Running a tiny pico tank and for some reason blue legged hermit crabs keep dying on us! Check out my build thread for rough details, but it is a two gallon jar, water has been fairly stable, and over the lifetime of trying to keep hermits we have had 3 (now maybe 4) of the 5 hermits living in it not make it. The one that is struggling right now was on top of the big rock this morning, but hanging fairly far out of his shell. Also looked a bit pinkish, which was a new coloration that developed in the last day or so. He has molted before and exited his shell, but I haven't seen him acting like this or this pink.
Shortly after this picture was taken, he left his shell and fell off the big rock. Has been rolling around and twitching a bit, as if struggling to right himself and hold onto things. Now he has been swept by the flow under the shelf of a rock, which is a safer space, but is on his back with legs in the air. My friend just texted me that he doesn't seem to be twitching anymore, just laying there.
Did he bite the bullet? Or is he just going through an intense stress with a molt? I haven't actually observed a molt yet (though I know it has happened in the little jar as I have cleaned out the exos after a molt).
With how tiny the tank is, I worry about leaving him in there, but if he is molting I don't want to disturb him through the process.
Things that worry me is his behavior of not seeming to have the strength to hold himself in place and also being so pink, which is an odd change. One of the ones we lost the other week changed a bit pinkish as well before going lifeless.
What is happening to all my hermits and why are these supposedly extremely hardy warriors so hard to care for in this tiny ocean?! ;Drowning
Shortly after this picture was taken, he left his shell and fell off the big rock. Has been rolling around and twitching a bit, as if struggling to right himself and hold onto things. Now he has been swept by the flow under the shelf of a rock, which is a safer space, but is on his back with legs in the air. My friend just texted me that he doesn't seem to be twitching anymore, just laying there.
Did he bite the bullet? Or is he just going through an intense stress with a molt? I haven't actually observed a molt yet (though I know it has happened in the little jar as I have cleaned out the exos after a molt).
With how tiny the tank is, I worry about leaving him in there, but if he is molting I don't want to disturb him through the process.
Things that worry me is his behavior of not seeming to have the strength to hold himself in place and also being so pink, which is an odd change. One of the ones we lost the other week changed a bit pinkish as well before going lifeless.
What is happening to all my hermits and why are these supposedly extremely hardy warriors so hard to care for in this tiny ocean?! ;Drowning