CrabbyChris - Hermit Crabbing

Stuff

2007-03-06T17:18:00.000-05:00

It's been a long time since I've posted here.

On March 3rd I took on the crazy task of deep cleaning both my 40B tanks; all alone. It took at very least 10 hours. I spent the majority of the next day cleaning up from the cleans, lol. Anyway, here's a ton of picks we took of the crabs as they were exploring their new homes. Enjoy!

Upstairs:

Downstairs:

Fish Head

2006-10-10T10:00:00.000-05:00

Last nights dinner, by FAR the most disgusting meal I've fed them yet, was a FANTASTIC hit. Sometime late I got up to pee and took a look in the tank and there seemed to be quite a bit of activity going on. Ha, then I turned on the flashlight to get a better look; there were crabs EVERYWHERE! I cannot tell you how disgusting it was to cut up that fish head those many months ago and I've only had the nerve to feed it to them that one time and then they just didn't appreciate it much. I was tempted the other day to throw all the baggies away and now I'm really glad I didn't. It still smells gaggingly disgusting when I defrost it in the microwave but the crabs really do seem to love it a lot. That's the only reason I'm not going to throw the baggies out now. Also, when I got up this morning and checked the downstairs tank, Hairball had drug the piece out of the food dish and was sitting right on top of it while tearing into it. I guess he didn't want to share!

They are so much fun to watch but man they eat the most revolting stuff.

Tonight is a truly disgusting menu. That's right, it's fish head and broccoli. Sometime this summer I purchased (and I can't even believe I could get this in a regular grocery) a salmon head. I was asked if I was making soup with it; my jaw hit the floor. Sorry, the only way I could try a soup made w/ a fish head is if I didn't know that before hand.

Anyway, the things I put myself through for my crabbies. I came home and cut that fish head up into smaller sections, gagging the entire time, so I didn't have to feed the whole friggin' thing at one time. I got many servings out of that head, I've only actually given it to them one other time. It stinks so bad!

I think it's a hit though, the upstairs tank already had someone in there checking it out and I think Furball (my piggy PP I adopted along with Pinchy) in the downstairs tank will be all over it in a while.

Giant adoptee crab finally came up

2006-10-09T19:38:00.000-05:00

Yes, I've been starting to get a bit concerned as we picked him (I'm not really sure of the sex) up near the end of July or beginning of August and he buried a day or two after that. Hairball, the smaller of the two buried at the same time but came up weeks ago; that one is the piggy crab I spoke of in another post. Hairball had molted shortly before we got them but Pinchy (he/she really isn't, one of the twins named it) looked in need of a molt; no toenails at all. This crab is big, really big; it takes up my entire palm. I thought I'd posted pics of them when we first got them but I just did a search and can't find a thing.

Oh well, he's super friendly but really strong too so my hand is all scratched up from the toenails. He's not pinchy at all though. We got some pics last night but I was tired from running around all day so I didn't want to do the whole download then upload to photobucket and then link everything then. His color is absolutely BEAUTIFUL. I was really worried about this guy but it looks like he pulled through fabulously.

Went out for sushi tonight so I decided to try something new. I brought home a piece of a California roll for them, cut it in half and put it in both the tanks. California rolls are made with Krab, avacado or cucumber on the inside and wrapped with seaweed and rice and a little sesame seed on the outside. They also come with some orange roe (fish eggs and I can't remember the Japanese word for them) on top.

Anyway, I was too tired to stay up too late last night to check the progress but on the upstairs tank I did see one or two stop by to check it out before I fell asleep. This morning they looked like they opened the roll up in the upstairs tank and downstairs it didn't even looked touched. That would be the first time that Hairball/Furball didn't jump into the dish and sit there for 2 hours eating. I figured between krab, seaweed and fish roe that they would be fighting each other off to get a taste of that. Hmm, I just don't know yet. I'll try it again in the future, sometimes the first try or couple doesn't work to well and you have to try several times. Hey, it's fun anyway.

I haven't posted in a VERY long time so any of you out there that keep up with this will enjoy this story; I hope.

Ok, so I just have to tell you all about this; dinner last night for the crabs was a complete hit. I made a little dinner of frozen krill, not the cubes but the actual little shrimp looking things that have the little black eyeballs all over the place in the bag (I even chased after the 12 yr old with some of them telling her I had my eye on her, roflmao). So anyway, I gave them some celery leaves, a little chunk of cucumber, frozen krill and some frozen red, yellow and orange bell peppers. I didn't even sprinkle any of Vicki's foods on them, I was feeling too lazy to look through everything. So, the downstairs tank has my piggy crab in it, the smaller adoptee I got from VA when I got my gigantor crab (who I still haven't seen since I got him). One of the kids named the piggy either Hairball or Furball. Ever since this guy came up from destress he's always in the food dish. Last night I think he was in it ALL night eating the krill. He was there about an hour before I went to bed and there this morning when I got up; both times with a krill in his claws. There weren't very many in there either this morning. Upstairs I managed to glimpse 3 crabs all around that dish; one of the big ones (Spaz who finally molted and is looking very pretty) took off to a corner with a krill, another had a orange pepper piece (I think Sam short for Salmon because of it's coloring, it's a Rug) and I think the 3rd (maybe, but not sure, Jay short for Nekked as a Jaybird which is how and why I bought him) was also eating krill but never moved.You have to understand my excitement here; NEVER yet in almost a year of crabbing have I seen 3 crabs in the food dish all at the same time. It was so cute 'cause they were all gathered 'round the round dish and it looked as though they were having a dinner conversation. Right up until the GIANT HEAD came up to the glass and broke it up. I SO wish I had the camera right then but as you all know it's hard to get a shot 'cause as soon as they see you they bolt. All except Hairball in the downstairs tank. That crab wouldn't move out of the food dish if there were a fire. Piggy crab.

Again, I'll make the statement that I'm going to try to keep up on this blog a little better in the future. We'll see how well that goes, lol.

Questions or help needed

2006-08-19T22:21:00.000-05:00

I don't know where or how else to post this so I'll just do it as a blog entry. This is for anyone and everyone reading these pages. If you have questions or need information or help in anyway regarding hermit crabs, please feel free to email me at cricha22@msn.com. I may be able to answer or provide help and if not, I can direct you to some awesome websites where you can find help and even more knowledgeable people. Also, for anyone in Maryland who may be reading these pages, I have a Hermit Crab Meetup group so if you live near Gaithersburg you can join up and maybe come to a meeting. See all the happenings at http://hermitcrab.meetup.com/57/. Even though there are a couple of members we still have not been able to have an actual meeting. Last month is was looking good but then the one member who actually lives in the area had to cancel. Please, join up and lets meet and talk about crabs. Hope to hear from some of ya!

Car

2006-08-03T06:53:00.000-05:00

Deep clean of the 40B

2006-06-19T12:21:00.000-05:00

More Pug cuteness

2006-05-26T14:12:00.000-05:00

R.I.P. Thumper

2006-05-08T12:51:00.000-05:00

Today was a sad day for me. I had to have my cat, Thumper, put down. He's been battling Hyperthyroidism for over a year now and lately he's become very listless and lethargic. He's really too old for surgery, I think it would have been too dangerous for him and may have killed him anyway. I'd decided that it's been long enough for him to go through this and I just didn't want to see him suffer. He'd lost weight and for a while the medicine helped him but he continued throwing up on a daily basis and the weight loss started back up again. He's just been wasting away.

I've had Thumper for almost 5 years. I started fostering him in August of 2001 through the Montgomery County SPCA. After my other cat, Bandit, died (I also had to have her put down because her kidneys were failing) I decided to go ahead and adopt Thumper. I started fostering him with the knowledge that I was a long-term foster mom. He'd already been in the SPCAs system for 8 years when I met him. He acted almost feral, hiding and hissing and wouldn't let me near him for a time. We ended up great friends and he's been my boy ever since. I called him Snaggletooth and Fang on occasion because his canine teeth were VERY long and hung out of his mouth almost to his chin. You had to be careful when he rubbed himself on your hand because they would scrape along and it could be a little painful.

