Got Crabs?

Hermit crabs, I mean.

We do.

Well, Ryan does.

He is now the proud owner of three hermit crabs named Rocky, Talky and Summers. They live in an ultra-deluxe oasis known as a "crabitat."

It comes complete with it's very own "coconut hut." You can't see her (I say "her" because she has a pretty red shell painted with a girl's face on it, but there's really no way to tell the sex), but Talky is in there hiding out.

You also get this little doo-dad which Ryan has dubbed the "undersea paradise." Never mind that these are land crabs who would drown if they got into the water. This place has a nice hideout under it and Rocky is currently in there taking a snooze. He had a very busy day of shell-switching his first day with us. When he first arrived, he was wearing a sort of heavy, blocky, dull looking shell (hence the name "Rocky" since it kind of looked like a rock). We left for dinner and when we came back, he'd switched into a much lighter and spiffier-looking striped shell. However, when we woke up the next morning, he was back inside his original shell and had gone to hide out in the cave.

Now, let's meet the last of our three crabs - who was the only one who wanted to be social while I was taking pics.

Heeeerrrrrrre'sssss Summers:

We had him out most of yesterday afternoon and he was crawling all over the place. According to the book that came with the crabs, "Hermit Crabs for Dummies" (what, you were expecting the "Encyclopedia of Crabs?), we should be able to teach him some tricks using food. I'm not holding my breath on that one, though.

He wanted me to get his better side so here's another shot. He got his name from the beautiful beach scene that is painted on his shell, but since he spent a good part of yesterday switching shells back and forth between this one and the striped one (the same one that Rocky tried out and abandoned), I'm not sure his name will last. Still, he was in this shell when we woke up and checked on him this morning so you never know.

And, here he is hanging out on his water dish.

So, we spent most of our weekend doing "crab checks" every 30 minutes or so. The kid is in crab heaven and even I'm getting kind of a kick out of watching their antics. It's kind of interesting to find out who's wearing what shell today and who dug themselves into the sand or re-arranged the crabitat.

Hopefully, the other two will become more social and I'll get some pics of them as well. You can probably expect ongoing crab updates as part of the blog from now on :-)

Hope everyone had a good weekend. I did get a few pieces of jewelry made so will have those posted tomorrow.

KJ