crab molting

[Loveless]

Most, if not all, crustaceans will molt, a process that shed and cast off the old exoskeleton. After molting, the crustacean will 1) get bigger 2) hungrier 3) replace lost limbs

The black one is the actual crab, the shell at this time is very soft. The browish one is only the old exoskeleton, notice how the eyes are empty. There are only 3 limbs excluding the claw on the left side of the exoskeleton and notice the different color of the new limb on the actual crab.

Soft on the bottom too. Don't worry, it's very alive, I just wanted to take a good photo.

 

[Gill]

Cool, thanks for the show loveless.

Would Love a crab tank.

Seen some really nice setups recently.

Each had Water featues in the tank fro the crabs to climb.

 

[jams.alaskan]

Nice job with the photos - that may answer a few questions that we have had recently.

ALASKA

 

[Mustang5L5]

How often do they molt??

I have a large Red Claw crab that is missing 1 leg and 1 claw.

 

[Loveless]

every 1 to 2 months I think, depending on maturity.

 

[Aqua_Princess64]

The first time my crab molted, I freaked out because it was hiding all the time and didn't move at all for about two days. Then, I noticed that there was another crab in there with him, and I really freaked out. In the end, I finally realized that the crab had molted. Those were some nice picks, by the way, Loveless!!!!

 

[Magnolia_360]

 

[RCC]

hey i have a question

my crab is staying on the wood that is in my tank, but hes been on there for at least five hours. I lightly pushed him to see if he was dead or if it was an exoskeloton when i did red specs came off in the water HELP!