Thumper and my other cat Bandit were good friends too. Of course there was a little conflict at first; cats are super territorial and don't take too well to one another right off the bat. I think my cat Sophie will miss him a lot, they rubbed their faces together all the time. I'm glad Sophie isn't human because I'd hate to have to explain to her why he didn't come back home today and that it was because I made the decision to have him put to sleep.

I wanted to post a couple of pictures of my old man. Rest in peace my little Thumperdoodle, I miss you and I love you very much. Find Bandit and tell her I miss and love her too. It's cool you two get to be together again and play like you used to. I'll never forget either one of you!

Puglog

2006-05-07T21:10:00.000-05:00

We got a pug yesterday, her name is Chihiro San (named after an anime character from Spirited Away) and she's 1 year old (birthday 04-18-05). I call her Chi (pronounced Chee) for short because I can't say the real name correctly. She is a total cutie but we found out she is NOT house trained in the least. We got a crate today and we are working with that to see what we can accomplish.

In the meantime, here are some pics. I created a separate blog for her but I'm not sure if I'm going to use it or not. I'll post the link here though if I do.

Crablog & Menu

2006-05-07T21:03:00.000-05:00

Krill, 10-grain cereal, rolled oats, wheat-germ, yogurt, hard boiled egg, and some Hermit Crab Cuisine.

Information

2006-05-02T21:00:00.000-05:00

I SO forgot to put in a link for my Meetup Group, The Montgomery Village Hermit Crab Meetup Group. I know that most people reading this are not in or from the state of Maryland, but if there happens to be a local person stopping by here, please go to the above link and check it out. We still don't have any members and would love to have an actual meeting someday. Please folks, if anyone around the area is remotely interested in hermit crabs, look our group up and join.

Crablog & Menu

2006-04-30T19:04:00.000-05:00

Silversides, carrot, grape, organic strawberry yogurt, blue malva, rose petals, dandelion leaves, raspberry leaves and bee pollen.

The other day when I posted I forgot to say that our little strawberry, Lilo, came up from a molt just recently. We got her on 27-Mar-06 and she went under about 1-2 weeks after we got her. She wasn't down too long, maybe 2 weeks and she reappeared earlier this week. I figured that she'd only go down to destress but I guess conditions were good for her and she decided to go ahead and molt right away. That makes me feel really good because that means everything was perfect for her which allows me to take a deep sigh of relief because strawberries are pretty delicate. She's a pretty active crab and alwyas climbing all over the place most of the day. She's one of the few that comes out during the daylight hours.

Fat Bastard became Crab of the Week 4/30/06-5/6/06.

It's looking like we are going to win the Addiction's April Contest which the theme was crabs and flowers. I posted pictures below and I have that nifty looking film loop down there.

I hope people are coming and reading this stuff. Even if they aren't it's fun keeping a journal of what's going on with my crabby family, but having others read it is fun too. If you are reading, please leave me a comment to let me know what you think and if there are things I should add or you'd like to see. I love to share my obsession, er, hobby with others and hopefully teach and chat about the crabs. They really are a lot of fun. Honestly though, there isn't a little thing here to say how many people have read a post so leave me comments so I know if anyone is coming here. Thanks and enjoy!

FilmLoop-Something cool I got from Photobucket. Enjoy!

2006-04-28T21:08:00.000-05:00

Crablog & Menu

2006-04-28T19:03:00.000-05:00

Again with it being a VERY long time since I posted.

Tonight for dinner: it's a chicken soup that Steph made the other day with no seasonings at all. There's chicken, corn, mushrooms, pasta, carrot, & onion. They may like it, I hope they do.

The new Es we got, what rascals they are. Actually, they are downright shits. In fact, the 4 big ones we have named. The giant one is named Fat Bastard, and then there's Grinch, Little Shit and Grumpy. Why those very negative names? Well, FB is just a pinchy jerk, he's really latched onto me several times and Grinch and Little Shit are notorius for screwing around with the other crabs and making them chirp all the time. I don't know if it's been territorial stuff or shell fights or what, but several nights in a row they have been causing trouble. We are in the process of moving the 4 big ones into the 20 gal and the 8 little guys are going into the 40B. The 20 gal will now be referred to as the exile or bad boy tank.

Lastly, the Addiction site is having another contest for April and the theme is crabs and flowers. On the last day of the contest we sat for over an hour taking 74 pictures of the crabs in the midst of some daisy's we got at Trader Joe's. They are below:

Crablog & Menu

2006-04-09T21:25:00.000-05:00

First things first, a HUGE and sincere thanks to my friend Amie who made the VERY cool moving crab logos you see at the top of the page. She's created some extremely cool images from digital pictures using a Photoshop program. Check out the Addictions CafePress site for more of her creations.

Apple, honey, cuttlebone powder, various variety pack items from the Hermit Crab Addiction Store.

It's been quite a while since I've posted and I'm going to try to be much better at it, but I guess we'll see what happens. In the meantime, I'll try to catch everyone up on the latest happenings in the past 3 weeks or so.

My birthday was on 22 March and it was fun. Steph and the kids made me a cake that had a hermit crab on it. I was going to post pictures because it was cool, but I don't seem to have them on this computer so I'll get back to that later.

Beaker and Spaz are still buried.

On 24 March we went to Petco in Gaithersburg and got 2 new Ruggies. It wasn't really a happy purchase as the reason we bought one of them was because he was running around the tank with no shell on. We called him Jay for Nekked as a Jaybird. We got him a tank mate from there that we call Sam because of his interesting Salmon coloring. Very pretty crab.

That weekend we found a dead crab, a little guy. Steph and the kids took him back to Petco on the 27th and came home with another Ruggie (Stitch) and a Strawberry (Lilo). This Straw is a little girl, not nearly as big as some of the monsters I've seen in the stores and I'm very happy about that. The Ruggie is a bit bigger than the others but is a pretty dark blue.

That same day Steph decided to get me a 40 gallon breeder tank as a birthday present. We went out that night after work and got all the stuff and came home and put it all together real quick. We didn't do much decorating because we needed more stuff and so it looked a little bare for the week but we had plans to go out shopping on Saturday. We got all the crabs out of the 10 gal in there and about half of the ones out of the 20 gal as the rest of them were burried.

On 1 April we went out in search of some more cool decorations for the new tank. We were going to go to Petco in Rockville to see if we could find another little Straw for Steph and Lilo. I remembered an aquarium store near there and wanted to stop by to see what they had and get some ideas maybe. Steph went one way and I the other and a few minutes later she found me and said she'd found some crabs she hadn't seen before. Lo and behold they were the ones we have been wanting and couldn't find; Coenobita Compressus, otherwise known as, Equadorians or Es. Steph says she loves their fat, juicy looking legs, I love their cute little eyes. I've been hearing stories about everyone's Es since November and have wanted them so badly. They sound like they are the most active of all the species. I just found out, however, that Straws are rather active too. Anyway, we went to Petco and we went to Michaels for decoration and then we went back to the aquarium for the Es. The funny thing is we talked a little beforehand about how many we wanted to bring home, good thing neither of us signed an oath in blood. We ended up with 12; 1 monster, 3 mediums and the rest teeny-small size. I was going to put all the crabs in the 40 and sell the 20, but that plan blew up getting all these new guys.

Well, it's late and I'm pooped; barely able to keep my eyes open. I'll try to write more tomorrow about all the happenings, some details I've missed, and try to post some pictures of both the tank and the new additions. Steph has once again taken some awesome photos and deserves to have them shown off.

Crablog & Menu

2006-03-21T19:03:00.000-05:00

Scrambled egg, egg shell, krill, seaweed, pineapple and pork tenderloin.

Spaz buried yesterday (20 March 06). She started in the EE and then headed diagonally over to the sand. It looked like she was heading to go under the fresh water dish so I'm wondering if she's getting ready for a molt.

The only 2 crabs that I know of for sure on the surface right now are Tune and Kermit; they are still sharing the big hut. I pretty much know where 4 of the crabs are that are buried but I think there's one I don't know the whereabouts.

Beaker is buried in the EE and he's been there quite a while so I think he might be molting. I think he went down shortly after the deep clean. Well, either molting or destressing from the big change but it feels like he's been down there longer than a destress. We'll wait and see...

