Over a week?? Moult too long

[MJI]

Hi guys, quick one for you all -

I have G Chiragra, and he's been holed up for about a week now, and never once came out. Mid week the tank went cloudy and I thought, "oh no - he's holed up and died" so I carefully took away a few rocks that was at the entrance and peered in.

He's still alive, but hardly even moved to attack the chopstick that i feed him with (as he normally would).

I'm thinking that this is just a long moult - what do you guys think?

 

[Gonodactylus]

Large G. chiragra molt infrequently and will stop feeding for a couple of weeks when they do. A week is certainly not too long for the animal to be sequestered. They have a lot of mineralization of the cuticle to complete before they can effectively strike - and if they can't strike, they are not going to expose themselves. I might start being concerned after two and a half weeks, but not before.

Roy

 

[MJI]

Cheers for that Dr Roy, The guy is pretty big I gather for a Chriagra (4-5 inches), so I keep an eye on him. He did take one of the largest turbos in the tank before he went into "hiding", so he must have been preparing!

Thanks again.

 

[Gonodactylus]

The largest G. chiragra on record was just over 10 cm and once they hit 85 mm molting becomes problematic. Hope he makes it.

Roy

 

[MJI]

Cheers again for the info Dr Roy. Unfortunately I have been the other side of the country for the last 3 days, so haven't been abale to keep an eye on him. Having said that, he has reholed up since I left, and looks as if he has been about.

Will keep you posted.

Really don't want to lose him. At first I wanted a peacock, and was quite put out when a Chiragra arrived, but he's a character now. Aaggressive though - if he see me coming to his tank, he runs at me to scare me off!!!

Cheers again,

Mike

 

[mantisshrimp]

I miss mine he was exactly 4".