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Earlier today I noticed that Blindie, my 6" Cherax Quadricarinatus Crayfish had been fairly inactive much of the day, and had stayed in the same corner all afternoon.
A while ago, Warren (b/f) was tank-watching and asked what was wrong with him, he was having a very difficult time just walking along the substrate - half a 48" tank away from his daytime corner. So I take a look, notice his color was very off, and I look in his corner to find an empty replica of him.
So Ah-Hah! Mystery solved. His difficulty walking was due to his size and the fact he's walking with a body that's as soft as warm butter - and i'm not exaggerating here. I move to the other end of the tank to look at him head-on and notice that he's only got one claw :(. A ways behind him I see his new claw behind a rock which hid it from the front view. I remove it (as it will only rot and foul the tank), gather up his old shell and put it in the opposite corner. I had to herd little miss Instigator, and Macgyver (my other 2 Cherax Quads) to the other end, and construct new shelters for them all. He barely fit under the old one there - it was Instigators place and she's much smaller than the guys. Then off I go to find some lighting grid and make a divider to give him some space to grow without threat. Nearly the whole time he's stressing and cramming himself into the corner. Finally I finished and he made his way next to his old cave, legs flexing like cooked spaghetti as he tries to walk. he stretches out a bit, seeming to relax. I turned the lights out so he'd feel less "spotlighted".
I wonder how much he's going to grow with this molt? Last time it was a sizeable amount - at least an inch over a 3-day period. It's amazing to watch that. How he will fare with only one claw, I do not know - the others are fully equipped with all their limbs. They may have aided in the removal of his new claw, but it's likely that it just got caught against a rock or cave and in trying to extract it, it came off. When I pulled his new claw out of the tank, it was soooo soft. Nothing at all like it was a few months ago when he snapped at me, hard enough to draw blood then.
Only time will tell what kind of growth spurt he's gonna have this time - Should be interesting!
A while ago, Warren (b/f) was tank-watching and asked what was wrong with him, he was having a very difficult time just walking along the substrate - half a 48" tank away from his daytime corner. So I take a look, notice his color was very off, and I look in his corner to find an empty replica of him.
So Ah-Hah! Mystery solved. His difficulty walking was due to his size and the fact he's walking with a body that's as soft as warm butter - and i'm not exaggerating here. I move to the other end of the tank to look at him head-on and notice that he's only got one claw :(. A ways behind him I see his new claw behind a rock which hid it from the front view. I remove it (as it will only rot and foul the tank), gather up his old shell and put it in the opposite corner. I had to herd little miss Instigator, and Macgyver (my other 2 Cherax Quads) to the other end, and construct new shelters for them all. He barely fit under the old one there - it was Instigators place and she's much smaller than the guys. Then off I go to find some lighting grid and make a divider to give him some space to grow without threat. Nearly the whole time he's stressing and cramming himself into the corner. Finally I finished and he made his way next to his old cave, legs flexing like cooked spaghetti as he tries to walk. he stretches out a bit, seeming to relax. I turned the lights out so he'd feel less "spotlighted".
I wonder how much he's going to grow with this molt? Last time it was a sizeable amount - at least an inch over a 3-day period. It's amazing to watch that. How he will fare with only one claw, I do not know - the others are fully equipped with all their limbs. They may have aided in the removal of his new claw, but it's likely that it just got caught against a rock or cave and in trying to extract it, it came off. When I pulled his new claw out of the tank, it was soooo soft. Nothing at all like it was a few months ago when he snapped at me, hard enough to draw blood then.
Only time will tell what kind of growth spurt he's gonna have this time - Should be interesting!
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