Crablog & Menu

2006-03-14T19:31:00.000-05:00

Total flakes, dried papaya, coconut, mushrooms, seaweed, and some sort of green baby food.

I haven't been writing a whole lot lately, I know, been tired. The crabbies have kept up their activity quite a bit although there are a couple that have been hiding like Beaker and someone else. Spaz, Tune and Kermit have been the most active I think and I've seen one of the little ones running around a lot lately. Spaz is the trip though, she is running around every night. She spends most of her time in the little cocohut all by herself but sometimes at night she'll go hang out w/ Tune and Kermit in the big hut or she just runs around all night. Last night she woke me up sitting in the water dish and scraping her BP around on the bottom of it; I guess she was like, "hey, some water here please?" because it was empty (it had water in it when I went to bed). She also shell swaps on nearly a daily basis. She is a typical female that way.

On the Addictions site (www.hermitcrabaddiction.net/forum) she is Crab of the Week for 3/12/06-3/18/06 and I'm going to put her picture in here that I submitted for that. This is a GREAT picture, I just love it. Just click on it and it will show a full sized one and that's the best one to look at. Doesn't it look like she's smiling?

Crablog & Menu

2006-03-09T18:03:00.000-05:00

Romaine lettuce, celery leaves, grape tomato, carrot, coconut and Total Bran flakes.

Crablog & Menu

2006-02-27T20:06:00.000-05:00

Coconut, Total bran flakes, crushed walnuts with honey drizzled over all. Popped some popcorn for them too.

Tune has changed shells several times and now is back in his old one. This afternoon he was hanging out under the cork bark and I put a piece of popcorn down in front and after checking it out for a second he pulled it under him and started munching away. I think if the house would have been quiet I might have been able to hand feed him but the conditions weren't right. The kids got home early from school so it was noisy.

Deep Clean

2006-02-27T17:57:00.000-05:00

So I decided to attempt my first deep clean on Saturday. This was a lot of fun (sarcasm) because I caught a cold from one of the kids and wasn't feeling the greatest. Actually it wasn't all that bad though because with me and Steph both working on it, it went pretty fast; just a little over an hour I guess. At least we didn't end up digging up any molters; I was really worried about that. The hardest part really was figuring out exactly where I wanted to put stuff and what I wanted to put in. I didn't put in the half log this time, Steph wants it to dry out really good so I just put in a larger hut and a small cocohut but they have a big plant in the back to hide in and under and LOTS of digging room. The crabs had so much fun Saturday afternoon and evening I just couldn't believe it. I have never seen so much activity going on in my tank in the nearly 4 months I've had it. It even spurred a shell changing frenzy too. They kept waking me up all night from the clanking on the glass they were all doing as they were frantically climbing and shell shopping. I'm sure all that fun activity will cease immediately but it was fun for a day or two.

Anyway, so here are the pics of the newest design and there's a bunch more sand AND FB. Last time I used the Forest Bedding from the bag and I hated that stuff and I'm throwing it out. I do not recommend it as there's some pretty big chunks of wood in it. This time I used a brick of the EE and there's also Bed a Beast and it's much finer. There's about 5 inches each of EE and sand and then another couple of inches of moss on top the EE which we found they LOVE. Below the 'tat pics are pics of the crabs when we were putting them back in.

Tink (PP)-Note the interesting pink color on the legs:

Beaker (Indo):

Tune (Indo):

Spaz (PP)-This is the Psycho crab:

Kermit (PP):

And I don't know who this is anymore (PP):

And here is Kermit again watching the Olympics with me Saturday night (we were busting on Bode Miller):

Crablog

2006-02-26T22:00:00.000-05:00

Wow, I cannot believe how much activity was going on last night in the tank. There were crabs running around all night and they kept waking me up. Seriously, I'd wake up from their shells rubbing and clanking on spare shells as they were checking them out and clanking and banging on the glass all night. Talking about the shells, this whole thing has spurred a huge shell swapping party too. Tune changed at least twice if not more and Kermit took a different striped turbo that is also too small for him and I think Spaz stole Kermit's old shell. It's already bad enough that I don't know who it was I found dead in the tank but now everyone is changing shells so now I'm really going to be confused.

Oh yeah, and the little shelf I had put in as a second level. No one really wanted to have anything to do with that either. I had spare shells in there and no one would climb up to take a look. All I did was move it to the other side of the tank; it has the same piece of cork bark leading up to it and still has spare shells in it but now everyone wants to be in there. In fact, Kermit hung out up in there for a long time tonight watching the Olympics with me and boo'ing Bode Miller as he screwed up his 5th and final chance of winning any sort of medal.

It's been a lot of fun watching them run around the past 2 days. Pictures will be up soon.

Crablog & Menu

2006-02-25T19:39:00.000-05:00

Silversides, frozen brine shrimp and pineapple.

We did a deep clean this afternoon and I didn't feel like being really creative tonight with the dinner.

The deep clean has done wonders with the activity. After we were done cleaning and then took some pics of the crabs (I'll post them later) they've been running around the tank all afternoon. I'm glad I put the fish net back in they've been having a ball on it.

Crablog & Menu

2006-02-24T07:42:00.000-05:00

Last nights dinner: steak, pork chops, broccoli, squash all cooked in olive oil and garlic and a little bit of rice.

The only crab I saw out last night was Spaz at the food dish and that was around midnight. Tune was moving around a bit in the moss pit but I never saw him come out.

Crablog & Menu

2006-02-22T09:24:00.000-05:00

Last night's dinner: Yellow squash, 10-grain dry cereal, broccoli, rolled oats & dried papaya.

Two nights ago I had slid out the tank a bit to look up from below to check on some crabs I knew were molting and I noticed another funny looking spot in the sand. It looked just like the spot I had seen in the back corner where I found Squirt dead. Well, as I feared, another one died under the sand. We knew that we hadn't seen TigerLilly or Tinker Bell (both PPs) in some time, or maybe we had only seen one but we didn't know who it was. When I saw that spot in the sand though, I figured it was one of them. Very odd, same scenario as Squirt; weird looking spot in the sand and when I got down to the shell, the body was all dried up and just crumpled out of the shell. The important thing is though, again there was no smell, not even when I got down to the shell; unless it was masked for a day or two by the smells of either sardines or silversides. It looks as though TigerLilly had changed shells and went down to molt and then died. I couldn't even begin to venture a guess on how long after we got that crab that it did all of this. Poor TigerLilly.

Crablog

2006-02-19T21:28:00.000-05:00

Scrambled eggs, egg shells and Total Brand flakes.

Tonight I found that one of the Ruggies came up from a molt that looks to be successful. We had moved the 4 other Ruggies over to Steph's 10-gal tank at least a month ago and I wondered what had happened to this Ruggie (I think it's Ghost, the white one but we had 2 that were pretty light). He was pretty fiesty, no post molt shyness at all. I picked him up and he crawled right up my arm with those sharp little toenails and then when I finally got a hold on him he pinched the tip of my finger pretty good before I got him into the tank. Cranky little shit.

Crablog & Menu

2006-02-12T14:46:00.000-05:00

In honor of our big ole Nor'easter storm I made a big pot of ham and 15 bean soup so I decided to share a part of it with them. Incidentally, we got about 12" of snow and my back (which was already hurting from a slipping disk) is killing me today from shoveling.

Last night's menu:

Cooked ham from the ham hock (no seasonings were put in yet), smashed bone from the middle of the ham hock with the marrow in it, chopped apple, all on a bed of Romain lettuce.

Mostly there has been hardly any activity in the tank again. Several days have passed and I don't know if anyone has moved, the food didn't even look touched. I smoothed out the sand around the food dish last night when I put it in but later I did see Kermit over there checking it out. Tune was hanging out at the opening of the half log and I heard something scraping on the glass late and that looked like it was Spaz coming up from being buried. Someone was checking out shells 'cause they are all over the place but it doesn't look like any were switched out.

Today, someone is buried down between the log and the back wall, but not completely as I can see the top of their shell; I think it's Beaker. Tune is buried again in the corner where the moss is and that's all I can see.

