Among the good news, there are too, bad news to deliver🥀
Today Moonie, my hermit crab, passed away after a failed molt.
My take is that he was probably sick or something wasn't right with him after the last 2. He suddenly became less active, played less on his wheel, slept more, started burrowing A LOT around the crabbitat in the most odd places, like under his water pools, under the wheel, ect... and I would just "let him be", tried not to bother him much, "let nature take its course" y'know? Only took photos to keep track of this strange behavior.
He did eat often and drank plenty of water as usual. But despite this was always very lethargic.
But the biggest RED FLAG I noticed was that after his last molt a month and half ago, he never fully consumed his exoskeleton (which is CRUCIAL for the healing process) or gained back to his original colors:
↑Notice the pale-yellow color on these photos after the molt he did back in April.
When usually after each molt he would take on a rosy color all over his body, slowly changing to blue and then finally light brown with the purple pincer and signature red leg ↓:
But in the past 2 months he just kept looking pale and less active
I know for a fact that it wasn't the weather, it hasn't been that bad compared to previous years and we've had plenty of cloudy/rainy days to keep the temperatures "cool" despite being halfway into June.
48hours after his recent and final molt he came out looking 4 sizes SMALLER than usual to the point that he fitted WAY to the back of his shell. Something that had never happened before since I found him, he always fitted quite snug into most his shells. Then today he had come out to drink water and just laid down next to the waterpool (like he normally does after a molt to recover his strength) and just never moved again...
Sometimes these things just happen like that.
I'm terribly sad right now, but looking back, it was also a good 3 year run with him. Moonie survived a hurricane literally YEETING him MILES away from the beach, he fought lizards twice his size, lost a leg and god knows WHAT else he encountered before he made his way to my backyard that rainy September afternoon.
So rock on lil' homie 🤘🏻, you were the best pet & companion I've ever had.