# Any hope for Vampire Crab?



## velvetundergrowth (Aug 2, 2019)

Today I received a package from TSS, a group of 4 _Geosesarma tiomanicum_. 
Sadly - and infuriatingly - the colleague who accepted the parcel at work decided to tell me today instead of on Tuesday when they arrived 

I opened the package to find one crab dead and another barely responding. I have just placed them in their enclosure, two seemed alert and active and went straight to the water for a dip. The other I placed on the edge of the water, half submerged. It hasn't moved other than to re-adjust itself. 
My plan is to obviously leave them undisturbed for a while but is there anything I can do for the weakest one? Is it possible that it is just severely dehydrated and may recover?


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## XxSpiderQueenxX (Aug 2, 2019)

Hello! I have some vampire crabs myself so I could help  The weak one... Try offering it food, to see if it will eat. You can leave it right in front of its claws. There is a chance it will recover! Could you post a few pics


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## velvetundergrowth (Aug 2, 2019)

XxSpiderQueenxX said:


> Hello! I have some vampire crabs myself so I could help  The weak one... Try offering it food, to see if it will eat. You can leave it right in front of its claws. There is a chance it will recover! Could you post a few pics


Unfortunately the crab didn't make it... 
Now I'm double angry at my co-worker 

It's a shame because it's the only time I've seen this particular species for sale. 

Thanks anyway tho!


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## KevinsWither (Aug 2, 2019)

I really want to find these crabs!


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## mantisfan101 (Aug 2, 2019)

Following this, I got a group of 3 wild caught geosesarma dennerle from a local fish store. This is as mucha s I could comprehend from what I’ve researched-
These are extremely fragile crabs, and with wild caught individuals they will get stressed out very easily if conditions arent’t right. I already hd 1 die an hour after I bought it from the pet shop. Another was acting fine but just suddenly died on the spot and my other two aren’t looking that great. They need a well established enclosure with lots of isopods and springtails to hunt and are primarily carnivorous. Fruit flies, carnivorous fish/crab pellets, and some bloodworms would be best for them. Provide a small water area with RO alkaline water and make sure rhat it stays clean. Try and replicate their natural settings as well as possible and also try to mimic their natural habitat as well as possible. They need ventilation in order to breathe properly but also require an extremely humid/damp environment which is going to be a pain to maintain. Overall don’t really expect any wild caught crabs to make it or survive for a while and always try to buy captive bred whenever possible. If anyone else has any experience with these guys PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE chime in and offer some help!

Reactions: Agree 1


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## DR zuum (Aug 4, 2019)

Not fragile at all captured and handled badly, it's about a70/30 split on getting healthy specimens all capture sites store them dry until shipping, I don't care what anyone says I've seen it and studied these guys intensively, there a reason they live by fresh running streams, they can stay out of water long periods days but not weeks most are dry for at least a week by then they are fouled inside their gill air chambers see my posts on habitat and the need for moving fresh filtered water for long term not a few weeks or months but full lifespan and not SOFT water!! Alkaline 7.5 to 8.2 is a great range. Temp warm .

Reactions: Informative 1 | Helpful 1


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## velvetundergrowth (Aug 4, 2019)

So with only 2 _G. tiomanicum _left I have ordered a colony of _G. bicolor._ I ordered as many as I could get because my hope is to have a thriving, breeding Vampire Crab paludarium.
After a thorough scolding I've been assured by my co-worker I will be alerted as soon as the package arrives this time! 

The enclose that I have almost completed for them (still waiting on a couple of plants) has a running waterfall/stream as well as a "pond" area, and it is very humid and moist. For hiding places they have bark, leaf litter, moss and slate overhangs to hide under. I have already populated the enclosure with springtails but I will now be adding small isopods as well (Thanks for the tip @mantisfan101 )
I'm also thinking about adding a tiny PC fan inside the enclosure to prevent stagnant air.
I will be using this enclosure to house_ G. bicolor _when they arrive (the enclosure was intended to house a group of 5+) so i will have to construct another, smaller paludarium for the two survivng _G. tiomanicum._

Reactions: Like 1


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## mantisfan101 (Aug 4, 2019)

velvetundergrowth said:


> So with only 2 _G. tiomanicum _left I have ordered a colony of _G. bicolor._ I ordered as many as I could get because my hope is to have a thriving, breeding Vampire Crab paludarium.
> After a thorough scolding I've been assured by my co-worker I will be alerted as soon as the package arrives this time!
> 
> The enclose that I have almost completed for them (still waiting on a couple of plants) has a running waterfall/stream as well as a "pond" area, and it is very humid and moist. For hiding places they have bark, leaf litter, moss and slate overhangs to hide under. I have already populated the enclosure with springtails but I will now be adding small isopods as well (Thanks for the tip @mantisfan101 )
> ...


