Mehitabel has gone under

Nope, not a peep. From either archy OR mehitabel. archy was up in early January, after he took on mehitabel's old shell and was eating and filling up at the water dish - but now they're both silent. Nothing's budged. I'm desperately trying to keep their tat warm enough and humid enough - it's been so cold here, even us humans are struggling with it. Not used to all this snow and cold. I'm about ready to pick up another uth and place it on the other side of the tank, just for an added boost. Using the black light off and on and also hanging up my old auto light on the outside of the tank, which really cranks up the temp in there so I don't use it for long; but once the temp's up I can insulate it with blankets and bubble wrap and they're pretty good for the night. I figure about 4 more weeks I should see one of them emerge. My husband finds it pretty peculiar when I just stand there in front of their enclosure, sighing heavily.

 

I have to use two uth's and a space heater to keep my tanks warm enough. Two of the tanks are also equipped with lights. I know how it is to worry about keeping them warm enough, and humid enough, and well fed etc.etcetc. I was just wondering how Mehetibel's mommy is holding up?

 

Mommy is doing okay, thanks for asking. It seems easier this time, somehow. I think a "new" parent has to go through a trial by fire until one gets an idea what these guys actually do, then one can only do one's best. I really am so fond of these little guys and am tremendously amused by them, so I miss them when they go under. Has Moose emerged? He must be a big sucker.

 

Moose was under for about three months. He's been up for a month now. He went from being a tan purple pincher to a maroon purple pincher. It was an amazing color change. He only comes out at night but since I got a digital camera I may pull him out for a few candid shots. I think he's really impressive. I think Semper has gone under. Semps the first crab I got. I've had him since abouth the middle of June. If this is it , it will be his first molt with me. Also the first since I switched to eco earth, so please keep your fingers crossed for us both. I'm glad you're doing okay. I think I'll do better with my second molt too. Take care.

 

mehitabel emerged yesterday! She didn't let me get a good look at her, so I don't know if she's been doing anything significant or just been in hiding for 6 weeks or is it 7? Did she look like she had grown a bit into that huge shell she moved into? I don't really know. I didn't want to freak her so I let her stay in the dark. But anyway, she came out and ate a lot and generally trashed everything and then went back under. Maybe I'll see archy soon, too.

 

If she molted she will need time to destress. She'll also lose her memory. Just let her do her thing. She's alive! You probably get to see more ofher in a few days. Congratulations, Mommy. You survived the wait.

 

I didnt even notice at first when my crabbie Boi molted he was under for about 3-5 weeks he was a maroon really dark coloured red PP when he went under n he came up alot lighter kindof a tan with pink. My other crabbie Pandora just surface molted im glad she trusted me enough to pick her up and put her into iso. Its been about 5 days since she shedded her exo and you can see her getting harder and darker in colour. For about 2 days after her surface molt she ran around naked in iso and she seems to have huge amounts of energy i cant wait to be able to put her back into the tank with the others. I just hope she doesnt decide to go streaking in there to. lol. Shes been eating her exo as well as the food i put in there. Shes drinking almost as much as my other 9 crabbies put together! In five days shes only got like a half or a quarter left of her exo. The most maraculous thing was her being all pink and running around naked i felt like i did something right to deserve to see her in all her glory. Like a proud parent. Pstice Im so glad your crabbies made it through there change and im glad you survived it

 

And not long after mehitabel emerged, out came archy. Frankly, they both look the same to me, so I don't know what they were doing down there so long. Maybe they just don't like snow. I'm trying to get pictures of them without freaking them out, in order to compare to those I took after their first molt last fall. I discovered they LOVE hardboiled egg. And they have both really taken to that flowery fruit fantasy stuff I ordered for them on ebay. Anyway, they are up and alive, hooray! Thanks everybody for holding me up.

 

Katlin, I must say I am impressed with your parenting skills if you have one of these guys surface molting. I'd love to actually catch my little guys (well not so little anymore) in the act of changing shells, but they are stealth crabs and relatively shy since their first molt. Good work.

 

Ive got another surface molt in progress with SA so i put him in with Pandora and they both seem happy and pandoras really energetic. SA is a bright red right now i wonder what colour he will be after he finishes molting. He let us stand there and you could see him slowly pushing part of his exo off with his back legs. Then he curled back into his shell n just relaxed he seems to be doing alright right now. N hes been munchin on some of pandoras exo cause shes stopped eating it. Can anyone tell me why my crabs are surface molting?? Ive got enough substrate in both my iso and my main tank but the only seem to dig little pits around them then burry them back in and just run around.

 

Itsy, I would start a thread asking that question. I'd like to see if anybody else has any ideas. I've never had a surface molt. I've never had a naked crabbie. There's a mystery in your crabitat that needs solving.

 

my crabbie nut job is under now and she had a molt sac so i put her in iso she dug down in about 5 mins n then i put SA in iso he went in the hut and dug it out and put a wall in front of the door but left little hole