Nothing much going on in Steph's tank either. A couple days ago Steph gave them shrimp tails and the ones in her tank got moved around a couple of times. I bought some shells from Vicki and there were a bunch of little Nerites and Babylonia's in there so Steph picked some out and put them in her tank and one of the Ruggies were checking them out but I don't think tried any on.

Crablog & Menu

2006-02-06T19:10:00.000-05:00

Shredded carrot, Kiwi, Banana, & Raw shrimp tails.

I saw Oscar on the surface this morning so I'm calling yesterday (2/5/06) as Oscar's official 'molt complete' day. It's color has returned very nicely and it seemed pretty mobile. I haven't really been able to pick it up to check it over but before I left for work I looked real close with the flashlight and it appears that at least all the legs are there, I just couldn't tell if all the segments were. I want to check it over to see if this will be our 2nd successful molt. It seems to be so far.

I'm trying to keep some sort of log on each one of them so I can track favorite shells and shell size, purchase and molt dates and any other information that may prove useful in the future. I think the only way I'm really going to be able to do that is to get a website and have pages for each crab with statistics and picture. So far we've had 2 molts and I know the dates they came up to the surface but not really sure what date they went under. I would say that would be pretty hard to determine. Mine have a habit of digging down for several days then coming up for a night or two to get some food and then dig down again. Of course I just happen to have the worlds laziest crabs too; they never do the fun stuff like I hear everyone else's crabs do. They hardly ever have a night where a bunch are running all night long. Other people's crabs come out during the day, mine don't. They're all just a bunch of couch potatoes.

Couldn't find Oscar anywhere this evening to see if I could sex it or measure or anything. I don't understand where they disappear to sometimes...

Tune was sleeping in the corner closest to my bed and one of the times I looked in I saw something under him and I couldn't figure out what it was. Upon closer inspection I saw that Tune was laying on top of Beaker who was buried into the FB substrate right under the moss on the ground level. Apparently the Indo's really DO love the moss pit so anyone who is reading this, pay attention: INDO'S LOVE THE MOSS PITS!!!! Beaker and Tune have been camping out in there since about 2 days after I put it in. I'm glad I put it in now. Thank you to both Steph and the Hermit Crab Addiction member _ms_hecubus who both suggested it to me.

I nearly forgot, there are at least 2 more crabs down molting. I pulled out the tank some and looked underneath on the sand side and I can clearly see 2 more holes and at least one exo from under there. I can't tell if the other hole had pieces of exo or not, that crab just didn't leave much window at all. I can't see enough through there to know who they are either but I'm hoping one of them is Hermie and maybe the other little PP. Hopefully when everyone comes back to the surface from Molting Mania, the 'tat might get to hopping and we'll see some activity for a change.

Crablog

2006-02-03T08:27:00.000-05:00

There was so much activity last night in the big tank. Tune was all over the place and a couple others came out too. That little PP who's been running around that I'm still not sure who it is was out and REALLY active, then Spaz came out later. In the big hut were Kermit (who I've not seen much of lately) and Beaker hanging out. In fact, they've done something pretty funny. Lately when I'm trying to figure out where everyone's hiding I've noticed that the doorway into the big hut has been blocked by FB, from the inside. Apparently whoever has been hiding in there during the day doesn't want company. Now it looks as though perhaps Beaker and Kermit have a thing going on????? Hmmm, Beaker is a boy but we haven't determined yet anything about Kermit's sex.

Oscar was still sitting in the window s/he created yesterday. S/he still hasn't made it up to the surface but to know that s/he's moving around now and digging is a pretty good indication that the molt is finished and s/he'll be topside soon.

So, the count there was I actually saw 6 of the crabs moving around. That is an all time high. There is still the missing Rug in the big tank and I just hope that's a molt in progress and not an actual missing crab, as well as 2 more PPs that are still MIA (Hermie and the other little PP Tinkerbell or TigerLily).

Didn't notice whether or not anyone touched the cheeseburger.

Seemed there was a pretty good bit of activity over in the smaller tank too. The humidity has been high in there as it's such a small tank and everything is damp in there. It's been hovering near 90% so I decided last night to take off the glass lid for a while and only leave on the screen lid. After a short period it dropped down to 80% and then I put the glass lid back on but only over half the top to allow for some more circulation than before. This morning it was still hovering at 80% so maybe we'll get some more activity in there now.

Crablog & Menu

2006-02-02T20:29:00.000-05:00

Still have last night's dinner in there but I'm adding in a little cheeseburger from dinner. Thought maybe a treat would be nice.

Oscar is FINALLY coming up from a molt so I'm going to say that today he finished his molt. Can't wait for him to come all the way up so I can take some pics, measure his shell, and maybe figure out if he's really a he. Haven't seen him in a long time so it will be nice to have him top-side.

Crablog & Menu

2006-02-01T19:00:00.000-05:00

Unsalted organic Peanut Butter, 10-grain cereal, dried Papaya, unsweetened Apple Sauce sprinkled with dried Brine Shrimp, Bloodworms and Cyclo-peeze.

This morning when I got up real early for work, I turned on the Nightglo bulb and scared the crap out of Tune (my new name for Petunia since I found out he was a boy). He was sitting straight up in the air with his legs hanging down and stiff as a board. I even caught him with a piece of popcorn still in his claw. That was pretty funny and I got my morning started with a smile.

I came home from work to another surprise, my Hermit Crab Addiction calendars and license plate holders finally came in the mail. Yippee. The even cooler part is that 2 of our crabs made the calendar. Yep, Beaker and Toon are both in it, for the months of March and December respectively. They needed pictures of the C. Brevimanus for the calendar and picked our pictures so our little crabbies are famous. The credit for the pictures all goes to Steph cause she took all the good ones.

Crablog & Menu

2006-01-31T11:13:00.000-05:00

Last night's dinner:

Chopped Silversides with Olive Oil (yes, that WAS disgusting), Fresh Coconut & Almonds.

The crabs were pretty active last night. Petunia (we found out it's a he) was quite mobile, I heard him a bunch this morning. At some point I woke up early (like around 2-3 AM) and I saw Petunia up, Spaz and a little PP (I'm not sure who it was) up and about. Beaker is buried under the large hut, I can see him through the side. He's just been hanging out there for the past 2 days but hasn't really been up moving too much. Spaz, Petunia and Beaker looked as if they were playing follow the leader moving from one side of the 'tat to the other and when I got up Spaz was half buried in the new ground level moss pit and Petunia was on top. I didn't see where the little PP had moved to, could also be under the moss pit. It was nice to see them in it though because it's been in there now a few days and to my knowledge, this is the first that anyone has decided to check it out.

Steph's tank this morning was kind of funny because I saw 3 of the Ruggies sitting on top of the cork bark all 3 facing one another like they were having a meeting of some sort; saving the world, solving world peace or hunger or something I'm sure...

Grape, Grape Tomato, Carrot, Broccoli, Coconut, Freeze dried Cyclo-peeze, Brine Shrimp and Bloodworms sprinkled on top and some popcorn that was put in the night before.

I also put in another moss pit. This one is on the ground level as I haven't seen anyone in the 2nd level one in a couple of weeks. No one has been in it yet :(

New Crabs

2006-01-26T21:35:00.000-05:00

Beaker is a male Coenobita Brevimanus (Brevi or Indo)

Gonzo is a female Coenobita Clypeatus (Purple Pincher or PP)

Spaz is a female PP also. This first picture shows the Gonopores on the underside of the last set of walking legs. The Gonopores are the little holes you can see.

Crablog & Menu

2006-01-26T20:30:00.000-05:00

Banana, 10-grain dry cereal, carrot baby food, frozen brine shrimp, walnuts, dried papaya, with honey drizzled all over.

Wow, it's been a LONG time since I've posted anything and a lot has happened.

Petunia finally came up from it's molt around the 12th or 13th of this month. It looks great (I'm using it because the sex is still unknown) and the colors are realy starting to brighten up. It wasn't moving about too much for a few days but then for a few days it was pretty active, hanging out all day in the open, checking out shells and all kinds of stuff.

