Porcelain crab molted??

[eveningstar15]

A few days ago my porcelain crab molted. Now he doesn't have either of his big claws. When I first saw his molt, big claws and all I thought he was died but then I noticed the back side was open and it was empty. Do they normally lose their claws when they molt? When his claws grow back?

 

[peasofme]

inverts often lose claws to molts. they will grow back next molt, but smaller

 

[eveningstar15]

He died!!!

 

[willyboy]

Poor thing! Sorry to hear that. Molting is the most stressful time in a crustacean's life and they must do it many times. They often require several days to recalcify their exoskeleton after the molt and they are very vulnerable during this time. They harden their mouth parts first usually, so that they can eat before the hardening is completed. Many factors play into their successful molting.

I've been studying crayfish (undergraduate biology), a decapod just like the porcelain crab, and one individual in particular somehow developed a whole in his carapace on his back. This happened when he molted and now you can see inside of him! And when he eats little bits of food come out. We'll see how long he lasts.

 

[Calappidae]

Sorry to hear it died :sad2: its ashame to have loses...

Like above said, when they molt they are very very stressed out... we humans lose skin cells regularly without know it (which feed dustmites) but we do it so little over a longer period of time... in this case this crab just molted all his skin in a few minutes... it mainly takes around 24 hours to grow back their shell or in some cases a few weeks. Iodine and Calcium are important for the success rate of a molt (I just do water changes and dose calcium..)

Was it an anemone crab, or porcelain crab?

 

[eveningstar15]

Sorry to hear it died :sad2: its ashame to have loses...

Like above said, when they molt they are very very stressed out... we humans lose skin cells regularly without know it (which feed dustmites) but we do it so little over a longer period of time... in this case this crab just molted all his skin in a few minutes... it mainly takes around 24 hours to grow back their shell or in some cases a few weeks. Iodine and Calcium are important for the success rate of a molt (I just do water changes and dose calcium..)

Was it an anemone crab, or porcelain crab?

It was a porcelain crab.