It's a Miracle!

I'm the first to admit I don't know much about raising fiddler crabs. They make very interesting pets, though, so I'm trying. Xavier, our first crab (actually Chester's) lasted about six weeks until we went on vacation and came home to dead crab. Zoidberg, whose picture is posted elsewhere in this blog, lasted about a month, but he was never very happy, despite me trying to get the salinity of his water right and giving him dry land and sand to dig in instead of just aquarium gravel. RIP Zoidberg :(

Before I had a chance to tell DH I didn't want to have another, he brought home Stormin' Norman. Norman seemed to be doing well--regularly "taking the beach"--until last week when he stopped eating and spent all his time hiding in the half-buried shipwreck in his tank. Sunday, DH found him looking quite dead at the bottom of the tank. RIP Norman :(

But wait, there's more! I scooped the carcass out of the tank and flushed it (after saying a few appropriate words, of course) and began to dip the water out of the tank. When it was nearly empty, suddenly this large brown crab charged out of the ship, wondering where his water had gone! I nearly dropped my dip cup!

Turns out Norman had simply molted and we'd mistaken the empty shell for dead crab. Molting is a good thing. It's the definitive sign of a happy crab. He'd been hiding in the bowels of the shipwreck until his new carapace hardened. So now he has fresh brackish water, a new filter cartridge, he's eating again and all is right with his little brackish world. :D

I guess I'm not such a bad crab Mommy after all. LOL