QuestionMy crab went through about 2 weeks where my crab just burried himself in the corner of the cage, only leaving at night to eat, then at the end of the 2 weeks he crawled into his coconut house where I found him hanging limply out of his shell. He has been like that for the last 2 weeks. I've followed the care instructions given on other sites (i.e. leaving him alone, isolating him, and showering him once a day) the other sites also said that molting can last on averate 4-8 weeks. Seeing as he doesn't smell at all I'm hesitant to pronounce him dead. Whats your opinion? How long should this stage of just hanging limply out of the shell last? How will I know he is dead?
Also, he has always had a secondary shell to climb into so its not lack of somewhere to go...
AnswerFirst I would recommend not bathing or misting him anymore. The fishy smell right now is the best way for us to tell if they have passed on. If he does fall out of his shell, make sure that there is no abdomen to the "body". If there is the curly abdomen, then he is deceased. But if it is just the front part of the crab, he has molted and his actual body is still in the shell.