I ordered and received $50 worth of shells from Naples Sea Shells. Those people really take care of the shells and make sure they are of really great quality. I'll have no problem ordering from them again if I ever need to. Unfortunately, not one crab has even tried out one of the new ones. They sure went nuts over the ones I got free from work but here I go and shell out (yep, pun WAS intended there, lol) a bunch of money they don't want to have anything to do with them at all. Damn crabs anyway.

The Hermit Crab Addiction site is really moving up and broadening horizons. One member is really great with graphics and she came up with a pretty cool logo. Then they started up a CafePress store and stuck it on some shirts and stuff and it looks great. Then someone decided that it would be cool for members to send in pictures of their crabs and she'd edit them around some and create a calendar. Both of our Indos made it in; Beaker for March and Petunia for December. I think that is just the coolest, I really do. We are still waiting for the calendars to get here. I've also ordered a sweatshirt that has the logo on the front and on the back a picture of the Coenobita Clypeatus and it says, "My PP is bigger than your PP". That was just too funny. I got Steph a t-shirt, we both got license plate holders and I got a mug.

I also got Steph a couple of crabs on the 14th. 2 PPs and another Indo so Petunia would have a buddy. We decided to do a little switching around 'cause we only have the 10 and a 20 gal tank. So, we put the Ruggies into the small tank (one of them must be down for a molt) and a small PP (I believe one of the ones Steph just got) and we're going to put one or 2 more PPs in there and then the bigger ones are in the bigger tank. Here are a couple of pictures of the new ones. We have Beaker the male Indo, Gonzo the female PP and Spaz the female PP.

Steph's new tat

2006-01-16T19:44:00.000-05:00

I got crabs too :)
We sexed one of my new crabs as a female! Chris named her Spaz because she never holds still. She picked a really big turbo and looks very dark. Will post pix with blog!
I got 2 others, one possibly and Indo. They have in the 2 nights they've been here managed to mess the salt water dish up and the water dish.. so so on the food dish. One other crab changed shells to an identical turbo as spaz, only smaller.
They tried to drag a slider away. Pew they are stinky fish.
I can't write too much or Chris will get jealous and think I'm taking over her blog. Since I don't have one of my own I'm using hers. :) Indo's Rock, but I"m not addicted!

Crablog & Menu

2006-01-10T20:46:00.000-05:00

Tonight's menu was babyfood, fresh pineapple, frozen krill, seaweed and popcorn all lightly drizzled with organic honey.

Last night tried giving a little organic whole milk but I believe that was overshadowed by the new shells we put into the cage.

A friend from work brought me some new shells from his sister who is also a crabber. Many of the shells were good sizes for the little Ruggies; in fact, there was absolute chaos in that tank last night. At some point I looked in and all the Ruggies were out checking out the shells. Two were in the basket facing off; I believe one of them had already done a shell change and apparently they were interested in the same shell. When I looked they were facing each other with all legs in the air trying to hit one another; that had to be the funniest thing I've seen yet. Our presence in front of the tank distracted them for a minute and the one that already changed did another very quick change right in front of us. It turned around and they started smacking at each other again and then it walked away. The one that stayed in the basket checked out a shell, changed, changed back and then changed back into the new one again. It was having a bit of trouble readjusting and maneuvering but finally got it all fixed and took off on it's merry way. Steph said she sat and watched them until 1 AM. Next time we get new shells to put in there I need to make sure I'm standing by with the camcorder, that whole thing was just too much and I need to get video of all that activity. This evening it appears that one of the smaller PPs decided to get involved too and had a new shell on. When I took out the little dish with the milk I found that one of the Ruggies with the white shells had changed since it left the shell in the milk dish.

Made a trip to Petsmart in Germantown today, I was in the area already and wanted to see if they had any of the frozen silverside fish that I hear the crabs like so much. they didn't have any but I bought some frozen krill that is stored in little ice cube tray things. That was interesting but we'll see if they like that at all. Anyway, we stopped by the crab cages there and it was sad. One naked dead crab in the food dish and Steph found another crab dead in its shell; it looked like that one had been there a while. No lid on the tank and the humidity gauge read 0%. The tank had only colored gravel in it, no sand at all. Most of the crabs were in shells the wrong size too, a bunch in colored shells. Several of the bigger crabs were so big for their shells that they were half out of them; no way for them to protect themselves at all. When I went up to cash out I did mention something to the cashier about their being a dead crab, no humidity and no lid on the cage. She immediately said something to the guy working back there but she really didn't seem to care much at all.

My friend has a 6 yr old daughter that goes to school and the class has a pet hermie. They used to have 2 but one died. My friend is worried about this crab named Sabastian. The school lets the kids take it home on the weekends but the teacher has never given any care instructions to the parents. The poor guy is living in a KK with only a little sand, a cocohut and some food and water. Apparently there isn't any salt water at all, nothing to climb on, no shells (and she says this ones shell is cracked on the inside) and the only food it gets is the commercially produced stuff which really is very bad. My friend even said that once she ran water from the faucet onto it so the poor guy is getting only chlorinated water and that will probably kill it. I printed out a caresheet from one of the sites to give her to take to the teacher so I hope the teacher will heed it and have some compassion for the little one. She also wants me to go to the school and discuss crab care with both the students and the teacher.

Crablog

2006-01-07T20:15:00.000-05:00

Well, tonight I checked on the little one that was buried with the wet looking spot around it. We've suspected that it was Squirt but weren't sure. It was. Squirt has been buried there since about 2 weeks after we got them and when I noticed the wet spot I thought it was just water from the shell. Well, since I have had the insulation around the tank I really haven't looked into that corner much because I have to take it down to do it. Anyway, I spoke to Vicki last night about it and she asked if it had moved any and it really didn't look like it so she said that this is one case where I should actually dig down to a buried crab. I did and when I picked up the shell, the body fell out in pieces. There was also no smell at all so that tells me that it's been there dead for some time. Probably when we originally saw the wet spot. It's sad, poor Squirt. When I talked to Vicki tonight we figured it was probably PPS that did it, just too much stress from being plucked from some sunny beach and then shipped to the pet store. Poor Squirt, RIP little one.

After the Squirt episode I decided to change around the tank a bit, the pictures are below. I think it looks a little neater and has a little more manuevering room for them. The second level that I built fell apart so I canned that. Next time it will definately be worth investing in a little aquarium sealant for that instead of the hot glue gun. We put up a little corner thing with suction cups and put in some moist moss in there to help with the humidity and I understand the crabs love to hang out in it. Vicki tells me that her micro Es LOVE being in the moss. I hope my Ruggies like it too.

Crablog & Menu

2006-01-06T19:38:00.000-05:00

Chicken, organic noodles, yellow squash, celery, Total, CrabCake, walnuts & 10-grain.

Petunia still under the IO dish. Color is getting even prettier than before molt.

Oscar is moving about, s/he's been buried down and over from Petunia. Perhaps Oscar is planning on coming topside soon also...

Saw Blue tonight, VERY nice coloring now. Hairy legs and black tips.

Saw another Ruggie but not sure who. Coloring looks brown/gray. Hairy legs and black tips. Got pics.

Saw David tonight also (darker shell but speckly) and that one's color seems to have changed as well. Hairy legs and black tips. Got pics.

Tomorrow I'm going to have to dig a little and see if we may have a dead crab buried. We haven't seen Squirt since about a week or two after we brought them home. In the back corner there is a spot that I thought was Squirt but it was sort of wet looking, this was weeks ago. Well, the spot is still there and it doesn't look as though anything around it has moved. If that spot was from water in the shell, I don't think it would look that way. Vicki told me tonight that if I dig down to the shell, I'll know right away if it's dead because it will stink (the smell would have been trapped in the sand and not escape). I'll check it out tomorrow afternoon. I'm going to be very bummed if that crab died :(

Got some stuff from the dollar store tonight to perhaps move things around a bit and neaten up the 'tat some. At this point there are empty shells all over the place and they keep getting sand and FB in them so I got this sort of plastic tray thing I want to bury a little and put all clean shells in there so they don't get so dirty. Crabbies have been dragging shells all over the place lately; every morning I get up they've all been moved. I've got to stay up some night to see all this activity first hand. It's got to be funny to see them dragging the shells all over the place.

