Fresh Molts and False Bottoms: How Im trying to get them to bury less and come out more.

  For those of you who have followed my blog, You know my crabs by name. Female, Bubbles: Male, Jack.
For those of you who haven't, there you go! Haha, also for those who have yet to read any of this, I am not an expert. I do not claim to be an expert. What you will read here is what I know from my now 4 or so months experience with these animals and with what research I've done. I also dont claim what I do is right regardless, it just has worked for me. What will be posted here in this post and in others has included my experiments to try different things, my trial and error if you will.

On to this post.
  Jack has molted for a second time, and is BEAUTIFUL. Bubbles still has yet to molt at all. Supposedly they will stop eating a few days to a week before molting, well shes still eating steadily. But she looks so awful! Just wait until you see the photos I will post at the bottom. I would think I am doing something wrong, but Jack looks lovely. I'm still chalking it up to she needs to molt bad.
  I also am starting to devise a plan to get the to come out more, bury less, and hopefully not run ina nd hide the second I come in the room. Id like to actually see them more. and eventually tame them. From what weve deduced, they are wild caught (greeeeaaaat), and will probably take a long time to adjust period.
  What Ive done (shown sort of in photos) is turned over the container I used to try running water previously, and put some large heavy rocks to make a graduating side. The crabs naturally will go down slopes to find water so I would like to keep a gradient of land. The rocks are large and heavy enough that they cannot move them or get under them. 

First Attempt at False Base (as of Sept 2012 or so I put a later of Plexiglass down too)

  

I then put down my soil layer (already shown above), and layered in a sand/soil mixture as my substrate, I think its not as pretty or clean looking as plain sand, but it makes stronger burrows and holds moisture better than just sand. I bury in small terracotta pots for hides and give them a little leeway on sand so they can close themselves in as they molt since there are two of them, and add decoration.

  I make sure to bury the water dishes for ease of access. It makes it harder on me, but easier for them haha. We will see how this works and I will post an update in a few weeks. I generally do a deep clean once a month, but have done it more often recently bc of changing tanks and all those running water problems *sigh*

Now on to the pictures of the crabs!

 Jack, about to take a dip in some fresh water.

Freshly Molted!

So cute.

Bubbles, being defensive.

She just needs to molt already... so little.

Thats all for now. Hope you liked the photos!

Update: No More Running water

 Well, The water didnt work out.
Nutshell: It leaked. I dont know why but it wasnt the container itself. I have switched back to water bowls.
Im also now in a 20 gallon. The boyrfriend wanted his 30 breeder back, and with 2 crabs I didnt need all that room. They seem to like it.
Bubbles will not be shown, shes juuuust about to molt so all i did with her today was pull her out to put in new sand, and put her back in.
Jack is WONDERFUL. Beautiful. Nice dark back with bright white spots, bright red orange underside and legs, gorgeous purple claws. Hes looking super healthy =D Success!!
Now I can only hope Bubbles first molt goes smoothly.

Pictures below- New tank, and Jack!

Running water: Part two

Okay, second time around. This time, caulkless and REMOVABLE!

I previously mentioned that I bought a tupperware shoe box, trimmed the top and lost the lid. I used this as my water section, and had room to set up my saltwater dish on the same side. I also did an inch of plain soil on the bottom of the tank before i laid sand to keep some more moisture, and because Bubble and Jack seemed to like the soil they were in for a week while i gathered sand and set up the 30 gal again.
 What I can say so far is that i like this way better, they liked it, a little too much, they got themselves under the waterfall, and i had to dig them out because it scared me for a sec. in the future ill probably let them be.

 I also spent some time handling them before putting them in, i scoop under them and try not to put my hand over them unless im doing an actual transfer, this helps them feel less threatened. They seemed to calm down a bit and chill after a few minutes. Ill definitely have to do that now and again and see just how handleable i can get them!

 Pictures Ahoy!

Whole 30 gallon Breeder

Hide side (many hides buried for them to choose from)

Water side, Running fresh water with filter and salt water dish

Running water, filter, stones to quiet the flow and move it across the length, there are stones behind it keeping it upright and stacked to keep the crabs from getting stuck in there, also some fake plant stacks to try and make it look nicer haha.

A Death in the Family

  I am saddened to say, my midsize female has passed. We left her in a separate container as noted in the previous post and treated her as live, but she began to stink horrible and bloat to the point of *gag* explosion. I think she died that day when I moved her, when she stopped clicking. I still feel like it was my fault, I shouldn't have moved her. But she also may have been eaten or still died in her fragile state regardless. Im taking this as a learning experience, and hope when Bubbles molts (because Jack did already underground and completely ate his shell) that she stays underground too and doesnt surface and scare the crap out of me.
  As far as the 1/4 tank goes, it was a flop (also noted in previous post). The crabs at the moment are in a 10 gallon with natural plant food free topsoil. Due to some transportation and time errors, and a walmart employee being an idiot, I could not get the natural play sand I like. Soil will have to do and I think I like it, but am still gonna stick with sand (or mostly sand) when I get the 30 gal breeder up and running again.
  The 30 gallon got freshly scrubbed, sanitized, and detoxed today. As did everything that usually resides within, all is prepared to be set up when I can get out to Home Depot for sand. This time, I am still doing running water but in the safe and kinda redneck way... Let me explain.
 I went to walmart, and got a 97 cent tupperware shoe box. It holds 6 quarts, and fits perfectly in the tank i have with room on the end for my salt water dish. I cut the top off, making it 3 inches deep, and smoothed the edges with a lighter. Hopefully when it all comes together it looks okay, if not oh well ill live. Im planning on hooking up the filter as i did before, just now its in a REMOVABLE and CAULKLESS section that will be easier to drain and clean... not to mention completely nontoxic!

