2 crabs died..please help

i lost 2 crabs this week.when i went to bed the first one was fine.got up,it was dead.the second one was moping around and then died in the food bowl.both had a little water come out when i picked them up.humidity is 75-80. temp is about 78.at night the temp drops to 72.will that temp change kill my crabbies? the first crab i had about 2 weeks.the second about 3.am i doing something wrong?

 

Ok, well first im gonna ask some questions.
1.) How long have you had the 2 crabs? This could be pps.
2.) Have you noticed any lethargary latly?
3.) What species, sometimes straws like to just confuse the heck out of us.
Jeff

 

The temperature fluctuation at night won't kill them, they are used to fluctuating temps in the wild. However, crabbydude did ask an important question...how long have you had these little guys? Also, I just created a template in the 911 forum-take a few moments to answer the questions and we will see what we can do to help


It is important to know that the rigors of harvesting and shipping are more often than not too stressful for even healthy crabs to handle. By the time they arrive at your home the damage that has been done is often irreversible and the little guys die soon after. People often refer to this as Post Purchase Stress (PPS), but I think that is a bit misleading. Post-refers to "after" purchase stress. I'd rather refer to it as HSHS, Harvesting, Shipping and Handling Stress.

I'm sure the people that collect them from the beaches are less than gentle with them. I envisage them walking along with a big basket and just tossing each one they find into the basket until it is full. Then it may get dumped into a larger container and taken by truck to the exporter. The exporter ships them-some times over seas very long distances-to the importer who in turn sells them and ships them to the retailer. They wait there for us to buy them. It really is amazing more of them don't die on us.