*published March 2, 2006
Marcus immediately fell in love with the spiny critters. He looked up hermit crabs on the Internet to find out how to care for them. Tina had purchased a “Hermit Crab Entertainment Center,” consisting of a small, curved tank with a lid and a little plastic palm tree. She was told that they were very easy to care for, only requiring daily food and water. She was misinformed.
As it turns out, crabs are more finicky than that. They want their environment to be warm and humid. Their food dish must be cleaned out daily and replenished with moistened crab kibble. Being social creatures, they are happiest when living in a group situation, and they need things to climb and investigate, because they become bored easily. Basically, they are hard-shelled children.
We printed out all of the instructions and proceeded to set up our ten-gallon terrarium for Popeye and Shy-Guy, as Marcus had named them. An outgoing crab, Popeye investigated every inch of his new digs. Shy-Guy was, well, shy and spent long hours burying himself in the sand. Once a week, we had to dig him up and give him a bath.
When I first read that we had to bath the crabby ones weekly, I pictured myself scrubbing their bony legs with a tiny brush while they soaked in bubbles. Fortunately, it’s not that bad, or humiliating. In the wild, crabs wander in and out of the water all day long, rinsing the dirt off naturally. Unless I wanted to install a pool, we had to put lukewarm water in a baking dish and let the boys run around until they were clean. Seriously.
Then one day after they both molted, Shy-Guy suddenly died. Funeral arrangements were left to me, as usual, with Marcus’ stipulation that Shy-Guy be buried in his best shell. It was a simple service. Marcus was so deeply saddened that he wrote one of his Language Arts essays about it. Of course, we had to get a new roommate for Popeye so he wouldn’t be lonely.
Marcus now has three crabs: Popeye, Ranger, and a new one that hasn’t been named yet. He loves to watch them climb things, switch shells and tap on the glass, trying to get out. I find myself monitoring their heat and humidity, making certain that we are meeting their persnickety needs and donating my baking dishes to keep them tidy. For animals that are easy to care for, they certainly have us wrapped around their little purple claws.
Thanks, Tina.