Ajax Lives!

The title pretty much says it all.

Ajax and Ulysses have been incommunicado since I rearranged the Disco, and I’ve been fretting that they died on me.  Happily, as I was turning on their day-glow bulb this morning, I saw I shell perched on the log that isn’t usually there. . . .

It is indeed Ajax, and from the quick glimpse that I got of him, it does seem that he’s molted.  The shell isn’t as ridiculously big on him as it used to be, so I’m hoping he’ll chill out topside for a while.  With my luck, he’ll dig back under as soon as I transfer them to the Bigger Disco.  However, since I’m totally procrastinating on the water/food dish construction, that’s a ways off yet.

 

Fight Club

Last night I headed over to the Disco just after midnight. I had put a few pomegranate seeds in the food dish and was curious to see if anyone had investigated. When I peeked in I could dimly see two shells near the dish, so naturally I thought they were checking out the fruit offering. Then I sat to watch . . . .

Hector, the little bully alpha crab, was doing her best to present Constantine with an offer he couldn’t refuse in order to steal his shell (which is almost identical to Hector’s). I watched for a few moments to make sure I knew what I was seeing, and smacked the side of the Disco nearest the pair.

It didn’t phase Hector.

I hurriedly took the screen off the top of the Disco, picked up Hector, and plopped her in the salt water dish.

That distracted her long enough that Constantine was able to find cover in a hole in the substrate. I put some new, larger shells in the Disco, and hopefully Hector will find them interesting enough to leave Constantine alone.

Oh, the drama.

 

Hallelujah!

The last of the Clan has appeared!  I’ve officially gotten 5 successful molts from five crabs; for a first-time crabber, I’m ecstatic they all survived!

Hector: Female, alpha crab.  Second-to-last to finish her molt.  Still in pre-molt King Crown shell.

Ulysses: Male.  First to dig under, first to emerge.  Still in pre-molt cancellaria shell.  Loves basking on the top of Mount Never-Rest under the night-glow bulb.

Ajax: Male, smallest of the Clan.  Second to molt.  Recently stole Nero’s brown land snail shell while she was trying on others.  Nero was not happy.  Shell is massively too large for him.

Constantine: Male, newer Clan member.  Last to finish his molt.  Still in pre-molt King Crown shell, bus since he just made it topside, we’ll see what he’s in within a few days.

Nero: Female, newer Clan member and largest of the Clan.  After having her beloved snail shell stolen by Ajax, she wore a green striped turbo for a few days.  Now seems fairly content in a Babylonia Japonica shell.

YAY!  They all survived!  I am so happy.

 

Disco II – Electric Boogaloo

The new 29-gal is washed and waiting.  My parents gave me a gift of a nice wrought-iron stand.  All I need now is a light fixture ($$$) and I can begin setting up the new ‘tat.

None of the molters have made an appearance yet, and I’m past the point on impatience and on to outright frustration.  I did see a small access underneath the food dish –one of the Clan has been holed up under there, but I’m not quite sure who– so there’s a chance someone will be coming topside soon.

I want the small I saw in PetSmart last week.  WANT.

 

Oh, What a Feelin’…

… when Ulysses is dancing on the celing. The little bugger has found how to get to the wire cover from (I’m assuming) the top of Mount Never-rest. I can’t even give him the bit of pumpkin I saved from my adventures in pumpkin-carving tonight without making him fall off the screen, so it’s in the fridge until tomorrow, probably.

In other news, I am now the owner of a used-and-loved 29-gal tank (it was a fixture in my parents’ living room when I was growing up, I loved watching all the fish), so I have a new project in the cleaning of the tank and the planning of the expansion of the Disco. 19 extra gallons means I *could* have more crabs, but I’ll worry about that when we’re all established. I might be able to indulge in my hankering for a few micros.

 

Psych!

So Constantine emerged yesterday afternoon.  I thought he’d gone down for a molt, but based on his level of furriness, I’m thinking it was just an 10-day vacation under the fresh water dish.  At first I thought he was Hector because the two are in similar shells, and it was all covered with substrate when he came up.  It wasn’t until this morning that I saw I was wrong, so Hector is still under and hopefully is snacking on her exoskeleton.

Ajax spent a few days in a King Conch shell that was way too big for him after changing out of the pretty green turbo he’d donned right after his molt, but this morning he’d squeezed himself into a Cancellaria that is a bit too snug.  It will be interesting to see what he’s in when I get home tonight.  I hope he doesn’t go back to the conch; I already have 3 in similar-looking shells and a fourth is more than I really want to try to decipher.