Good luck, and also where on earth did you manage to find these crabs?! The only place I’ve found them for sale are at my local fish store and petzonesd.com


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## velvetundergrowth (Aug 4, 2019)

mantisfan101 said:


> Good luck, and also where on earth did you manage to find these crabs?! The only place I’ve found them for sale are at my local fish store and petzonesd.com


I live in Ireland, there are a couple of Reptile and Aquatics shops that stock them occasionally. There is also The Spider Shop across the sea in the UK, who get in some really cool species albeit seldomly.

I have also seen them in "General" pet stores, but they are always kept fully submerged with no land areas :'(


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## mantisfan101 (Aug 5, 2019)

Ok I’m sort of in a dilemma. I left for a vacation for almost a week and since my house is extremely dry year round, I made sure to dump in a little bit more water in the crab’s enclosure so now the substrate is sopping wet. However it’d most likely dry out in a matter of a couple hours so I decided to cover 2/3 or 3/4 of the screen lid(it’s a 10 gallon tank) with saran wrap. Would they be ok in this setup? I deeply regret this now since I heard that they are extremely intolerant of humid and stuffy air.


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## velvetundergrowth (Aug 5, 2019)

mantisfan101 said:


> View attachment 316695
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> ...


I'm sure the high humidity won't be a problem, but yeah they don't seem to survive long in stuffy settings. I'm going to be incorporating a 2inch USB-Powered in my paludarium. Hopefully that, combined with the cross ventilation enabled by the vented sides of the tank will be sufficient.


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## mantisfan101 (Aug 5, 2019)

velvetundergrowth said:


> I'm sure the high humidity won't be a problem, but yeah they don't seem to survive long in stuffy settings. I'm going to be incorporating a 2inch USB-Powered in my paludarium. Hopefully that, combined with the cross ventilation enabled by the vented sides of the tank will be sufficient.


Yikes, that doesn’t sound good. Would the be fine like this for a week?


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## schmiggle (Aug 5, 2019)

mantisfan101 said:


> Yikes, that doesn’t sound good. Would the be fine like this for a week?


Seems to me you might set up two fans, one on each end of the terrarium, and put tubes through a cooler as full as possible with water without that water getting in the tubes. That way you're circulating humid air.


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## velvetundergrowth (Aug 5, 2019)

So things have taken a turn for the worst and the last 2 G. tiomanicum look like they're on their way out. They were crawling around this morning, exploring the land and pool area and picking apart some dead crickets. Now they are just laying on top of the substrate and barely reacting. 
Really disheartening... such a beautiful and hard to find species and I feel so bad for the poor creatures.

Now my fear is that the same will happen to the batch I just ordered, and all my efforts will have been for nought 

Does anyone know if any sources exist for captive bred Geosesarma?



... I love these beautiful little guys so much and to have them die like this is a bit depressing. Now I'm worried the same will happen to the batch I ordered the other day...


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## mantisfan101 (Aug 5, 2019)

schmiggle said:


> Seems to me you might set up two fans, one on each end of the terrarium, and put tubes through a cooler as full as possible with water without that water getting in the tubes. That way you're circulating humid air.


I don’t have access to them for an entire week. 


velvetundergrowth said:


> So things have taken a turn for the worst and the last 2 G. tiomanicum look like they're on their way out. They were crawling around this morning, exploring the land and pool area and picking apart some dead crickets. Now they are just laying on top of the substrate and barely reacting.
> Really disheartening... such a beautiful and hard to find species and I feel so bad for the poor creatures.
> 
> Now my fear is that the same will happen to the batch I just ordered, and all my efforts will have been for nought
> ...


