The Mitey Dogs
Vicki took me to dinner for my birthday…Thanks Vicki! Of course we had to combine a little shopping with our dinner, so we hit all of my neighborhood Petcos. We showed a lot of self-restraint; we visited two stores without making any purchases. After dinner, we stopped at the Walnut Creek Petco and all our willpower went out the window when we saw 12 straws.
So I got two and Vicki got two, ummm errr, I mean one. We brought them back to my place and proceeded to do the bathing/checking routine and put my first crab into the saltwater/stresscoat bath. He was lapping up the opportunity to sit in salt, yeah baby. Uggggg, after a few minutes we saw it; not one, not two, but three mites. ::insert cuss word here::
Vicki had given me several KKs, so I pulled those out for us and we laid them with dechlor soaked paper towels (cause those buggy crabbies aren’t going into our tanks yet). We gave them a couple more saltwater/stresscoat baths (no complaints from the crabs) and finally settled them into their temporary ISO homes.
The ISO KKs have paper towels as substrate. Saltwater pools deep enough for each to submerge and food. They’re both lounging in their temporary pools right now.
The plan is to bathe them several times per day over the next week to get rid of the mites. I worry about doing this because:
- I had to buy the straw that already has a missing limb, he’s probably stressed enough.
- I am going to Tahoe Saturday morning. How do I keep up the bathing schedule? Do I get a “crab sitter” or do I take the straws with me and continue their bathing routine? We’re going to be staying in a home in Tahoe, so I could bring them with me.
- If I do bring them with me, will the elevation change hurt the crabs?
Julia Crab, if you’re reading this, do you know of any “mite repelling” foods/herbs that Vicki can give to the Mitey Dogs?
Oh, as an aside: I called Petco to let them know about their tank problem. They told me that I could bring the crabs back to get new ones. I said, very nicely, what good would that do me when the crabs you would give me would be infested too? They told me that their “reptile specialist” had a special spray and they could be treated in a few hours. Uggggg, I left my number and asked that the “reptile specialist” call me.
