Random Pictures

a few random pics...

Sad News

A Bittersweet Week...

We apologize for the lack of updates lately, our dsl line had to be replaced so we have been unable to post for a few weeks.

We are very sad to report that Pincher did not survive the "molting phase". Everything was progressing okay until a few days when we found checked on him and he had passed. We are sure that he lived a very long (and full) life.

Speedy is doing great however, he is very active and we had been playing alot- we watched him eat upclose the other night- then he took a "bath" in the water dish- it was amazing to see! (Mom got him a larger water dish or..er..bath tub ;P)

The most exciting thing is that Shy Guy has grown a lot- he has changed shells twice in the last few days- he is VERY active and we think that his personality has "come out of it's shell" ha! He is not so shy anymore...

In the next few weeks we are going to get add another Crab to the family....
Check back for more adventures and think of Picher- he will be missed...

Wow! What a week!

Wow. This week we learned that Pincher (one of the larger crabs) is molting. This is when he gets new skin. It freaked my mom out at first because she thought that he was dead, cause he hadn't moved at all in many hours. But she got on the Internet and looked up how to tell if they are dead. She put him in a shoe box near her while she was reading- and he began to crawl all of a sudden! She read that he was molting- he had been showing all the signs she says but we didn't know it.
When we first brought them to our house- Robyn noticed that his eyes were "see- through"- not black like the other two. This was how we could tell them apart. But mom read that when they are about to molt their eyes turn from black to this see-through color. And they start digging like crazy- and that is just what he had been doing- digging trying to get under the Hermie Hut!!

We read that they need to be separated from the others so they don't get hurt while their skin is soft and growing. Crabs can get very stressed out when they are molting- and I think it must really hurt to grow new skin.
So we moved Shy Guy and Speedy to a new tank so that Pincher could be alone and rest. We got new shells, food, new sand/eco bedding, a heater and humidity gauge for all of them. Pincher loved it- he buried himself way down in the sand and has only came out to eat- he seems happy.
Speedy and Shy Guy like their big new home too- they have been pretty active since we added all the new stuff.
Another cool thing happened when we went to pet store to get more food and stuff yesterday. Petco didn't have any shells for the crabs but the nice lady at the checkout told us where to find some- at the mall in one of mom and dads favorite stores- and she was right!!
At Romancing the Stone in McCain mall he saw a huge tank with over 100 Hermit Crabs- and all kinds of shells for them- we bought about 20 (only $2 each) beautiful, natural shells in all different sizes. And the guy that worked there- named Stephen told us all kinds of good info about them and even showed us a crab named Henry that he says is very old- and he looked like Speedy and Pincher. He also told us that you can tell by their coloring about how old they are and that some can live to be 18 years old!
Wow! Wow! We will add more pics soon!!
Savannah

Friday- the first day of Summer Vacation!

The Hermit Crabs are all being lazy today. This morning I let them crawl on my hand and Shy Guy pinched me, but it didn't hurt.

This afternoon mom got on the Internet and we looked up websites that told us how to care for them. Then mom made us a calendar that tells us when to feed and water them- Savannah and I are going to take turns. We decided that we will journal in our new journals that mom got us just for this project, every Thursday night before bedtime and mom will post them on Friday mornings so that all our classmates can see how Speedy, Pincher and Shy Guy are doing.

We are really having fun learning about how to take care of them and taking pictures of them!

The First Days of Summer Vacation

The Hermit Crabs arrived at our house on Thursday afternoon on May 27, 2009. We placed their tank on our desk in our bedroom because they would be out of the sun there and we can see them from any spot in our bedroom.
It was quite in our house because Savannah was still at school practicing for her kindergarten graduation and Daddy was still at his office working, so it was just Mommy and me (Robyn).
After a little while Shy Guy came out of his shell and began to crawl around the tank. The others- Pincher and Speedy were being lazy. I took them all out of the tank and placed them all on my purple shag rug in my bedroom floor- and they all came out and started crawling around it. I think they liked the rug cause it is thick. Then I had to put them back to go to Kindergarten Graduation at school.
When we got home that night late, they were already asleep. So we went to bed too so we wouldn't wake them up. Today was the last day of school so tomorrow we will be able to play with them all day. Hurray- Summer Vacation has began!!