Please Tell Me My Niece Didn't Cremate My Molting(?) Fiddler Crab&

[4Shelly]

Hello,
 
 I just joined today. This is kind of long, sorry...Well, I had to go out of town for a couple of days recently, and I left my 20 year old niece in charge of pet-sitting my two fiddler crabs.( 1 male, 1 female). Easy, right? I had taken care of the feeding and everything before I left so she wouldn't have to. Anyway, she called me on my cell phone the evening I had left, (I left earlier in the morning that day), telling me that the female was acting kind of strange, pressing her face up to the front of the tank, and looking a pale, grayish color. I told her to just leave her alone and keep an eye on her. I was an hour away from home, so I couldn't come right home. The first thing I thought was maybe she was getting ready to molt. I have never seen either of my crabs molt- they always hid/burrowed, if/when they did. I talked to my niece a couple hours later and she said my crab was still at the front of the tank, and hadn't moved since I talked to her earlier. I thought to myself "Oh no, she's either surface molting and/or dying." To make things even worse, our electricity went off for a few hours that night, so the crabs weren't heated, and our days and nights have been really cold here in Ohio for a few weeks. (My niece went to a friend's house for a couple of those hours because our house was cold and dark.) I talked to her again around 11:00 p.m., and she said my crab looked dead- standing up, hunched over towards the front of the tank, and white. The next morning, same thing. Well, I was still out of town for a funeral, and wouldn't be home until the next day. If I had been home, I would've put her in iso, or at least covered her, so my male crab couldn't get to her. I didn't want my niece to do it, thinking she might cause more damage to my poor crab. I called home that night, and my niece said the crab still hadn't moved, it was dead, so she threw it in our wood burning stove and cremated it! "WHAT!?" (I was, and still am upset over this!) I don't know if my crab was still alive, or not! Maybe she was molting, but maybe she died because it got cold when our electricity was off. I feel so guilty! Does it sound like she was molting? I had her for 9 months, no problems. She was the biggest of my two crabs, pretty big compared to most fiddlers I've seen. Any thoughts or suggestions? I know it's too late, but I feel terrible for her. Shelly was her name, hence my name on here. P.S. When I got home, I noticed two holes that had been dug in the tank.

 

[Chad]

It does sound like she was molting. Either what was cremated was the molt and the female is elsewhere waiting to come out once the new shell hardens or she had some trouble with the molt and could not complete it. It's also possible that she molted then escaped from the tank (fiddlers are notorious for this) but the end result of that would have also been bad as they dry out and perish.
 
Either way I don't think you need feel guilty for an action someone else took.

 

[4Shelly]

Thanks for the response, Chad. My niece also told me that a whitish liquid came out of her when she took her out of the tank. Would this be normal in a molt? I know they build up water to help with the molt, from articles I've read. She said there was an odor, too, one of the reasons she discarded her. Is there anyone on here that has Fiddler crabs that may have pictures as to what a pre-molt, or molt looks like? I'm new to the molting thing, since I've never witnessed my crabs in the process. Why would my crab surface molt, in the front of the tank? Also, I phrased my p.s. comment wrong in my original post.- I meant there were a couple of holes in the sand substrate in the tank, not in the tank itself. My crabs have never escaped yet. I took the male out, sifted very carefully through the sand and I don't see Shelly anywhere, so who knows what exactly happened to her while I was gone. Anyone with molting Fiddler crab pictures or a good description so I know what to expect if/when I see a molt with my own eyes? Thanks a lot!  

 

[Chad]

Thanks for the response, Chad. My niece also told me that a whitish liquid came out of her when she took her out of the tank. Would this be normal in a molt?

No, that would be a dead crab. A molt is empty and clean. You know when you pick it up that it's a molt but sometimes it can be difficult to tell (depending on position of the molt) that it's not a dead crab. I have two porcelain anemone crabs in my tank (one was a gift from one of our mods when he visited Arizona). They are bright white so really show up. Sometimes I come in and see that bright white molt and no crab on his anemone and think he died but then I can see him hiding underneath the anemone.

Fiddlers are burrowing animals if they have the right substrate so it's not impossible for them to hide but it's not common in aquaria unless they've really been set up to mimic the natural habitat of the muddy shoreline.
It's important to really understand the habitat for a fiddler crab. It's not a truly aquatic crab like marine crabs are. My crab above never leaves the water and never needs to. Fiddler crabs do, and must.
Below is an example I found on Google of a tank that I feel is a good example of a fiddler tank. Not perfect but very do-able for the average aquarist.

 

[BattleCrab]

My fiddler crab has molted before (this might help for further ownership of any crabs) when he was molting he turned very very pale and didn't move much. then one day he looked fine. When I was cleaning the tank I noticed that he had molted. I can tell you that it will probably be a week. starting to turn pale, then not moving much. then just fine. I hope this helps in the slightest and sorry to hear about Shelly.