Also going to pull off some recipes from Epicurean Crab and Crab Street Journal and then get some organic and natural ingredients from Whole Foods and make yummy stuff for them. I also want to use a recipe Kathy posted on Hermit Crab Addiction for a daily staple type food to be supplemented with fresh fruits and veggies.

Crablog & Menu

2006-01-06T07:56:00.000-05:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR!
It's been a while since I've posted anything, life's been busy with Christmas, the kids' dad visiting and the New Year.
Menu: 2 different types of locally produced organic honey with ground Total flakes in them, green bell pepper, scrambled egg with egg shells, one angel hair noodle, shredded carrot and shredded coconut.
I saw that egg shell had been drug out of the dish and the noodle has been torn apart and there are noodle remnants all over the place.
Several crabs have been out running around at night but I still don't know who is who; there have just been too many shell changes going on.
Petunia is STILL under the IO dish but I believe it will be coming up to the surface soon. It did indeed molt as one of the days I was changing out the water in that dish I saw the uneaten portion of exo, it was the claw. 2 nights ago I checked again and there were only tiny pieces of exo that I could see. Petunia seems to have darkened up some and regained a good bit of color. While Petunia was tucked up in the shell I gently moved it just a bit to see the coloring and it appears that the new exo has hardened as well (no, I didn't touch anything but the shell, I don't want to damage the exo).
I really want to get a bigger tank, at very least a 33 gal, but preferably a 55 gal. I just want to give them some more room. It just looks so crowded with all the empty shells and such in there. I've been thinking of other ways to set it up to perhaps free up some floor space but ultimately I want to get a bigger tank. As soon as I recooperate from Christmas a bit then perhaps I can start thinking more seriously about tank upgrade.

Crablog

2005-12-21T09:23:00.000-05:00

Saw a shell last night that I didn't recognize. Picked up the little guy, well, not so little really but I'm not sure who it is. It's one of the bigger ones like from the first batch of crabs, but I don't know who it is. I can't see any abandoned shells laying around except for Hermie's and I believe Hermie is bigger in size than this one. I don't know who it is but they were a little hairy and had black tips on their toes so I believe they've molted recently.
This morning I awoke and saw another one that I haven't seen in a while, another of the first batch. I believe that it's probably Tiger Lilly but I was heading to work so I didn't get a chance to take them out and see who it was. It hung out for a while and then dipped into the big hut to hang out. I'll see if I can find it again tonight and see if I can figure out who it is. The empty shells were moved around too so somebody has been shopping, perhaps that one... :)
UPDATE: Steph said that this morning when she checked things out that the crab I saw this morning was in fact Tinker Bell. It had just changed shells when she saw it, Steph found the abandoned shell out near the front and Tink was in "readjusting". Steph also said that Tink seemed quite hairy but she didn't check for the black tips. She put Tink on the 2nd level w/ the empty shell and Tink ended up going to the back edge and then falling off, lol. I honestly don't have any idea who is who in there anymore.

Menu & Crablog

2005-12-19T20:20:00.000-05:00

Total, kiwi, dried papaya, coconut, cuttlebone & chicken.
Kermit out early tonight, scared him while he was in food dish. He's out and about cruising around the tank right now. His colors are really starting to turn red, much more red than any of the PPs I've seen. Honestly when I looked in the 'tat just now, some of his red is almost as red as a Straw, but without the white dots. His BP is so dark purple that it nearly looks black.
I just picked him up for a minute. In the 'tat when he sees me he always runs for cover, but when I brought him out he came out to say hi pretty fast. Tried to latch onto my thumb. I printed out the measuring chart from HCA and he measures within the medium circle; when I took my fingers off of him he zoomed off across the page.

Crablog

2005-12-18T22:34:00.000-05:00

Woke up this morning and found Hermie's shell in the corner at the front of the tank. One of the kids spotted it and we didn't know if he was in there and hiding or not so I picked it up to check. Empty! Funny thing is that I can't remember what empty shell had been sitting there and we haven't seen him since.
This evening after the lights were out, and while we were watching a movie, I walked by the 'tat and saw Kermit at the FW dish. Out of the corner of my eye I saw some movement and a shell going back into the log. It looked somewhat like Petunia's green turbo but I just couldn't get a clear look at it. I think Petunia is still under the IO dish so it had to be Hermie, but I don't remember if there were 2 green turbos laying down there or not. Perhaps I'll put some popcorn in there tonight to see if I can lure him out again like the other night when I tried it.
Vicki told me today that she is opening an online Hermit Crab supply store and that in the spring she would start shipping hermits. I had mentioned to her that I really wanted to get some Es (mostly for their activity level and the fact that they can help the others be more active too) and she told me she could send me some then when she started shipping them. That sounds like a cool deal and I may just have to take her up on that one.

Menu & Crablog

2005-12-15T22:01:00.000-05:00

Carrot, Total, 10-grain, Clementine, Walnuts, fresh Coconut.
IM'd with Vicki about the molters and she gave me a great idea. She said if I wanted to know if they were actually molting or just hiding, to try some popcorn. I had to buy a bag of plain ole kernels, no butter or salt added. I didn't have any bags so I rigged up something by taking 2 pieces of printing paper and folded up all the sides to try to make it somewhat air-tight. I wet the kernels with water and then used the microwave to cook it. I got a couple of pieces out of it and put it in to see if they REALLY do go crazy over it like I keep hearing. Well, Kermit started to come out once and I think I scared the crap out of him and then Steph scared him too. I put a piece in the doorway of the hut he was in and he finally came out a bit later to try it out. He ended up in the food dish for a bit eating carrots mostly.
Big surprise, Hermie came out for a bit tonight too. He sat in the coconut dish for a while and then ducked into the log. I haven't seen him out in forever, like for a couple of weeks. He's been hiding back behind the log up against the glass and I don't know what he's been doing but I haven't seen him around at all. Kermit had gone to the log to check it out for a minute and maybe to say hi to Hermie since they haven't seen each other in so long and then Kermit went back to his hut.

Crablog

2005-12-14T07:08:00.000-05:00

David and Kermit were out for a bit.
David went back to the shells and sure enough, he changed back into his old one again. That is one crazy, shell identity crisis, crab. So, I took that new one out for a few to flush it out thinking there might be something in there irritating him. I also took him out for a minute to check him out, he came right out to say hi. I was watching him and something looked different. I finally figured it out after a minute, he was hairy. Then I looked at his feet and sure enough they have black tips. Both SURE signs that he has molted recently. I also noticed that his legs have some orange markings on them I hadn't noticed before; of course, I really don't have a good idea yet of each of their markings since they've been hiding out since shortly after we brought them home. I don't know how long after a molt that they display the signs, but he's pretty hairy and new looking. They only thing I can't figure out is if s/he did it since they've been home or if he did it before that. Whatever the case, if he did it at home he did it fast because there may have only been about 4 days I didn't see him. Vicki said that the little ones CAN do a molt that fast. I can't wait to see how the other ones look when they come up from their molts.

Menu & Crablog

2005-12-12T20:29:00.000-05:00

Total, CrabCake, kiwi, avacado, strawberry & dried papaya.
Still not much activity going on, only ever see 2 or 3 crabs on any given day. Saw Kermit a couple of days now. I saw him in the water dish last night and I guess he didn't like me watching him 'cause he hauled ass into the log. That crab is pretty quick.
Petunia is still under the IO dish. Every time I change out the water she's laying on her side but I've seen her antenna's moving so I know she's ok. She doesn't move otherwise.
I hope that Hermie isn't going to have a surface molt. He is still in the corner behind the log and I never see him out eating or drinking. I can't really even see him to know whether or not he's moving at all, but I see that he's changed positions a bit.
I gotta tell you, I'll be so happy whenever this destress/molt deal is over. What I believe though is that the ones that are buried ARE molting. It's been a month now since we got the first batch so I believe the destress time is over. I read the other day that if the conditions weren't right when they were caught or in the pet store then they can delay their molt until the conditions ARE right. I'm thinking that's what happened and now they are in a nice warm and moist environment so the molting came on with a vengence. Oh well, I hope to see them soon...

