how often do cobalt blue lobsters molt their shells?
so this night i thought my lobster was dead. he hides in a ship and i saw his tail hanging out. so i took the lobster out to flush him but then i saw that he was alive and moving but without his shell. it really FREAKED me out. any other info about a cobalt blue lobster would also help. Thank you.
As often as they need to grow.
Their bodies are constantly growing, but because of the hard exoskeleton, they can only get so big before there's no room left. When they get to that point, hormones signal their brain that it's time to molt and get a new (somewhat larger) exoskeleton which is forming under the old one.
So how often will will depend in part on:
1) how big the crayfish is now (smaller ones will grow faster than adults)
2) how much you feed him
3) water temperature - warm water (say around 75oF) increases metabolism, so they'll grow faster than if the water was 70oF.