--- In hermies@yahoogroups.com, "Lisa Hill-Sutton" <lisajulia@...> wrote:
>
but one of our approximately 1 yo hermies was in the salt water dish without a
shell!
> I took her out and put her in a quarantine crabitat with lots of removed]
>
HELP! My Crab is NAKED!!
Though it's your first instinct, don't panic. Run your hands under water to
remove any perfume and/or hand lotion. Try the GLASS CUP METHOD. This is
something that I made up that works wonderfully.
Take the nudie crab and dip him in water to wash the substrate off him. Then
rinse out his old shell. Put him and his shell into a glass cup together, and
put into the isolation tank and leave him alone. It keeps him from running
around frantically (as naked crabbies do) and conserves his energy. Besides he
is in close quarters with his shell and can't walk away from it. I've been using
this method for two years now, successfully. A second method is to calmly pick
up the naked crab and dip him (and his shell of choice) into dechlorinated,
Stress Coat treated water and, using your finger, try to gently curl his abdomen
into the shell. If he doesn't like the idea, use your fingertip to rap him a
little on the head and 'scare' him into withdrawing. If he pops out of the
shell, set him into the bath water and take a good look at the shell. Put your
fingertip down inside it to make sure there are no protrusions or anything which
would irritate or poke his abdomen. Then, try again to get him into the shell.
If you still don't have success, try a new shell the same size as his previous
shell. If that doesn't work, get him into a shell that is larger. Do not under
any circumstances force him into a shell that it too small or uncomfortable for
him. He is already under tremendous stress, and forcing him into an unsuitable
shell may put him into shock and eventually death.