survivorcrab

[survivorcrab]

JOE MOLTED FOR REAL THIS TIME

Left: With this molting, Joe is now the average adult size for her species, 1cm. GOOD JOB JOE!

Right: The exciting crab exoskeleton! however much i want to take it out and put it on a shelf, it must stay in the tank and be eaten for crab calcium.

Also, take a look at the underbelly! The apron looks like an upside-down parabola instead of a spear. Which means Joe is a girl crab! 8D EXCITING CRAB TRIVIA

[survivorcrab]

eating algae :'''') 

[survivorcrab]

im still reeling from the stupid waving dance earlier THE SMALL INVERTEBRATE DISk CREATURE FEELS CONFIDENT ENOUGH IN HIS NEW HOME TO WAVE MENACINGLY AT THREATS instead of flattening/burying in the sand like he's been doing. im so... proud..................

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i am further convinced that the crab molted during his secretive time because he is bigger now. i think. definitely. he was 2/3 cm and now hes upgraded to 3/4 cm. he grew a millimeter, i can tell with my eyeballs.

chart:

[survivorcrab]

Joe threatens the camera with his minor claw.

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Found him

[survivorcrab]

A Tale of Survival: uh, the sequel

so, ok. Joe went missing thursday night.

The days prior to going missing, Joe wasn't eating or moving and his eyes were turning milky. These are signs of pre-molting, but also, sounds a lot like being DEATHLY SICK?????? Then he disappeared completely. NO TRACKS. NO NOTHING. WHERE'D HE GO??? WHERE'S JOE.

He's a mud crab, he probably buries himself to do crab things?  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ IDK! <-these were our thoughts, part 2.

It's been some days though. Did he bury himself to die?? Is that death smell or regular brackish water smell? <-our thoughts part 3.

IT'S BEEN TOO LONG. HE'S DEAD, DEFINITELY <-our thoughts part 4, today.

So I took apart the tank to search for the crab corpse. I didn't find a crab corpse, though; instead, after removing over half the sand in the tank, i scooped out a crab that was very upset that its hiding spot had been compromised. 

WHAT THE FUCK JOE!!!!! I THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD!!!!!!!!!!! i said many swear words to the crab as it frantically re-buried itself in the 1 inch of sand it had left. 

joe. what the fuck. your caretakers have delicate hearts. you can't just DO YOUR NATURAL CRAB THING without like….. LEAVING A NOTE! OR SOMETHING!!!! 

ok so we may have acted rashly. you learn something new every day all right.

[survivorcrab]

Crab Facts

The Flatback Mud Crab is also known as the Depressed Mud Crab. HA HA, guess we have something IN COMMON

meaning i, too, have a flattened shell, as opposed to the typical convex crab shape. 

More crab facts: In the lifespan section of this flatback info sheet, it doesn't even say the lifespan at all. FACT.

Also:

"Intertidal populations of Eurypanopeus depressus can be as dense as 55 individuals per meter squared during the peak summer season (Grant and McDonald 1979). In winter, the population decreases to as low as 6 individuals per meter."

what I get from this:

-they breed a lot and:

-they die a lot, so basically:

-Joe is Nemo and i am Marlin. His mom and bretheren were eaten by a barracuda oysters and joe himself was almost eaten by an oyster. but he wasn't and now i will be a helicopter parent and protect him forever. NO you're not going to crab 1st grade I don't care how fun it looks, it's dangerous. You think you can do these things but you JUST CAN'T, NEMO

[survivorcrab]

WE NOW HAVE BUBBLE ACTION

I got the air stone shaped like a turtle 'cause I thought it'd be cute, but no one told me you had to bury it in the sand and weigh it down with 80 rocks and then all of the bubbles and disturbed sand keep u from seein it anyway.

WHATEVER *cue mackle* it was 99 CENTS

u coulda had a friend joe. a fake turtle friend with bubbles streaming out of every pore. guess now you have to be friends with ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[survivorcrab]

Joe buried in his fake log house. I see u tiny Joe. I'm sorry for shining a flashlight in your face.