For the most part the vast majority of geosesarma are wild caught and captive bred ones are extremely difficult to find one, and those that do have captive bred ones are often reluctant to sell them or offer high prices.


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## DR zuum (Aug 5, 2019)

Brothers 5 yrs total some of what they say excrement a lot of what they say is inaccurate about these crabs, it is hard to get healthy specimens no doubt 70/30 split in my opinion against getting healthy ones it's not they are WC it's the know it all know nothing shippers mishandling them like the knuckleheads who once sent me direct from China 6 packed in a plastic cube smothered in peat moss living a few months or weeks doesn't mean they are healthy. Mine are breeding going strong the air circulation is a airstone in the lagoon it brings in fresh air, and ozone from time to time with monthly water changes . Those little jive setups I see  everywhere don't work for long term, I've put up all the info you need to keep them long term successfully with pics and complete details of the set up and what's is needed its up to you guys to accept it. Mine are grooving.

Reactions: Helpful 1


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## velvetundergrowth (Aug 6, 2019)

DR zuum said:


> Brothers 5 yrs total some of what they say excrement a lot of what they say is inaccurate about these crabs, it is hard to get healthy specimens no doubt 70/30 split in my opinion against getting healthy ones it's not they are WC it's the know it all know nothing shippers mishandling them like the knuckleheads who once sent me direct from China 6 packed in a plastic cube smothered in peat moss living a few months or weeks doesn't mean they are healthy. Mine are breeding going strong the air circulation is a airstone in the lagoon it brings in fresh air, and ozone from time to time with monthly water changes . Those little jive setups I see  everywhere don't work for long term, I've put up all the info you need to keep them long term successfully with pics and complete details of the set up and what's is needed its up to you guys to accept it. Mine are grooving.


Thanks for the info. 

The enclosure I built for them is similar to a Dart Frog habitat. Lots of live moss & plants, running stream powered by an external cannisters filter that leads to a pool a couple inches deep. Plenty of hiding spots and places to explore. I did a lot of research beforehand and it seems like I did everything the same as the folks who keep them alive and breeding.

So I reckon I just ran out of luck and got a batch that's in the 70% that were doomed since being shipped 

Hopefully the G. bicolor fare better, but I'm not feeling too optimistic right now...

I would be willing to pay whatever the price is for CB Geosesarma, but they would have to be from the UK or closer.


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## DR zuum (Aug 6, 2019)

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Crabs-Rain...326:m:mf8qvsFQjLCCdeE143U0saw&redirect=mobile
Fairly rarer one UK.


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## Rob Fleischman (Oct 29, 2019)

Has anyone found a US based supplier of these beauties?


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## mantisfan101 (Oct 29, 2019)

Rob Fleischman said:


> Has anyone found a US based supplier of these beauties?


Most or all of them are wild caught exports. I managed to get a trio from my lfs and 2 of them have become well acclimated to captive lifestyle. Luckily I apparently managed to get a male and an immature female so I hope to breed them.


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## Rob Fleischman (Oct 29, 2019)

I figured most are wild caught, but is no one in the US selling them?


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## mantisfan101 (Oct 29, 2019)

I think petzonesd.com is selling some. I might get rid of my pair since they don't really do much and take up quite a bit of space. I was planning on setting up a nice vivarium for them but I'm a bit caught up with trying to breed some fish and whipspiders, and the vampire crabs are kind of taking up some space. I may consider letting them go.


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## Rob Fleischman (Oct 29, 2019)

Nice! I’m personally looking for like a dozen for a 55gallon bioactive paludarium. If you can get yours to breed or hear of anyone selling them lmk

Reactions: Like 1


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## mantisfan101 (Oct 29, 2019)

You could fit way more than a dozen in a 55 gallon paludarium. It’ll probably take a bit of a while for my crabs to start producing since the female’s still a juvenile, but hopefully I can get them to reproduce fast.


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## Rob Fleischman (Oct 29, 2019)

I figured I could but if they start reproducing the last thing I want is 100’s of crabs with nowhere to put them lol

Reactions: Like 1


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## mantisfan101 (Oct 30, 2019)

I've heard that once they start breeding, they just keep going at it like rabbits. I hope the babies are easy to rear, I heard that springtails are best for the newly born.


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