Australia's Science Forum

Hi all,

We have 4 yabbies, 2 male and 2 female, new to us last term.
It would seem we have had success in one tank, it looks like one is pregnant.
Has anyone had yabbies? The teacher who brought them in hasn't had yabbies and neither have I!
Now that she is pregnant do the male and female need to be separated?
Any ideas on care would be appreciated

My husband kept them for fishing, he'd clip one side of each claw and put a small container in with them for the little ones that the adults couldn't get to. Frozen peas we feed them and dry dog food if I remember right.

Thanks macca

We used to feed them dog pellets when we had them years ago. They will eat their babies (and each other) if you don't keep them separated. They are also great escape artists. A few times the cleaner found dead ones that had escaped overnight and died on the floor.

OK thanks for that info J

And they smell!!!
The worst job of all was cleaning out their tanks
I suggest keeping them in small tanks that will fit into the dishwasher. I had one large one that I had to wash out myself and a couple of smaller ones that fit into the dishwasher. So much easier!!

We had a successful breeding system for many years.. we fed them worms from the pet shop as well as dog pellets - make sure that any uneaten food is removed. A friend used to feed them minced meat - but I don't think that is a good idea. They do eat their young.. in the wild the young would be swept away by the currents and so not kept in close proximity to parents. The female holds them up in her abdomen and curls her 'tail' up under them to keep the eggs safe until they are old enough to swim for them selves.. They LOVE smelly dirty water - think of dams and muddy rivers where they flourish, unfortunately that means you can't see them. We lost them all a few years ago when bushfires threatened the school and I came in afterwards and they had all cooked in their tanks.. sad... I never started that again

Yabbies are mostly vegetarian. I feed mine yabbie food, cooked beans, cooked peas, and other cooked vegetables - pumpkin, carrot, broccoli - but remove anything not eaten after 5 minutes. I also give a worm or piece of fine chicken slice once a week. They love to hide so have something they can shelter under. My female had about 700 babies in one go so most went back to the dam. I kept 12 but the adults killed 10. Unfortunately I didn't remove the male and he killed the female. I raised the remaining 2 (both males).

Wow thanks all, interesting reading!