Comments | pennin_ink: We interrupt this otherwise intelligent blog for this:

pennin_ink

We interrupt this otherwise intelligent blog for this:

Aug 03, 2012 23:37

MY HERMIT CRAB MOLTED, YEAH YEAH YEAH!

HE SURVIVED HIS FIRST MOLT WITH ME, YEAH YEAH YEAH!

HE'S BOTH HAPPY AND HEALTHY, YEAH YEAH YEAH!

I DON'T SUCK AS A PET OWNER, YEAH YEAH YEAH!

HE'S TINY AND AWESOME, YEAH YEAH YEAH!

HIS NAME IS HERNAN, YEAH YEAH YEAH!

HE'S CLIMBING ON MY ARM NOW, YEAH YEAH YEAH!

WITH HIS TEENY-TINY MOLTING NAILS, YEAH YEAH YEAH!

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Comments 9

nerthus August 4 2012, 05:02:10 UTC

Ha, I love this!! We need photos!!!! My friend Jaymie keeps hermit crabs, she's absolutely crazy about them.

pennin_ink August 4 2012, 05:04:44 UTC

They are crazy-making. In a very good way. I can see if my sis lets me borrow her iPhone so I can show you his adorable little nails and bright, obsidian eyes. And he's so TINY. He's been under the substrate so long I genuinely forgot how tiny he is. His terrarium-mate, Hephaestus, is massive in comparison.

nerthus August 4 2012, 05:17:08 UTC

I love those names!! I've had lots and lots of animals in my lifetime, everything from cows, horses, sheep, goats, ducks, chickens, your usual farm critters, ha, to cats, dogs, a spoiled and much loved rabbit named Cadbury, Egyptian spiny mice, dwarf hamsters, parakeets, beta fish (our last two were named Shimmer and Mephistopheles), my brother had a snake and a tarantula...but never, in either my childhood or my kids' childhoods, ha, did we ever try keeping hermit crabs. I confess I know next to nothing about them or how to take care of them. But my friend Jaymie has posted some really cute pics of some of hers; she likes to paint their shells with her own unique art, ha.

pennin_ink August 4 2012, 05:27:18 UTC

Ah. She may want to rethink that. Hermit crabs are actually very sensitive creatures and painted shells are very unhealthy for them. They're semi-aquatic so they can spend a lot of time in the water, where the paint chips off and they end up drinking it. The paint can also chip off onto their food or their substrate, or other crabs can pick it off while socialising and ingest it. Either way it's toxic to them, and the healthiest option is always to keep hermit crabs in natural, undecorated shells with access to both fresh and salt water to keep the interiors clean. They also need 70% humidity and temperatures between 75 and 80 degrees farneheit to keep their gills from drying out and a well-balanced diet full of protien and calcium ( ... )

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