 ] I will take this time to mention yet again, that this is my first time owning these crabs, I have had them since February and am learning as I go. I decided to do this blog because of the lack of good info out there, and post how I work with my crabs and what I think may work best. They are known in pet trade to die quickly and be tricky, so you get to learn along with me. I AM IN NO WAY SHAPE OR FORM SAYING WHAT I KNOW IS BEST. As you can see in this post and last post, I screwed up. I am not perfect and am not a pro. This is just my adventure with an animal that I think makes a pretty neat pet. [

 Until next time readers... I hope this is helping people.

^ Jack, My big strong boy ^

Trouble in Paradise

Okay, so this gets a little complicated down the line. But I feel the need to write this as it happened last night.
-For reference, Jack is my male, the biggest. Boo is my medium female, missing two back legs. Bubbles is my small female. All are generally the same size but I can tell the difference.-
 The water side was a flop, about 24+ hours after the water was put in, there was an inch drop in waterline and it went into the sand. I had to do what I could to drain it and lay stone so they could walk around.

  On to the point of this post... Last night I am on my way to bed, and i hear a loud strange clicking. Now these crabs make noises, you hear their legs walking on hard things, you hear them digging and scraping or snapping their claws, but they also click. This was not a normal click. So I looked in and saw Jack laying awkwardly on the sand. legs in normal curved matter, but tilted flat. Mouth and front laying flat. He was the one clicking so strange.
Now I was worried, then I turn on the light and theres little to no orange color to him. I immediately think of the caulk, did some of the chemicals seep into the water that got into his sand?! They wet their gills with puddled water in the sand sometimes. Oh no!! I gently scooted him onto a piece of paper, and transferred him to a lidded container with a hide. I sprayed him with water to moisten the container and him and watched him go more and more limp, and heard the clicking slow and then stop. Did I kill him!? I had to get the others out (if the sand was poisoned they soon would be too!)
 So I start digging and find... a bright red orange crab.. Jack? Jacks the only one with red orange. Bubbles is the only other one with all legs... but this ones so big and shiny and with a soft shell, Bubbles must have molted! Transferred the REAL Jack to a separate container, rocks, dish of water, hide, misted. Hes fine.
 So I dig for my third... and find a tiny crab. Bubbles?! Boo was never that teeny. Oh my word I am a bad crab mommy who cant tell her crabs apart. In truth and reality it was BOO who was dying next to me... with all her legs? She must have molted... Sure enough after all crabs were in their containers, i found her entire old shell. =( What have I done?
  -You are not to handle a crab after molting. Molting is stressful to the animal and commonly makes them extremely lethargic until their insides expand and their shell hardens. Handling during molting may cause death-  and I handled her... and I moved her!
  Currently. They are all still in separate containers, not ideal size or substrate. Not ideal at all. But I have no more sand and am not moving Boo. Boo is still appearing dead. her eyes are mostly sunken in, still not moving. I feel terrible. Like a horrible person, I should never have touched them but I still fear the sand may be toxic and dont want to risk that. I dont dare touch Boo for a couple days to a week, to be sure she is dead or to be sure she is alive and regaining strength. It can take them time to strengthen. Until then I wont bother her. just look in through the side. This is what the molt looks like:

1/4 Tank: Accomplished.

Can I just let out a big YAYYY!!!!
Tonight we successfully assembled my homemade (kinda ghetto) 1/4 tank.
 Basically, we dug the crabs out, and stuck them each in a separate lidded container with moist paper towel and a hide for the next 24 hours. Tossed all the sand (BAD IDEA, but Good Idea), and cleaned my 30 breeder out. We cut a rectangle of 3 inch high plexiglass to fit as a waterproof barrier, and sealed with caulk... white ... caulk.
Ideal? not so much. Does it work and was it free? Absolutely. We set that in place, sealed it and waited. And then just tonight set it all up! It was a good idea to toss all the sand bc it was stankkyyy.
Bad idea because... Im low on sand! As of right now they dont have quite enough, but theres enough to cover the hides and bottom so it will do. I made sure to use multi sized stones in the water, with places to climb out. the filter is turned into a bit of a waterfall.
Here it is!:

Update: The caulk is crap and is peeling. but the water isnt leaking or anything... yet. I plan to get more sand, get my hands on some better and CLEAR caulking. and re do it when i can!

Update: My Tank

No real pictures to this post but I thought I would mention I purchased a filter system today, and have plans to set up a 1/4 water section to my 30 breeder. I got the Marina i25, Pics and more info after it gets set up in a week or two!