Menu & Crablog

2005-12-08T21:12:00.000-05:00

Peanut butter, Total, 10-grain cereal, CrabCake, raw sesame seeds, fresh coconut, cuttlebone and spirulina.
Petunia STILL under the IO dish. When I changed out the water yesterday I took a quick picture of her/his very impressive "nest" s/he has dug out under it. I worry a lot about changing out the water because I take out the dish to wash it and I'm so afraid that it's going to collapse in on her/him. S/he has nearly the entire area under it hollowed out and I'm surprised the dish is still up and not sunk in yet.
David is still changing in and out of his new and old shells. Last night I looked in and his old shell was moving around with the new one laying next to it. 10 minutes later I look in and he's back in his new shell trucking around. I can't figure out if it's uncomfortable, too heavy or he's just having "shell identity crisis", lol.
I see Kermit out tonight hiding in the large hut. I haven't seen him for a few days.
Couldn't see Hermie in his usual hiding spot in the back corner. I don't know where he's gone.

Menu & Crablog

2005-12-06T19:01:00.000-05:00

Carrots, dried Papaya, Total, 10-grain cereal, CrabCake, Cuttlebone, Spirulina and Coconut.
Apparently David has decided he likes his new shell because he is still wearing it. I found his old shell abandoned in the large hut.
Everyone is still hidden away. Hermie is still back in his corner on top of someone buried and David and another of the little ones are back there with him. Petunia is still under the IO dish and someone has built a tunnel under the log.

Menu & Crablog

2005-12-05T20:57:00.000-05:00

Put in more shrimp and scallops. They seemed to like both the shrimp and the dry combo I put in last night. We also picked up a couple of coconuts today, Steph chopped some up and the .. crabs.. David I think, maybe Kermit, drug some of it out and there is a coconut trail leading to the log entrance. That might just be a hit!
David switched shells into a newbie one that was too small, he went back to the old one. Then he put on another new one, bigger, more awkward. He then took it in the hut and abandoned it, we think he streaked out across the FB to find his old shell and got back into it. Then he apparently went back into the hut and back into the new bigger shell. We are just waiting to see what he does next, he is sleeping in his new shell right now, probably testing the comfort level of it. Crabs!!!! Chris got some video of the second swapping and is thinking about getting a free web page so she can post the videos to it as well as the photos.
Chris is jealous that I help her with her blogs and change the title to say COMPLETE obsession!
I went shopping the other day however and got lots of goodies for our crabbies! I totally ROCK and am now also becoming completely obsessed!

Menu & Crablog

2005-12-04T18:43:00.000-05:00

Total, 10 grain dry cereal, raw sunflower seeds and shrimp.
David sleeping up on 2nd level again. He was down meandering on the floor level this morning but moved up to sleep under the light this afternoon.
Kermit, Hermie and Oscar were out a bit last night. Both Oscar and Hermie took off and hid as soon as they saw me moving. Kermit stayed by the food dish.
Steph said she saw Kermit eating. There was a little broccoli moved around and some by the log (I guess someone took some in for a midnight snack) but by the look of the food in the bowl, the Total seemed to be the most touched.

Menu & Crablog

2005-12-03T20:32:00.000-05:00

Scallop, broccoli, banana, Total cereal, cuttlebone and spirulina.
Last night's dinner was barely touched. Really there are only about 4 crabs out that we've seen lately, the rest must be buried.
Found Petunia buried in a great big hole under the IO dish.
One guy, I think David has been sleeping on the 2nd level since last night.
New thermometer/humidity gauge shows the humidity at the perfect level of 80-82% all day and we haven't misted since yesterday afternoon. The other gauge is showing the moisture at least 20% below this one. We have been keepin it way to moist because of that. Perhaps that's caused some of the inactivitiy.

Camera Happy Today

2005-12-01T14:31:00.000-05:00

Kermit was out and bout today. Isn't he lovely? What a Handsome little man ( or woman??)
Everyone else is asleep someplace. Lots of new looking spots dug up in the sand where everyone is either sleeping or destressing. No one is eating anything that Chris put out for dinner last night! Picky little buggers. They should be paying a hefty fee for the gourmet meals we provide. Worse than the kids I tell ya !
He has gotten brighter in color over the last three weeks.

Proud Young Parent !!

2005-12-01T14:03:00.000-05:00

Proud parent of a crab named Blue, a little ruggie we got a few weeks ago. This is Misha showing off her baby.

Crablog 11-29-05

2005-11-29T19:25:00.000-05:00

Not much activity tonight. All crabs seemed pretty mellow and not much moving around.
I did find someone buried under the IO water dish I just don't know who. I was trying to get the dish to sit down a little more into the sand so I would be easier for them to climb in and out of and as I was very gently digging down, came upon the top of somone's shell. I covered it and just went ahead and replaced the dish. What I truly hope is that I didn't disturb or harm it. Even more, I hope that it will still be able to breathe. I don't want to dig down there and then transfer it out into another tank because I think that will just be more stress, but I don't know. Later, I did sort of stick my finger down and made a little "tunnel" I guess to him so air would go in, I just hope no other crabs decide to go down and mess with it.

Crablog 11-28-05

2005-11-28T19:14:00.000-05:00

Today for the first time ever I got to see one of the crabs in the Salt Water pool. Petunia, our Brevimanus (Indo) was sitting there pretty as you please for about half an hour to 45 min just hanging out. She is a beautiful crab and such a sweetie; so very gentle whenever we take her out. She finally comes out to say hi now at least when we bring her out, at first she just hid in real tight.
Tonight's dinner consists of scrambled egg, turkey meat, mango, cuttlebone, seaweed.
Right before bed I walked by the tank and saw one of our little guys laying on his side and hugging a small shell. As I watched him he was turning it around and I realized that he was thinking seriously about trying it on. Steph and I sat there for about 30 min watching him turn it round and round, stick his head in the check out the inside and turn it some more. After a while I guess he finally got it in just the right position and popped on it; I didn't have a very good view of that but i knew he was in there. Anyway, he sat there, sort of moved around in it (as if he were shrugging his shoulders to feel how it fit), then tucked up to see if it would work. He sat another minute and then decided he didn't like it and popped back into his old shell. This one I got a great view of and saw his naked little tail end, lol. I guess I got "mooned". He kept sitting there holding on to the shell, stated to move away and then came back and grabbed it again.

Crablog 11-27-05

2005-11-27T19:33:00.000-05:00

Dinner tonight was mango, scrambled egg, carrot, tangerine, cuttlebone, seaweed & spirulina.
Kermit fell off the 2nd level again. Same spot, same loud bang of his shell on the glass.

Crablog 11-25-05

2005-11-25T23:59:00.000-05:00

I was a dork and sat up really late watching the crabs. I never get a chance to see them out and about all that much so I was determined that I was going to find out what they did while we were slumbering away.
Oscar seems to really love the 2nd level. He goes up the big hut, over the leaves, up the netting, checks stuff out up there and then just HAS to go down the way he shouldn't. He likes to go down the corner and he actually has to push the entire 2nd level over to the point that it nearly tips over in order to fit his shell through. I honestly thought it was going to fall and send shells flying everywhere. It took him liek 20 minutes to get himself down. After that, he walked over and got a drink then he came back and decided to go up the way he just came down. I think that was a lot harder for him to do because he had a lot harder time getting his shell through there. It made a "popping" sound when he got it through. He just keeps walking around and doing it over and over.
Lastly, Kermit and Oscar are by far the most active big crabs that I've seen. The new little guys (David, Ghost, Blue, Norbert and Poindexter) have also adjusted pretty well and are all out every night. I worry a little about Hermie, Tiger Lilly, Tink and Squirt (the last 3 are pretty much buried and I only get an occasional glimpse of Tiger Lilly) because they are just not out much. At first Hermie was out quite a bit but now he either just hides under the log or one of the huts. I haven't seen Squirt or Tink in nearly a week. Molting or destressing? Who knows...

