tank and found an extremely unfortunate sight. It appeared that we had a surface molter - and not only that, but she had lost her big pincher during the molt (it must have gone wrong) and she had also ditched her shell for unknown reasons. I found her cowering near one of the lava rocks in their enclosure, amazingly active considering how catastrophically stressed she must have been.
Knowing that her chances of surviving were much higher with me (if I'd left her, we would have been picking out pieces of hermit crab this morning), so I rinsed the Eco Earth off of her abdomen, grabbed her entire exoskeleton, and an extra shell, and put her in a Petco box. Bought her on the spot. Upon arriving home, she was still naked, so I gave her a couple better-fitting shells, stuck the whole Petco box in the main enclosure, and hoped that she'd still be alive in the morning.
She was! Still nude, but alive. Taylor gave her more shells while I was at work, but she didn't move much from her corner - probably because the need for her abdomen to be safe was a lot higher than exploring at that moment. Since she was still nude (and alive) when I came home from work and shopping, I tried to gently ease her into a shell with no avail. So I put her back in the box directly on top of a shell. Hopefully that will be the incentive she needs to take it. If she can do that, I'll move her into a Kritter Keeper for the remainder of her recovery.
Knowing that her chances of surviving were much higher with me (if I'd left her, we would have been picking out pieces of hermit crab this morning), so I rinsed the Eco Earth off of her abdomen, grabbed her entire exoskeleton, and an extra shell, and put her in a Petco box. Bought her on the spot. Upon arriving home, she was still naked, so I gave her a couple better-fitting shells, stuck the whole Petco box in the main enclosure, and hoped that she'd still be alive in the morning.
She was! Still nude, but alive. Taylor gave her more shells while I was at work, but she didn't move much from her corner - probably because the need for her abdomen to be safe was a lot higher than exploring at that moment. Since she was still nude (and alive) when I came home from work and shopping, I tried to gently ease her into a shell with no avail. So I put her back in the box directly on top of a shell. Hopefully that will be the incentive she needs to take it. If she can do that, I'll move her into a Kritter Keeper for the remainder of her recovery.