Stuff

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

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.

Menu

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

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.

Menu

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.

Menu

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

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!