Petshrimp.com Discussion Forum

So I havent kept crayfish in a long time and I only just started keeping them again about 3 weeks ago. The crayfish I have is female and I used to keep her in a 10 gallon but issues came up and I had to move her to a 5 gallon just last night. This morning when I checked up on her, she was fine, but when I got back just now. I found her sprawling on her back and after being confused for about 5 minutes I noticed one of her claws in the corner of the tank. Im really confused to as how this could of happened since Ive only heard a female losing a claw during mating or something but never on thier own. Does anyone have any ideas as to how I should deal with this? Its quite painful watching her just sprawling on her back. Ive tried putting her on her feet but shes not balancing well and falls to the side with her remaining claw. I hope she doesnt die from this and in the meantime someone could inform me on what could have possibly occured while I wasnt watching? Thank you.

~Kaoru

Due to various reasons (bad water parameters, old age...etc.) crayfish can have unsuccessful molts. These molts can be fully unsuccessful, and the crayfish dies, or they can be partially unsuccessful with the crayfish losing a body part, such as claws or legs. If your crayfish survives and recovers the claw should grow back over several molts.