Lobster crisis, will it survive?

[Narayan]

Ive have a tank full of australian blue lobster/crayfish young. Today I discovered one of the young with all of its limbs missing. The others were closing in on it (gulp!). Ive removed it and placed it in a net in the tank with some food. Its still capable of eating. I'm hoping that it will shed and grow some limbs back eventually.

But what do you think.... will it survive??
It looks pretty bad at the moment.
Place your bets... I'll keep you updated.



All opinions are welcome

 

[Dwarfs]

If it's still eating it should get better. If it can grow back one leg, why not all

 

[Fuzzy]

it should live. losing a limbs isnt that bad, exspecialy if u took it away from predators.

 

[samthefishman]

ummmm come on guys...
Loosing a limb is VERY bad. Yeah so what it grows back? wrong.
When they loose a limb they become VERY weak.
From my experiences, i dont think it will survive. Its just like us loosing an arm, its hurts, and we cant funtion the same. fortunatly for us we have people to look after us, they are on their own. Theres a chance it will live, but its slim.
Just keep an eye out.
Hope everything turns out fine

 

[Dwarfs]

As long as it is eating healthily it should be fine. We can't grow limbs back, they can If it couldn't reach it's food I'm sure it would die though

 

[Narayan]

Well, its still hanging in there. Although, not looking very good.
Having all your limbs ripped off cant be good.
Its just a body rolling around, I feed it but...
Im hoping it will shed and grow new limbs but I think I will be waiting for awhile, if it survives that long. Ive never had a lobster/crayfish look so bad.

Fingers crossed!

 

[GuppyDude]

mmm....lobster ...lol

in my experiance with crabs, they shed their shells and userally grow new legs and claws, im pretty sure lobsters are the same way

 

[Narayan]

Yeah, its true that they can grow their limbs back but this one is in a real bad way. My other lobsters/crays have shed a few times and grown their missing limbs back already. This one hasn't got any limbs left at all.

Ive got it in a seperate net in the tank and I am feeding it. It can still feed 'cos at least it still has got the little grabbing things (samthefisherman?any ideas what they are called?) by its mouth.

So, Its still alive but I just caught a cray trying to get into the net. From where I positioned the net, I didnt think they could get to it. Clever little devils

 

[Narayan]

Well, today, its still rolling around and feeding. I'm surprised really, 'cos it still dosen't look like it will make it. No sign of sheding. I still have hopes for it but maybe its only a matter of days before it dies.

 

[FishDan]

Part of your problem with a lack of a molt may be this:

Another, more interesting theory is that the animal tries to postpone molting in the trap because molting would leave it vulnerable to attack by other inhabitants in the trap. This may sound far fetched until you learn about the role of environment and chemical signals involved in molting and mating (two activities that are usually linked) and why being stuck in a trap is probably not percieved by the animal as the right place to conduct either of these activities.

Source.

Perhaps putting it in it's own tank will help, with some place to hide. It may also be too weak to start the process of molting, having lost all of it's legs.

As for the "little grabbing things", you probably mean the pincers.

\Dan

 

[Narayan]

As for the "little grabbing things", you probably mean the pincers.

\Dan

Er, no, I know what pincers are (Im not that stupid...yet ) but thanks for your input. I mean the the things on both sides of its mouth, they hold food pellets with them while they are eating.

 

[FishDan]

As for the "little grabbing things", you probably mean the pincers.

\Dan

Er, no, I know what pincers are (Im not that stupid...yet ) but thanks for your input. I mean the the things on both sides of its mouth, they hold food pellets with them while they are eating.

Ah. Sorry. I haven't looked close enough at any lobster/crayfish in a long time to catch what you meant.

\Dan

 

[tekknocolor]

Are you referring to the lobster's mandible?

 

[Narayan]

Are you referring to the lobster's mandible?

Heh, if thats the little grabbin things by their mouth then yeah, and thanks

Latest news on my limbless lobster is that its moulted but still dosent look very good. Its got to be good news though that its moulted. I cant see that its grown anything back, I'm leaving alone to get on with things.

Still crossing my fingers