Crablog 11-24-05 (Thanksgiving Day)

2005-11-24T19:36:00.000-05:00

Crabbies got a special treat today. We gave them so Turkey meat, but even better than that, I smashed up a couple of turkey bones and let them have the marrow. A couple of them came out for that and had a good time.
I've found that 2 of our crabbies are actually using my 2nd level invention. I was sitting here on the bed next to the 'tat and I heard this really loud clunk of shell on glass. I jumped up and looked in and in the back of the 'tat (on his back) was Kermit. I think he walked right off the edge. Silly crabbie.
Oscar is also climing up and down the netting.

Crablog 11-22-05:

2005-11-22T19:56:00.000-05:00

I got creative tonight about the heating problem. I read something online about creating a "crab-loo" (crab igloo) with the tank. People in colder regions need to do it to keep their crabbies warm. I had some foam board insulation so I measured out what I needed to cover 3 sides of the tank. Hopefully it will help to keep in some of the warmth created by the UTH and the bulbs.

I also decided to try my hand at making a 2nd level. I used a plastic dish tray, cut it in half, hot-glued some legs on it made from PVC pipe, hooked on some fish-net (NOT from my stocking, lol) onto the legs and buried it into the sand up against the end of the tank. I put some FB on top and then put in a bunch of empty shells for them to change into up there. Sky had a great idea of putting the plant in the back and their little coco-hut under the 2nd level to give them a really cozy little place to hide. It's really cute. They have like a little town-house or something now.

Crablog 11-20-05:

2005-11-22T07:17:00.000-05:00

Had the NightGlo bulb on all night and now have the SunGlo bulb going and the temperature is right around 78F.
Some of the crabs got pretty active last night and were running around. Oscar was up hanging from the screen quite a while.
We put seaweed in with their food and Petunia really seemed to like that a lot!
This morning we got Hermie, Blue and David out (David and Blue being our newest littlest guys) and they were all over the place. The little ones seem very active. Got some more pictures of David & Blue crawling over Misha & Rain. Will post them soon.

Crablog 11-19-05:

2005-11-22T07:16:00.000-05:00

The 1-5 gal UTH is doing nothing; I’m taking it off and taking it back.
I went today and picked up one of those clip on lamps and put it on with a 60 watt SunGlo bulb and the temp went up to 75 and stuck there. I took it back because it scares the hell out of me; it wasn't stable and the outside of it gets extremely hot. I worried about one of the cats getting curious and knocking it over and it starting a fire.
I went BACK to the store again today to return all of that stuff and I bought a top screen and a 20 inch long strip bi-light system, sort of like what you'd use w/ reptiles. It has 2 incandescent sockets and I put a 40 watt SunGlo bulb and a 40 watt NightGlo bulb. I took the handle off of the glass lid and folded it in half, moved it to the front of the tank and then put the screen on top of it and the lighting strip on top near the back of the tank. The temp is still hovering around 71F. I even bought a second thermometer (one of those adhesive strips that changes colors) on the other (cool side) to make sure the first thermometer isn't screwy. That one is reading a little higher but not much. Now I’m worried about the humidity lowering though because half the top is nowopen and more of it is escaping.

Crablog 11-18-05:

2005-11-22T07:15:00.000-05:00

Oscar changed his shell last night, he's looking very handsome today.
A couple of them really seem to like the plant I put in last night. Oscar decided to climb the plant after he put his new shell on (he's had a busy night) and he's been up there all day. Hermie is still sitting on the log underneath the plant partially hiding.
Went to Michaels today, at the suggestion of several people in the various groups I've joined, to get some shells and plants. For a bonus we even found some fish net that they can climb (I've got ideas for cool things to do with the tank). We got a crapload of shells of all kinds of sizes and shapes.
I woke up this morning and the temp in the tank is still low, still down to 70F. After Michaels we went to the Petco right beside it (Rockville on 355). I got another UTH (for a 1-5 gal tank) and mounted that on the back wall of the same side that the other UTH is on. After it being up on there for 10 hours, the temp STILL says 71F. I need a lamp.
We also got another 6 crabs. I think one of them is a Coenobita Brevimanus (Indo). We may have picked up some Coenobita Compressus (Ecuadorians or Es). I'm still having a really hard time IDing them, it's very difficult when they come in such a wide range of colors.
One of the new little guys is quite the acrobat. This evening he had climbed the plant/tree and was hanging upside down sleeping and holding on with just one leg. Very silly little guy. He stayed like that at least an hour after I found him like that. All these guys we got today are pretty active, rather, they have not gone and dug in like the first ones we got. They've either been in the tree or under the log.
Several of the new ones look as if they are pre-molt or post-molt. Well, their color is very light tan. Some of their exoskeletons look almost transparent and since I'm new at this and not yet seen a crab molt, I don't know if it's pre or post look. One of the new guys has a very distinct blue look about him.

Crablog 11-17-05:

2005-11-22T07:14:00.000-05:00

Made a change to the substrate today after talking to Sabrina because I can't get the tank temperature up over 71 F. She suggested very carefully removing the FB and then making the depth of the sand on the right side to be 1" deep, then putting the FB back on top. The sand apparently causes the heat to stay trapped under it and doesn't allow it to rise into the tank. I was worried to do this because Tink & Squirt have buried themselves over there probably because it's warm down there. After very carefully moving out the FB little by little, I found them both in the back corner. After I finished I put them back in the corner on top the FB and in 5 minutes they were dug back in.
I put some faux foliage in (plastic aquarium plants which are not all that sturdy) and right after Hermie was on top the log investigating it (got a good pic). When I put the plant in I had to move the log and when I finished up and put the log back, Kermit, Oscar & Tiger Lilly all scurried back under real quick. It was very funny to watch. All 3 went into the back and huddled up together against the glass.
Put some sardines in their food but really didn't see anyone checking them out.

Crablog 11-16-05:

2005-11-22T07:13:00.000-05:00

Having a hard time keeping the tank above 70, it's hovering right there.

Crablog 11-15-05:

2005-11-22T07:12:00.000-05:00

Kermit changed clothes, lol. He switched out his shell for another we put into the cage. He looks very spiffy.
Kermit, Hermie and Oscar are the most visible of the 6. Hermie the most of all.
The 3 smallest are hidden.

Crablog 11-14-05:

2005-11-22T07:11:00.000-05:00

All crabs hidden and dug in - most likely destressing.
Steph ID'd them all and marked the shells.
Tiger Lilly disappeared in tank and can't be found.
Bigger crabs are more active then the smaller ones.
After marking, Kermit is most active & is eating, everyone else is hiding.
Watched Kermit eat - he holds the fruit with big pincher (BP), rips pieces off with smaller left pincher and 2 little feeler legs from under his head come down and gently take the food off the pincher and move it up to his mouth (not visible). Flashlight pissed him off and he drug food off to the corner to eat unobserved.
Kermit's colors are much darker, deeper red/purple than all the others.
Found Tiger Lilly dug into the FB. She became active when pulled out.Squirt scuttles sideways.

Crablog 11-13-05:

2005-11-22T07:10:00.000-05:00

Bought all kinds of stuff at PetSmart including: 20 gal (long) glass tank, glass lid, Forest Bedding (FB), huts, UTH, climber wall, playsand, and 5 more crabs. Came home and set it all up. Bathed little crabbies and put them in. This tank is much nicer. We believe that all crabs are PPs (Coenobita Clypeatus which is the most common and apparently the only kind PetSmart sells). The names of all the crabs (from biggest to smallest) are: Kermit, Hermie, Oscar, Tiger Lilly, Tinkerbell (Tink) and Squirt.
We have the tank set up where the left side is the wet and cool side, and left side is dry warm side. Sand is down on both sides, aquarium gravel in the middle and then FB is on top the sand on the right side (UTH is under it).

Crablog 11-12-05: and so it begins...

2005-11-22T07:05:00.000-05:00

Bought first crab and named him Kermit. Got him home and played with him and fell right in love. Set up a little tank and realized it was WAY too little. Went online to research them and found some of the stuff we got was no good for him and we need more stuff. Going to go back tomorrow and buy the stuff we need.