Hermie and Crabby are both departed!
Those crabs stayed all day in the ceramic bowl... never moved. At dinner time, we noticed that the bigger one had come out of the shell - just a little - and for a second we were like 'yeah... they are alive'.
But then Bryan said it was out because he had pulled it out to see if it resisted - and it didn't.
Definitely dead. Meredith was so mad at Wade; he couldn't have cared less.
We pulled the bigger one out of the shell to see what they look like. Never saw one before. N-A-S-T-Y!!! They are just a half body (crab) and the second half is just a big muscle that holds it inside. Just gross.
We brought them out back to throw them over the fence to the canal behind our home. All four kids and me were out back, with the ceramic bowl, and a big spoon. No one was willing to touch the big one because he was laying there out of the shell.
So we agreed to fling them over the fence.
Meredith wanted to do the little one (Hermie) so she put him on the spoon and weakly flung the spoon. Guess what happened? Of course he didn't make it over the fence, but worse than that...
HE SEPARATED FROM THE SHELL!!!!!!!! HIS BODY WENT LEFT AND THE SHELL WENT RIGHT. YUCK!
So we had to stop everything and go find this thing in the grass! What a mess. After three attemps - Hermie was gone - shell and all.
Crabbie was easier - Olivia just scooped him up and away he went over the trees. We kept his shell - it is nice and the kids are asking for more crabs. I told them maybe after vacation we will get two more.
That bought me three weeks.
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10 comments:
You're not quite the "wonderful mother" you think you are by just reading the articles on hermit crabs. That was one disgusting and sad post. Do you realize these little creatures feel "pain", can live to be 30 years old? Next week, why don't you teach your kids to pulls wings off butterflies. Sorry but by not respecting animals for what they are, you are teaching your children that its ok to harm animals. I'd like to throw you over the fence. Shame on you!
I agree with this anonymous said, you are very bad person by doing those "throwaway" things. To make it worse, you said you may get more hermit crab. I suggest you learn and decide first before trying to "toying" around those poor crabs. People like you should never keep any animals.
You're planning to get them MORE, after they managed to kill the two they had? How about teaching respect for life? How about teaching that all living things can feel and need special care to live? Would you have been so cavalier if they had maybe sprayed a kitten with pesticide? Would have killed it just the same!
Take a step back and THINK about what you are teaching your kids with this cavalier attitude about living creatures. And if you ever DO get more crabs, please, for the love of heaven, find out how to care for them PROPERLY.
They need a helluva lot more care than pet stores even realize.
try Hermit Crab Paradise or Crab Street Journal. Take their care seriously, or don't get them just to kill more.
WOW!!!! WHO WOULD EVER THINK THAT INDIVIDUALS WOULD HAVE SUCH STRONG FEELINGS TO THE DEATHS OF TWO HERMIT CRABS!! Their deaths were ACCIDENTAL and caused by a THREE YEAR OLD!!!!! You obviously don't have children and ALL need to get a LIFE! As for the 1st anonymous writer, I think that you are a sick individual .... who thinks of things like pulling off butterfly wings??? Only someone with a disturbed mind, I suppose. No wonder you didn't identify yourself!!!
In Addition:
It is obvious to me that you do not know Michele personally, because if you did you would NEVER say such HARSH things about her. If you do know her, then you have issues of your own...and I wouldn't even know where to begin or how to address them! My suggestion would be, in the future, stick to people and subjects that you actually have knowledge about. Thank you for your time :)
Can Michele not "speak" for herself? And as for pulling a crab out of its shell, it is like pulling off butterflies wings. It wasn't an accident. A 3 year should have been supervised, which I'm sure she was since "Mom" knew exactly what happened! Children learn by example. That's the parents job. They are part of the eco system & certainly one of "God's Creatures". Michele offended many people, including myself, that actually have rescued hermit crabs from people & petstores from deplorable conditions. If she didn't want them anymore, all she had to do was go to CSJ Adoption Center. Some people have fish, cats, dogs - CSJ has hermit crabs. "Michele" may be a nice person, but she needs to teach her children about the "pets" she gets for her kids. Sorry but I think she needs to apologize to all the people she offended
Attn - hermit crab society....
read my latest post - it is directed at you.
Wow. A three-year old with unsupervised access to spray-on sunscreen. And (according to her profile) mom is an RN? He could spray it in his eyes, drink it...what else does he have unsupervised access to?
Y'all don't keep guns in the house, do you?
I wasn't in this before and i don't want to get wrapped up in it now. I'm just going to ask and say 2 things.
1: What was the set up? If this is your first time, the crabs main care came from the kids and the kids handled them a lot it is understandable the short period of life that was given to them. Did you have a mister, Eco-Earth, Saltwater AND Freshwater? or one of those Dora the explorer wire cages? I have 3 hermit crabs (my 4th recently passed away.) living in a aquarium with sand, saltwater, spring water ,a coconut climbing wall,a driftwood hidey and i'm currently knitting them a net out of hemp. Looking back at when i got my first 2 you have to realize that all the nessacary and complex care of hermit crabs are usually not known when people first buy hermit crabs. Hermie and Crabby? Thats gotta tip you off guys.
2. You probably should have buried them, as they can bio-degrade. And yes, the muscle is not pretty. Its not supposed to, your never supposed to see it when their alive. Thats why they have shells. Also, the muscle (called an abdomen) is soft and vulnerable and they need shells to protect it.
For other Hermit crabbers out there, I understand your rage at this but, guys, theirs tons of people out there who do worst stuff then this to crabs. So please, whats done is done. We can just hope that when mother of 4 kids buys more, she understands better care, thats all. No offense to the commentors or the poster intended. Oh, and to the mother of 4 kids, heres an AWESOME website that seriously helped me when i first got my crabs. Hope it helps! http://hermit-crabs.com/
OK. Their deaths were accidental and caused by a three year old. I am a veterinarian and a mother of three children - aged 8, 6, and 4. I fully understand how kids can be and how hard it is to be on top of everything at all times. HOWEVER, I gotta say - my kids were raised to respect all living creatures. From the youngest ages, when they saw dead bugs or worms or wildlife, I would explain about death and what kinds of things can cause death, and instruct them as to how precious life is. I know that none of my three children would ever DELIBERATELY hurt another living thing, and on the rare occasion that they ACCIDENTALLY hurt a living thing, there is much angst and woe. I know that you are just posting your feelings etc in your blog and I respect that. I don't think you need to hold a hermit crab funeral or anything to gain the respect of random online crab enthusiasts. But, I would suggest that if you have not already done so (and perhaps you have and just not mentioned it!), you use this as a teachable moment for the kids. You can explain that the hermit crabs had lives that were valuable, and now they are gone, and we should let ourselves feel sad about the loss of life, and the role we played in causing it. I know the three year old will not fully understand, but you can explain that the spray causes the crabs very bad boo-boos, so bad that they couldn't live any more, and that we have to be much more careful with them next time. I wish you the best of luck!
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