QuestionQUESTION: My son and I found his favorite hermit crab this evening in our mildew-y basement, who had escaped last Thursday, so he's been out for about 4 days. he has all his limbs & claws but we're worried that he may have fallen on the concrete basement floor. I'm almost certain he's been exposed to mold and mildew as it is very hard to keep our basement dry (we're in eastern kentucky) and it's an old rental house. our "crabitat" is a 15 gallon sterilite container with half playsand, half ecoearth, 2 porcelain water dishes bought from the crabbage patch, one with distilled water changed daily, the other with instant ocean water changed daily. given lots of fresh food, cholla wood, sponges in the water dishes, hygrometer at substrate surface level reading 90%. The main concern is, do we give him a good instant ocean bath to kill any mold spores that may have gotten on him or in his shell? we put out extra shells in case he'd like to change. when we put him back in the crabitat (should we have done that? there are three other crabs in the tank), he dug halfway into the eco earth and has pretty much stayed there for about an hour and a half. Would giving him a bath increase his stress level at this point? I tried to warn my son that he may not live very long after all the possible trauma he may have been through, but if there is anything we can do to help him, I'd love to know...please help!
ANSWER: Coincedentally, i live in eastern Kentucky also =). But on to more pressing matters. It is unlikely that any kind of fall would affect him now, as a crab who was injured form a fall usually doesn't survive to see the next day, their "insides" dry out rather quickly, even in a damp basement, he wouldn't have lived for four days. You can go out to the pet store and buy a product called "Stress Coat", it's an additive for fish tanks that has a calming effect on fish and it's been shown to aid in calming stressed crabs too. Make the water a warmish temp (similar to the air temp of the tank) and mix it up as per instructions if not a little stronger and GENTLY dip him slowly in it and then let him come out of his shell before taking him out and then you could put him in a box with paper towel to dry. If you want to dip him in instant ocean first, you can do that before the stress coat bath. I don't know if mold spore will hurt crabs, but I suppose you can't be too careful. After the baths you can carefully observe him and the tank, if mold DOES start growing, you will have to bake the bedding in the oven. You should do your best to leave him alone and just watch, because besides a stress coat bath and giving him some time, there's not much you can do about the falling or the being lost part. Luckily for your crab it WAS so damp because in any other room of the house, he wouldn't have lived at all because carpetting and other things of that nature would have dried his gills out very quickly.
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QUESTION: Thank you for responding so quickly! We live in Morehead, actually! That IS a pretty neat coincidence....so there are lots of other possibilities that he could have "climbed" his way down there as well, which we are hoping is what happened, since there are so many little "nooks and crannies" and small openings and holes between the floors in this old house. All the different information on all these hermit crab care websites is confusing to say the least...I have read in several that exposure to mold can be lethal to them, so I guess that is why I was concerned about that. I'm still worried about whether I should fool with him at all or just let him do what comes naturally - I read that they deal with stress by digging into the substrate and are better off when left alone...do you think I should wait and see if he starts moving around before giving him a stress-coat bath? The eco earth was soaked in instant ocean before put in the tank and is still fairly damp...I guess what i'm saying is I'm worried that if we fool with him too much, the added stress could put him over the edge...should we let him give himself a bath in the water dish when he feels he's ready? i'm probably overthinking it all but i don't want to see my son's heart break, although i realize that whatever the outcome may be, it's pretty much out of my hands at this point...if he survives this critical night, i'll definitely go out and get some stress coat tomorrow...thanks so much for the advice and for responding so quickly!
AnswerYou could provide the large bowl of salt water for him and add Stress coat to it, kill two birds with one stone so to speak. He may get in the bath by himself. You don't want to stress him out at all, so TRY not to handle him if you can if you aren't giving him a bath then don't touch him. Sorry I didn't respond so quickly this time, I have a crabby streaker in my tank and i'm trying to get him to stay in his shell... Goodness crabs certainly are a handful, lol... I think I've solved HIS problem, but I hope that the problems with your crab get better. Try putting the dish in and see if he gets in on his own, if not, you may have to decide whether to just see what comes, if he snaps out of it, or you can bathe him. Keep meposted please and good luck.
