No wonder recently Hermie the 'outgoing' crab kept refusing to come out of his shell. He's changing skin inside! Super cool.
This morning I woke up to see his old legs and body (ahem, proper term to describe hermit crab's old skin is 'exoskeleton') outside his shell.
I tried to disturb it as little as possible because molting is the most stressful time for hermit crabs. In fact, many crabs die during their molt because they're too stressed out.
Hhmm... I hope my little Hermie's survives his molt. Till now, I haven't seen him coming out from his shell yet. Anyway, I'm super excited because if Hermie does survive, that means he'll become bigger! Yay, my crabs are growing under my care. =)
By the way, I've taken Kermit out so that he won't attack Hermie or eat Hermie (yikes!). Hermit crabs that just molted have extremely soft skin and are extremely vulnerable. Hermie now has the entire tank to himself.
I won't take out his 'old skin' (exoskeleton) from the tank because it is a good source of calcium. He'll will eat everything up to regain his strength and it will help his new skin harden faster.
From this series of pictures, you can see Hermie hiding in his shell showing his new set of claws with fine hair on it. So cute, just like a little baby.This is how the tank looks like now. Kermit is in another tank.
Hermie snugged up and hiding in his shell...
Anyway, I'll update you on how he's doing in my next post. So, stay tuned!
2 comments:
Wendy,
I checked on Hermie again this morning, 80% of that 'dangling thingy from the shell' is already eaten up by him. Hahaha. So, yea I supposed it'll be part of his food now.
Wendy,
They molt to grow bigger. Their shell won't grow bigger. After they become too big for their shell, they'll leave the old shell to look for a bigger one. =)
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