Nearly made a big mistake XD
Yesterday I opened up my hermit crap enclosure to give them some fresh water and food when I saw Stumpy (the smallest of the two who was missing part of his leg when we bought him) just lying there half out of his shell.
Normally they sleep during the day so I knew something was up. He looked all lifeless and pale.
So I picked him up. Still no movement at all, in fact, his lifeless body slid partly out of the shell. which was quite disgusting :(
I felt really bad for the poor guy. I thought I might not have kept him moist enough.
I picked up his friend Ren to see how he was doing, and Ren was fine. Just a bit grumpy because I was disturbing his sleep.
I decided to take poor dead stumpy to the kitchen where it was better lit. I put a paper towel down under him and blew some air at him to make sure he wasn't moving. That made the rest of his body slide out of the shell and fall on the paper towel.
I felt so bad and disgusted at the same time.
I considered simply throwing the shell out since Ren is too big for it anyway, But something compelled me to look closer at the poor dead crab for a second.
His body seemed empty.. like something had sucked him dry... How odd... I looked inside the shell to see if anything was left in there.
To my surprise I saw something white/pinkish inside which very much resembled a claw!
I was like "wtf?!" then went "DOH!" Ofcourse! They molt!
But I'd never imagined they'd leave behind their entire exoskeleton in one piece!!
I imagined parts of their outer skin 'd come off and it'd break easily since it was old skin.
This was the complete old Stumpy skin, so it was hard to see it wasn't him lol.
Poor Stumpy, almost threw him in the trashcan too XD
Anyway, he's back in his home safe and sound. I put his old skin back in there with him because I read they eat it to gain calcium and such.
And yup, this morning there were just a few legparts and a claw left.
Stumpy ate himself :P
He doesn't seem too happy atm. his new skin hardening out probably isn't the most fun thing in the world, so I'm trying to keep him moist and comfy.
I also read that the molting process is also how they regenerate damaged limbs... so I guess his name won't be as appropriate anymore once he gets his full leg back :)
Ah well, we can always start calling him Stimpy and make it proper ;)
Normally they sleep during the day so I knew something was up. He looked all lifeless and pale.
So I picked him up. Still no movement at all, in fact, his lifeless body slid partly out of the shell. which was quite disgusting :(
I felt really bad for the poor guy. I thought I might not have kept him moist enough.
I picked up his friend Ren to see how he was doing, and Ren was fine. Just a bit grumpy because I was disturbing his sleep.
I decided to take poor dead stumpy to the kitchen where it was better lit. I put a paper towel down under him and blew some air at him to make sure he wasn't moving. That made the rest of his body slide out of the shell and fall on the paper towel.
I felt so bad and disgusted at the same time.
I considered simply throwing the shell out since Ren is too big for it anyway, But something compelled me to look closer at the poor dead crab for a second.
His body seemed empty.. like something had sucked him dry... How odd... I looked inside the shell to see if anything was left in there.
To my surprise I saw something white/pinkish inside which very much resembled a claw!
I was like "wtf?!" then went "DOH!" Ofcourse! They molt!
But I'd never imagined they'd leave behind their entire exoskeleton in one piece!!
I imagined parts of their outer skin 'd come off and it'd break easily since it was old skin.
This was the complete old Stumpy skin, so it was hard to see it wasn't him lol.
Poor Stumpy, almost threw him in the trashcan too XD
Anyway, he's back in his home safe and sound. I put his old skin back in there with him because I read they eat it to gain calcium and such.
And yup, this morning there were just a few legparts and a claw left.
Stumpy ate himself :P
He doesn't seem too happy atm. his new skin hardening out probably isn't the most fun thing in the world, so I'm trying to keep him moist and comfy.
I also read that the molting process is also how they regenerate damaged limbs... so I guess his name won't be as appropriate anymore once he gets his full leg back :)
Ah well, we can always start calling him Stimpy and make it proper ;)