crazylegsmurphy

Hey All,

As you might recall, I have been having issue with a little girl Crayfish named Pinchy. Well, I decided to become a little more educated on the animal before I made any rash choices regarding "de-clawing" her to save the rest of the fish.

Well, to update her actual life. She has molted twice and has more than doubled in size. She chops plants off at the stems and they float up to the top without roots. I have no idea why she does this, but she does.

She fights for pretty much every hiding spot in the tank, and doesn't stick to any one in particular. She has eaten 7 more tetras in about a week, and will take jabs at the Pleco when she passes by him for no reason really.

Now.....here is some of the information I learned in my research on the internet and at the Library. It's mostly about Lobsters, but they are basically the same animal.

First off, they apparently don't feel pain. They don't have pain receptors and so the reactions they have are simply stress responses. So IF I were to "de-claw" her, she would not feel pain.

Lobsters also have the ability to "cast off" their claws. I was going to cut the little "finger" off to keep her from catching things, but it turns out she would cast off the whole claw long before that because they don't have veins, but the blood flows through the entire claw. This means that she would bleed to death if I were to cut it off any other place.

So IF I were to "de-claw" her, she would probably just cast off the claw if I were to grab hold of it, thus allowing her to seal up the wound and start re-growing the claw back.

Lobsters can regenerate missing limbs. This means that IF I were to take her claw off, she could actually grow full size, and then grow her claws back later in life when the fish are big enough to actually not get caught by her.

Some suggested that she would be unable to defend herself. This isn't entirely true. Lobsters have powerful tails that can propel them at great speeds. This is the primary defense as they can actually move much faster than most of the fish. As well, all of my fish are 100% communal fish and do not ever "peck" at anyone. They especially don't peck at her because they know she is a danger.

So, that's what I have learned (among other things like they urinate out of their faces). I have a friends who are willing to take her, but they have like 6 inch Grombies (sp) and I am pretty sure she is still too small to not be lunch.

So, now that I have that info, I'm still debating what to do...but I thought some of you might like to see some new information regarding these animals so as to maybe help in your own tanks.

As for what I am going to do. I'm not sure yet. After gathering this knowledge and knowing that aside from being a tad inconvenient for her, it won't hurt her or anything....I am considering persuading her to drop her claws.

I have tentatively decided that if she kills any fish other than tetras (being that tetras are $1.09 each) then I will get her claws off. If she just leaves them alone, then I'll leave her alone no matter how big she gets. I'll even look past her cutting off plants for the time being as plants are cheap as well and most I can just replant.

P-Daddy

No matter how you remove the claw, in my opinion you are still maiming a living thing. Every animal has the ability to regenerate or heal to some capacity, this doesn't mean we go around harming them. (Please do not make the argument of clipping the wings of birds, or spaying/nudering cats and dogs etc, this is very different)

I would try to find the animal a new home, or find her tankmates a new home. This is in no way a personal attack, but you purchased an animal that you don't have the capacity to care for, the right thing to do is find it a new home. Its the most responsible thing you can do in this situation.

Tommy Gun

As per GM333's instructions on the last thread which focused on this topic (which you can remind yourself about by clicking HERE (New member with a Crawfish named Pinchy!)), I am closing this thread. Even though we (the moderator team) have come to the conclusion that this conversation had some chance to head in a positive direction, it is obvious to me that regardless of what information is posted and/or suggestions made, the efforts are mostly wasted.

For the record though...Wouldn't common sense dictate that rather than continually placing more and more fish in jeopardy and subsequently having to maim a crayfish...why not separate them all?