Trapping a purple lobster

[pjlovesbaskets]

We need to remove our purple lobster. Any ideas on how to trap him? My son took water bottles with food and position them in the tank hidden in rock and sand. We never see him so we don't even know where his home is. I am not sure he can even fit in the water bottles. Any suggestions welcomed

 

[jharlow]

My best suggestion would be to get up in the middle of the night and try to find him then. My blue spiny lobster is hidden 95% of the time during the day, but at night the tank is his to roam.

 

[shaunalynna]

And when you get him out send him to me

. I have heard they can be hard to catch thouh on a serious note. The idea of middle of the night would also be my suggestion. Good Luck!

 

[pjlovesbaskets]

Why do you want him? Seriously? He is eating my fish.

 

[jharlow]

If he is eating your fish, it means he is hungry, obviously. Try this: take a small piece of live rock rubble, defrost a whole silverside, and use a rubber band to attach the silverside to the rock. Drop it into the tank near his den and he will find it.
This is how I used to feed my lobster until he got comfortable enough with me to eat from my hand.
Be prepared though... they do like to eat and mine eats a whole siverside every other day, and sometimes daily!

 

[pjlovesbaskets]

I agree he is hungry and that is why the problem. If I can't find him I will try to feed him well. The problem is we don't know where he is living. We saw him run to a rock when we put him in about 6 months ago and that was the last time we saw him. We thought he was dead. We had a vacation mishap and I lost a few fish. However, we have seen him molt. Does he put the shell in front of his home or in front of the old home and finds a new one? I was confused on this. Is a silverside something we can find at a lfs?

 

[jharlow]

I have only had mine for a month or so, and the one time he molted it was to the right of his home, however this may not mean anything.
You can purchase frozen silversides at most LFS. Give it a shot, I am sure he will find it no matter where you place it.

 

[pjlovesbaskets]

The silver side worked. My son caught him last night. Put it in and turned off the lights. He was out in 5 minutes. We grabbed him and he is now at the lfs. THANKS!