My one eyed large Perlatus (Strawberry) died today. He has been slowing down for a long time and barely moving. Honestly he lasted longer than I imagined after he lost an eye. I only have Jimmy the Perlatus left of the original ones purchased in the summer. I purchased another Perlatus a couple weeks ago and named it Robin. Robin is still in ISO (isolation) and doing okay so far.
This morning I discovered my Brevimanus (Indo) named Oy, dead. He had been immobile for a couple days. This is a hard loss because I’ve had him for 2 1/2 years, he was my first Brevimanus. :'(
Right now I have about 12 new hermit crabs in the ISO tank destressing and relaxing. They are digging and checking out shells and eating well.
Kimba my large Brevimanus (Indo) is still dug under in the 40 gallon breeder so I still have it set up too.
Jabba, a Clypeatus (Caribbean) is still under in ISO also. In her first molt she was missing a leg, it did not return with her next molt. This will be her third molt with me (she’s largish) so I hope she regenerates that limb this time. She takes quite some time to do her molting so I don’t expect to see her for awhile. She had been digging in the main tank.
One of my compressus (Ecuadorian), Eros I believe was dug under a water dish but has since moved.
This weekend I fed the crabs chicken bones and they went mad for them. One of the Cavipes, Pie, drug a bone into a corner behind the water dish so he could hide with it. I found another bone up in the moss in the fish net. I have no idea how one of the hermit crabs managed to climb the fish net with a sizeable bone in one claw! This is a feeding idea I received from Julia Crab at Epicurean Hermit.com.
I’ve began taking 2006 pictures of my hermit crabs. They are now in the photo gallery. I try to take photos of each crab at least once a year now so that I may compare them to previous years images. My photos will never rival the hermit crab photos taken by Robin at Crabby Talk.com.
I’m also revamping my crab log data to make it more manageable for me. I’m using a molt template also. I place it on a clipboard near the crabitat and make hand written notes on it on the fly and then when I get time I will transfer it to the computer files. A new element I added to the data is the length and width of the large cheliped after each molt. This will help me determine the size changes between molts. If you are interested in documenting the progress of your hermit crabs and sharing it with others for the purpose of further education, see Sue at Coenobita.org. She is building a site dedicated to research of the Coenobita species.
Calendars! Everyone needs a few calendars. Even better if they are hermit crab calendars right? Both Crab Street Journal.com and Hermit Crab Addiction.net have new calendars out in their Cafepress stores. The Crab Street Journal.com puts out a yearly calendar featuring the winners of their Calendar Crab competitions. The HCA calendar features stunning photos by members of the general hermit crab care community. These calendars are works of art and worth every penny!
Another reliable hermit crab care site on the web is Michelle’s site Naturally Crabby.com. Michelle is another active member in our hermit crab community and her new site is a welcome addition to our network!
Sister sites program! Crab Street Journal.com has announced their first of its kind, hermit crab care sister site program.
There are so many exciting changes taking place in the hermit crab community right now. You can get updates here of course or at my link site
I’m sorry sweetie, sounds like you’ve had a rotten crabby week.
Straws are so delicate. I won’t buy big straws anymore, they just don’t seem to make it in captivity.
Sorry again. 🙁
Your blog looks fantastic! Thanks for the complement!