I love the little devils.I have 5 of them.They provide me with hours of entertainment.
Most of them have already shed their exoskeletons--they do this to provide themselves with a larger outside skeleton. When they do this, it looks like the crab has died & is hanging out of the shell...the first one that shed its skin almost got boiled...let me explain..after a crab decides to shed it's skin it will be a larger size than it started out as...so you need to boil the shell once a crab vacates it for a new home (shell)..so, I thought my crab had died, since his skin was laying in the sand...so I took the shell & put some water on to boil...to sterilize the shell, so the other crabs might use it..I was just getting ready to drop the shell in the boiling water, when I felt movement in the shell. So I always check way down inside the shell before boiling anything.
I named the crabs according to the color or type of shell...wrong thing to do..They decided to change shells on me after shedding their exoskeletons..I didn't know much when I started out, did I?
In fact, I have talked to people who have had hermit crabs for years & have never seen them change their shells (probably because they are night creatures) (my, are they ugly little things without their shells). I have seen every one of mine change theirs...some of them more than once..I must not have shy crabs.
Anyway, I would suggest Hermit Crabs to anyone who wants low maintenance pets & hours of being entertained by something other than the television.
If you have any questions, I'd love to have you email me (see below).
Hope to be talking to you soon.
