E-GAD!!!!!!

Question
well a couple of days ago I was cleaning out crab town, and I noticed the Bat
Crab (he has a batman shell) had lost a leg. When I first brought him home he
would not leave shod alone (a little bigger in a jade shell) so I put in extra
shells and some more hiding places, but it did not detour him! so I thought
that maybe it was a "crush" and shod was a shodette and got irritated and got
ahold of him!
well today is cleaning day again and now bat crab has lost two more legs and
his small pincher!!!!!!!
I thought he was dead but I didn't want to get rid of him if he's not.
if he's not dead can he make a come back with such loss.
-he's not hanging out of his shell at all, and put a drop of warm water on him
and his big pincher opened, but is it just a reflex?


Answer
Dear Sarena,
thank you for your question.
It seems that Bat Crab is either sick or very stressed. Did you change anything in the crabitat lately (new deco, toys ect.) that might be harmful for the crabs?
It's possible for him to survive and regrow all legs and the pincher. I recommend putting him into a small container with some moist substrate or moss (for extra high humidity), the container can stay inside the main crabitat if there's enough room. Offer him salt and fresh water in bottlecaps as food extra high in calcium, protein and chitin: crushed cuttlebone, krill, shrimp exo, dead crickets/mealworms/silkworms, egg and egg shells, mushrooms. Honey is another good food, it's an energy booster. Apart from that, Bat Crab can eat whatever the other crabs are getting. Leave him alone as much as possible. A sign of an oncoming molt are gel limbs, little white blobs that are a sort of proto-leg and will grow into new legs during the molt. Here's a picture of a crab with a gel limb (he had only one leg left and regrew all legs and pinchers):
http://foto.arcor-online.net/palb/alben/80/94180/1280_3938623562343166.jpg
It might take a few weeks, the crab in the picture took about a month until he first molted. After the molt the crab can return to the crabitat.
I hope I was of some help to you and I hope your crab pulls through
Jennifer