my crawfish decided to redecorate

sometime last night my crawfish decided to redecorate my tank!

i built him a little "crawcave" out of some flat, fossilized rocks laid ontop of each other to form a cave.

this was a modification of the way i previously had my rocks stacked, because i couldnt see the crawfish when he got in there. so i made a cave with the opening facing front.

the crawfish had been living in there (occasionally roaming out for food throughout the day and night) for 12 days.

it was just last night that he decided it was time to redecorate. i was suprised he waited this long.

he totally sealed off the opening of the cave, and dug a tunnel in the back so he could get in and out.

i wonder what inspired him to do this?

I find the landscaping stops when the crayfish is happy with his arrangements.

Sounds like you made the cave to suit you, not him. He liked his privacy
Funny how they sometimes wait so long after you move things!

I suspect that they will sometimes redecorate around the time of moulting, as they need to be even more secure, or they know they will need more room afterwards!

I suspect that they will sometimes redecorate around the time of moulting, as they need to be even more secure, or they know they will need more room afterwards!

I wondered that myself. It looks like a young crayfish. They moult often.

that would be cool if he were about to moult!

what are some signs that a crawfish is about to moult, besides redecorating?

I don't know, I always just found the discarded moult after the fact. If you leave it in the tank, the crayfish will eat it.

what does a crawfish moult look like? is it one piece, or is it a bunch of pieces in a pile?

It's all one piece. You'll think your crayfish died, until you look closely and see it's a hollow shell. It's really cool.