Have a crustacean (crayfish) molt? You can set it and keep it!

Last update: April 24, 2010, Reader ideas added towards the end. Yay!

My crayfish recently molted successfully. If your crayfish has been established and is healthy, it is OK to take out his molt sometimes. Usually it is best to leave it in for a day or so and let the crayfish eat it (if he bothers) to get the materials back in his system. If you remove this one, let him have the next one.

Here is something to do with that molt should you like this sort of thing–set the molt!

If the molt has not been sitting around getting gross or nibbled on, remove it gently from the water using your hand or a small net. They are fragile so do not squeeze or swish it around too much.

Do this when you have time. Once it starts to dry, you cannot move the parts around. Also, lets hope your crayfish does not decide to molt when you have had too much coffee on an empty stomach. This is not the best set I have ever done. I was jittery and impatient. But I had to finish it before it dried.

The picture above shows a molt in the foreground and the crayfish recovering in the background.

Crayfish as Pets! My Electric Blue Boy

Last Update: January, 2010. Several months ago I added ghost shrimp. The crayfish leaves them alone but will eat any that die. A few weeks ago I added snails (from a trusted source to try to avoid disease). They are happily cleaning the algae and one even cleaned the crayfish. Previous crayfish I have had liked to eat these. Either this one is well fed or not that bright. Lazy?

If you are in the Fort Walton Beach, Florida area, Animal Kingdom sells these crayfish. There was a HUGE one in there when I was in last. Over twice the size of my guy. Probably a very mature female. 4 years old? more? Wish I knew. Petland sells them too but I have had Ick infestations from them too many times to recommend. At least this one. I do not know if all are this way, to be fair.

If you are looking for the knitted crayfish please click here otherwise read on for live crayfish keeping.

For many reasons I have a love for crustaceans. I find their behavior fascinating. Unfortunately if you are not set up for salt-water, you are limited on what are available. (Hmm…that reminds me, I will have to add a blog on crabs later.) Crayfish (crawfish, crawdads, mudbugs, freshwater lobsters, blue lobsters….) are usually thought of something you would eat (at least around here) but they are actually quite fun to watch. They have attitude.