QuestionQUESTION: Okay, me again. This morning Pepe finally came out of his burrow and I tried to pick him up to play with him...this wierd exoskeleton or something fell out and he is covered in these little mites or something i can't tell if he's alive or what he won't come out. PLEASE, PLEASE HELP!!!
ANSWER: It sounds like you've got two problems. One is he's molted. Two is you have mites.
He's most likely fine in his shell but is very vunerable to mites, give him a bath in your ocean salt water and then a dip in dechlorinated fresh water and see if you can flush some of those mites out of his shell. Take everything out of your crab's tank and throw it away.
Rinse it out with HOT water and let air dry. Put paper towels down and then put your crab in there. Offer him both kinds of water and some shrimp with the tail still on. Some honey and some unsalted unflavored popcorn. Hopefully this will get him through until he is healthier and you can do a more thorough mite treatment.
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QUESTION: THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!! Is canned seafood safe to give him? We don't have any shrimp or anything like that, our family is Jewish. What besides shrimp would he like to eat? Is there anything I can do to keep mites from coming back? I have no idea how he got them because right now he lives alone (yes I know hermit crabs are social, but I'm focusing on getting this right first). Any tips for keeping them away and killing them for good?
ANSWER: Canned is no good because of the salt. Try offering him some egg yolk and crushed up egg shells instead.
You will have to wait until he is stronger to get rid of the mites completely. You must bath him 3 times a day with double strength salt water and then rinse in fresh water. Do this for three days and every day clean out the tank and replace everything. This is the best way to get rid of mites.
You can also buy predator mites (mites that eat bad mites) but they are very expensive.
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QUESTION: Should the egg yolk be raw or cooked? I just gave him a bath, but I still can't tell if he's alive. He doesn't smell like rotting flesh, so I take that as a good sign. Any tips for how to bathe him? I basically just wrinsed him in salt then fresh water. Should he be submerged or wrinsed? Again, thank you for answering back quickly, you have been so much help! Also, when he molted, he went back into the same shell, is that normal? Is he going to move again soon?
AnswerHard boil the egg.
Submerge him in the water for 30 seconds, tilt the shell until the bubbles come out (they might not).
When they molt, they don't always change shells, there's no way to tell. I had a crab stay in one shell for 2 years once, band I have crabs that change every week. It's all about the personality!
