The Moltey Cru(s)

Little Pebbles' antics really intrigued me last night and I couldn't fall asleep so I did some research on various aquatic life forums, webpages, etc. Turns out, they might already be molting.

Molting or moulting is the process by which crustaceans shed their exoskeleton as their body grows. The new shell remains soft for a period before hardening. This process is also known as ecdysis.

It is important during the molting process to provide areas for burrowing or hiding that will shield them from light. The molting process can be stressful (imagine if your body was involuntarily trying to break out of your own skin), especially after shedding of the exuvium, their soft new shells make the little crabbies vulnerable to their surroundings. Their environement should be maintained at the usual temperatures, clean and undisturbed.

From now, if I see BamBam or Pebbles lying on their backs or whatever, I am not touching them at all. What I will do is change their water over the weekend to make sure they'll be alright after they've shed their skin. *sob* They grow up so fast.

Crazy crabs gave me a scare

I went to our little crab shack tonight, turned on the light to see how the little babies are doing. To my horror, Pebbles was smack dab in the middle of the tank, submerged in water, flipped over on her back and by all appearances, dead! I observed for a few minutes and saw no signs of movement. Bambam is hiding out in a corner, staying still but had signs of life.

I ran to my bf and said, "I think the little one is dead..."
He was talking on the phone but he whispered, "Just poke her, she's fine."

I found the tweezers we use to feed them fish flakes with and poked. No movement.
I gently picked her up by her claws and there may have been movement. Or it may have been the joints just moving due to gravity. Finally I flipped her onto her legs right out of the water onto their big perching rock. Well, she didn't collapse but there was scarcely any movement I still thought she was dead or at least very sick.

Finally I picked up a bunch of fish flakes and dumped it right in front of her. Slowly, very slowly, she stirred and jammed a huge piece of fish flake into her mouth, chewed a little and stopped moving again. Maybe she's just sleeping but now there's a big piece of fish flake sticking out of her mouth.

What strange little creatures they are!

Introducing BamBam & Pebbles

Okay I don't actually have pictures of Pebbles but BamBam is quite photogenic, don't you think?


I also caught BB eating the garlic shells I flaked in there from last night. It doesn't look like they've touched the peas but at least one of them is eating. Bf also put in a tiny bit of ground beef & bacon today and he said BB was picking at it. So thank goodness they are eating and hopefully Pebbles is getting some food in her as well.

The Crab Shack

I don't know what posessed us to do so but we now have a 5 Gallon tank with 2 Red Claw Crabs setup in our bedroom. We ventured out on Sunday after an early lunch intent on running errands for the rest of the day. After the neccesary trip to the local grocery store we were immediately sidetracked and visited several nurseries. Somehow, this lead us to Petsmart where they had Red Claw Crabs for sale for only $3.99.

Perhaps it is simply because the price is right or we wanted to blow some money on a budget. We decided if we could set them up (crabs and all) for under $50 then it was a done deal. We ended up driving across town to a bigger fish store in search of a better price on tanks & accesories. We scored the tank for around $25. As for the pump, we had an old one at home so we didn't need to buy it. Then last night I went back to Petsmart and got water conditioner for $3, aquarium salt for $2, thermometer for $3, finally $8 for 2 crabs totaling $16. That's only $41 in all plus tax!

We tried feeding them ground up peas but they might've been adjusting to the environment and did not eat. Tonight I will go over to my mom's to steal one of the tiny fish that hatched in their pond last summer, have her donate some fish food and then BamBam & Pebbles are good to go. Thanks to Matt Staroscik's site of centralized information on the little critters, we were able to set up their new home in record time!

I'll try to take some pictures tonight, they're so awesome!
Both our roommates think they are gross...