[survivorcrab]

TODAY: A VICTORY

PICTURED: HELL YEAH JOE ATE THE CARROT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Last night Joe came out of his hidey log and ate a chunk of the carrot.

THIS IS BIG NEWS BECAUSE I havent been able to tell if he's been eating or not these past few days. He stays in his hidey log all day and in the morning there are tracks in the sand, but does he eat?? does he go in the water?? Does he do healthy crab things???

HE EATS!!! He ate the carrot. As for the water, you can see theres a new hiding tube for him to experience water in privacy. Im keeping my eye on the sand in that tube for any TRACKS. Will keep u posted, obviously

[survivorcrab]

JOES CRAB SHACK AND CRAB MANSION

Pictured left: Joe's upgrade from "placeholder bowl" to "crab shack". Featuring sand from the yard and rocks from the driveway. A temporary arrangement.

Pictured right: "Crab shack" is now "crab mansion". Complete with aquarium sand and fake log house. Don't mind the cloudy water, I had just poured it in this pic and sand was still settling.

There are no care sheets on how to take care of your new flatback. But you know what crab is also from the gulf, and is found in mud flats and swamps, and is also tiny, but is sold in pet stores nationwide and so has a zillion care resources???

FIDDLER CRABS! v_(°::°)_V So, fiddler crabs are my frame of reference for crab care and tank setup.

Fiddlers have to have a slope from land to water, they have to have shelter, and a heater to keep the tank 75-85°. These all make sense to have for Joe too, so: here we are. I'm not an aquarium landscapist, but I think I did good. The only thing I still need is an internal filter for the water, but I'm having trouble finding one small enough for the tank that a) doesn't need to be completely submerged and b) doesn't have a tube for the crab to crawl up and escape. I also read that filters are optional for crabs, though? So I put Joe in there anyway.

But he'll still need some kind of oxygen in the water. So if I can't find a filter soon, I'll use a bubbler instead and just change the water more often? SHRUGZ

[survivorcrab]

I took video of Joe before I knew he was gonna live. Would you like to see a loop of a crab moving its mouth bits and also an eyeball? yes.

[survivorcrab]

WHAT KIND OF CRAB IS JOE

top row: Flatback mud crab photos, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department bottom row: Joe, Me and My Phone Camera Department

The oysters came from an oyster farm somewhere in the Gulf of Mexico, so he's... somewhere from there. The Gulf of Mexico is huge, so this doesn't really narrow it down.

Thankfully, Brenda Bowling of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department has been diligently documenting pretty much every bit of wildlife found in the Texas stretch of gulf, with PICTURES GALORE. Thank you Brenda Bowling. Without you, google would have me lost in a sea (ha) of seafood shopping websites.

There are a couple crabs there that look similar to Joe, but the closest is the flatback mud crab. 

Defining characteristics of this crab that Joe shares: -Brownish body is wider than it is long -Claws are unequal in size -Claw fingers are dark brown with white tips -Major claw has few (practically no) low teeth -Immovable finger on minor claw is scooped out like a spoon (hard to see in photos)

I can't confirm or deny the rest of the characteristics because 1) I don't know what some of those words mean and 2) Some of the parts are too tiny for me to see.

Speaking of tinyness, flatback mud crabs apparently grow to be 1cm (not including legs). Joe is about 2/3 of a cm, so (if it's a flatback) it's possible it's still got some growing to do.

[survivorcrab]

JOE’S STORY

Like the sidebar says, this guy was found in an oyster. It wasn’t the only crab found in this shipment of oysters, but it was the only… alive one…

It’s incredible how it got here still alive, since, 1) it was eaten. by an oyster. and then shipped to the east coast. and 2) prior to crab-discovery, the oysters had been baking in the oven for a bit to get them to open easier.

So, none of us expected it to last the day. I mentally prepared myself for the hour when I’d inevitably have to put it in the freezer so that it could die a peaceful and sleepy death.

By the end of the day, though, it was still alert and responsive, so I couldn’t kill it. I couldn’t put a non-dying crab in the freezer because my heart is soft and weak. Ridiculous.

THUS, I’m keeping it as a pet now and blogging about it. Its name is Joe for Joe’s Crab Shack. Let’s learn about this tiny crab.