Constantine was also checking out the new offerings, maybe he’ll switch as well today.  The only good thing is that C is so large and A is so small, I should be able to figure out who chose what shell.

 

Oh Boy…

New shells were added to the Disco. Shells were examined by Clan. Shells were thrown into tunnel by Clan. Shells were tried on by Clan. Some were discarded, some were kept.

Now I have no freaking clue who is who.

 

Success

Ajax emerged from his molting den this morning and has already changed into a new shell, hooray! If he’s eaten well by the time I get home he (or she, I’ll try determining that tonight) will be reintroduced to the Disco and the rest of the Clan tonight.

My packages arrived yesterday. Sadly, all the shells I ordered are way too big for any of my Clan (I totally overestimated the size) and the night-glo bulb I ordered burned out 5 minutes after I turned it on. Sigh. The Crabbage Patch has got to love me.

 

Obsession

Ok, I admit it. I am disturbingly invested in the lives and times of my hermit crabs. Y’all are just going to have to deal.

I had a great time watching them last night. There was a bit of confusion for a while because one of the newbies, Constantine, changed shells and I didn’t notice. Now I have three crabs in very similar shells, and if Ulysses hadn’t just molted (and is now all fuzzy and hairy and has wee little black toenails) I would have an even harder time telling them apart. But back to topic.

I got to watch U changes shells several times under full lighting –most of the changes have been under the moonglow bulb, and therefore very dim and hard to see– and it never ceases to entertain me. When they finally plop their little pasty crab butts into a new shell… so cool. Think of it like a paraplegic who has built his upper body to compensate for the lack of leg use transferring himself from chair to chair; it’s a similar concept. The crab uses his pincers and walking legs to maneuver the new shell into just the right position, then heaves its lower body and tiny lower legs (the ones that grasp the interior of the shell to keep it on) into the opening of the new shell. For being so commonplace, it’s just amazing.

Since he came up from his molt, Ulysses has been really active and it’s a nice change in the Disco. Last night I found him perched way at the top of the rock hidey, balanced rather precariously right under the night bulb. Hector was trundling about on the ground, and before I got too tired to stay awake any longer, Constantine made an appearance in his second new shell since I bought him on Monday (verifying that yes, he did switch again when I wasn’t looking). Nero, the other newbie, was hiding out and probably destressing. Ajax is still chilling in ISO, and I’m waiting for him to come up at any time. He’ll have been dug under for a month next week, so while that’s about average for a crab his size, I’m impatient. I want him back in the Disco!

I’ve had trouble keeping the tank temperature constant with the cooler weather we’ve been having, so I have two higher-wattage bulbs on order. I also placed an order for some good-quality food and a handful of new shells from The Crabbage Patch. Ulysses isn’t happy with any of the current shell offerings, and his current one may be feeling a little tight after his molt. Hopefully he’ll like one of the new ones, if nothing else so I can tell them all apart easier!

I’m really not this much of a nerd usually, I swear.

 

…and Comedy

I have never been so happy to be wrong. Ulysses is alive and well!

I realize that yes, I am a dork, but I cried my way through the workday today.  After work I made a trip to a mom-and-pop pet store I passed last week in an attempt to get some more life in the Disco.  I wasn’t trying to replace Ulysses –that would be impossible– but instead to make the tank seem not so empty without him.  I spent about half an hour getting to know the hermit crabs there, and after suffering a nice pinch on my middle finger, I left with two new crabs (yet to be named).

As I was moving things around to grab Hector for a bath (I wanted to bathe H and the new guys together to reduce the chance of further cannibalism) I found Ulysses’ shell in the rock hidey right next to where Hector was encamped.  At first I was even more upset, because not only did Hector EAT Ulysses, now he had to go and drag his shell around too…

…until I went to move U’s shell out of the way and thought I felt a vibration. I put the shell to my ear and I thought I heard a chirp. My husband confirmed that he thought he heard something too, so I put the shell down on a paper plate, and after a few minutes, Ulysses came out completely whole, healthy, and freshly molted with his teeny black toenails.  Apparently I had unearthed the remains of Ulysses’ exoskeleton, and he is able to retreat so far into his shell that I didn’t even see him this morning.  But now he’s been out and about, and has been making friends with the two new guys, and I think the worst of the worry may be over.  I’m going to watch him for a few days to make sure he’s energetic enough, but I think I can count this as the day Ulysses came back from the dead.

Yay, zombie crab!

Now if Ajax would only come up from his molt I will be perfectly happy . . . .