QuestionQUESTION: Hello, Please help us. We have 3 hermies and today one of them had no big claw or small claw, they were sort of burried in the sand under him. I am desperate for info on what to do to help him. He is in an isolation tank and he has food and water. I would appreciate any info you may be able to share. please help asap
ANSWER: What is the temperature and humidity in your tank? What kinds of water do you offer? The answers to these two questions will help me help you and your little guy.
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QUESTION: The temp is 75, but I am positive that the large claw fell off due to a crab fight over this one's shell. I put this one (Sheldon is crab #1 w/missing claw for easier reference) into an iso tank and immediately the aggressive one (Diego, crab #2) started flipping over Leonard's (Crab # 3) shell and tried to pull him out. SO, after these observations, I am sure that Diego pulled off Sheldon's large claw. On closer look of Sheldon, he does still have his smaller claw, it was a leg and large claw that came off. After 2 days of being isolated, Sheldon is now eating and drinking on his own and is now walking around as usual. We did remove Diego from Leonard as well, now all 3 are in separate tanks placed side by side so they can see each other but not harm one another. Also, we have placed larger shells in each tank so they can get into larger shells w/out any crabs inside them.
MY MAIN QUESTION NOW IS, will Sheldon be ok w/out larger claw? I had been worried he could not move, eat, drink, etc but he is doing all just fine. I have read that at next molt he may grow the lost limbs back slowly. Is that true? I do feel much better although very sorry for the lil guy, now that he is doing normal crabby things.
FYI= we have had all 3 crabs for 2 years and they are very healthy and have good color. We do take very good care of them and have never had an issue like this before. We are now sure that it was a crab fight.
AnswerYes, I agree with your conclusion that it was agression. So to answer your question, Sheldon will be fine with no BP. He can regenerate the claw but it will take a couple of molts. With mine I found that the first molt makes a small claw similar to their LP, and with the second they are almost back to normal.
Now for aggression.
You need to isolate your aggressor and do a couple of things for him. Get him some fresh protein sources, shrimp, silversides, clams, even beef if thats' all you have. Eggs work well too.
Get him some new shells. I don't know what your shell pile looks like but it sounds very much like a shell fight. He might just be unable to find a shell that he wants to move into and is resorting to stealing theirs.
