It is a common problem that most new and many experienced crabbers experience during their crab keeping adventure. You get a new crab and after a few days in your tank he becomes listless, he stops acting to protect himself, stops eating, and often will sit in one spot for long periods of time. It's been a long time since I've had a crab suffering from Post Purchase Syndrome. My newest group of four large Ecuadorians though, has produced one of these little guys. I've watched and waited as he sits on this shell near my large water pool for the last 5 days. He's alive but extremely lethargic. My only hope at this point is that he is preparing to molt rather than that he is in the throws of PPS.

Post Purchase Stress/Syndrome happens when a crab has difficulty making the metabolic changes from being in the wild to being in captivity. The majority of PPS deaths occur in tanks that have less than optimal humidity and temperature but it can happen to the most experienced crabber. One important thing to remember is that PPS shouldn't be used as a catch-all for hermit crab death. PPS is something that happens with the first couple of weeks that you have a new crab. Sometimes a PPS crab will die during its first molt which may take place later, but you simply cannot blame PPS for deaths weeks and months later. If you've got unexplained deaths later, stop and reassess your tank for problems.

So what do you do about PPS when it happens to one of your crabs? You will get a LOT of different sorts of answers. Some people will tell you to bath them, mist them, stick them in a dark tank by themselves. None of these things work very well. A crab that has spent a long time in a pet store will benefit from spending time in a tank with lower humidity than is standard, slowly raising it every three days or so. This method was created and tested by Sue Latell from the Conobitae Research Site and you can read that article in it's entirety here.

Don't bath a PPS crab or mist them. Don't place them in a dark isolation tank. The light cycle is very important for all crabs, especially the sick ones, the best thing you can do if you decide to isolate your PPS crab is to provide them with a strong light cycle and a place to hide if they want to get away from the light.

Sometimes the best we can do is watch and wait. That can be the hardest part. At least bathing makes us feel like we are *doing* something, however, it's the crabs health we need to put first, no matter how fretful we feel.

UPDATE: 12/31/07  The little Ecuadorian that I had taken to calling Simon did not make it. He hung on for a long time and in the end began exhibiting the death smell that got stronger and stronger and I knew that he was gone. Thanks for the good thoughts everyone.