The Puffer Forum

My blue cray got out today. Not sure what time, but when I was here this morning...she was still in the aquarium...came home around 1400hrs. and could not find her. I thought she was just hiding. Around 1800hrs. I decided to open the tank and look at every decor...GONE!!! Looked around the house under, over, inside things...NOTHING! I thought she would have been dead by now.

Fast forward to 5 minutes ago (2200hrs.)...found her in the MIDDLE of my bedroom floor. I checked there before buy did not find it.

Our theory...our cat Harley probably dragged her all ove the place. She has a blue mouse that she loves...she loves anything blue.

I poked the "dead" cray and her tail snapped. I quickly took a one liter margarine container...filled it with enough water to cover her not quite half way. She is now re-hydrating and I am "rinsing" her with a turkey baster so her eyes won't dry (not sure if that is right though).

Any other advice(s) is/are welcomed.

How long should she be in there? when can i put her back?


Js

You'd be surprised how far they can crawl. Did you dechlorinate the water? I would put her back now. She should be fine.

They are surprisingly hardy. He'll probably bounce right back. (No pun intended)

Do you think the cat fished the cray out of the tank? Or just found it on the floor and played with it? If the cat has learned to reach into the tank, you should assess your lid/cover/feline security measures. BTW, my cat Squint also loves blue things.

I had the same thing happen to my blue cray, he escaped a lidded aquarium (only opening was just big enough for the power filter), My wife found it down the stairs, in the entrance(think the cat helped him get there)..At first we thought the cats got a hold of one of his moltings, until it moved.. he was a little stunned and lost one of his longer antenna in the incident, but I think he must have dried out too much...he was never quite right after...lost his equilibrium and generally seemed less intelligent..he died a week or so later...I hope you have better luck with yours

Almost every cray or fiddler I've tried to keep as a pet (don't last long as food), has escaped & usually been found at the other end of the house.

For me the crays are not as bad as fiddlers - but both are master escape artists. A fried was breeding crays for a period, and when I asked about escapees, he said that his dogs or the cat ate them...

Basically what your doing is fine, in a bit put him back in the aquarium. These guys are amazingly hardy when it comes to happenings like this. He will probably molt a few times, normal because of stress. Just watch him VERY carefully and make sure he has places to hide out . I bet he'll bounce back just fine.

Keep us updated.

edit :

oops she