Welcome to my crab notes!

Purple Skeleton - crabby deceased - my original crabby
Blue Flame - crabby moved to Black Flame
Mint Peach and Cream (MPC) - Pet Express crabby - moved to Blue Flame

Black Flame - Joe's original crabby - HotStuff
Junky Tophat - Pet Express crabby known as Houdini
Tophat - Pet Express crabby known as FunZilla
Blue Flame - Former MPC - known as SweetiePie
Large White Shell with Brown Stripes - know as Goliath
Small green shell - known as David

FunZilla decided to shell shop, but I was too tired to watch him switch shells. While I dozed, he popped into MPC.
I awoke and was so excited (I just love the colors of the shell although the length seems a bit unwieldy).
Then as I watched he had a little tiff with Houdini and then went back and explored his old shell.
I told Joe to watch, and sure enough, as we watched he changed shells!! COOOOOOL

Fred told me he thinks they are ugly and look mean.

May 13, 2006

We finished naming them today. I'm hoping to get to AC Moores for some garlands for over the kitchen cabinets.
While I'm there I'm hoping to look into some plastic canvas to make a second story and climbing feature.

I'll be looking around for a larger aquarium. One of my ideas is to get hardware cloth, and create a climbing cage
for the crabbies. I'd thought it would be a neat idea to have a tunnel out of hardware cloth that comes out of one aquarium
into another:.hmmm. Might not be feasible due to humidity issues...it is a cool idea though.

May 14, 2006

FunZilla shell shopped and chose a Delphinula shell, but after taking it for a ride he changed back!

May 15, 2006

FunZilla changed into the same Delphinula shell, but both times changed back to his old one! HotStuff changed into MPC.
Cool. This is his 3rd shell change since we got him in March. He really likes getting a shell way bigger than necessary
so he can hide deep inside! Got more shells today from Sea Shell City - they were all too big, my mistake! I went
back online today and ordered smaller ones. Then I ordered more smalls from another site as well (The Naples
Sea Shell Company). I also got some flavored calcium blocks and some wet food for the crabbies. I'll try one
of the calcium blocks tonight and see what happens.

May 16, 2006

Today I sexed them under the OTT truelight. We have three girls and one boy. Houdini is the only boy!! Right now
SweetiePie is climbing on my computer table. She's on her leash (the ring is on the chain around my neck). Today
we put them all in the ISO tank which has nice wet sand and boy are they all enjoying it. Even Joe's HotStuff is out
and about!! HotStuff is our shyest crab and normally hides in her shell. Today if she gets frightened she pops into her
shell, but it doesn't take long for her to pop back out. What a difference a shell makes! Oh and they all seem to really
like blueberry pancakes!

May 17, 2006

Houdini and Funzilla ate more pancakes. SweetiePie was looking over BlackFlame shell and looked like she was really
going to go for it. Bedtime came and I put them all in their crabitat for the night. HotStuff changed into BlackFlame from
MPC overnight.

May 20, 2006

SweetiePie may be getting ready to molt. We found her dug in under the water bowl in the main tank and transferred her
into the ISO tank.

May 21, 2006

SweetiePie dug in really well over night. I cleaned off a little of the excess loose dirt away and left for the Raynham
Flea Market. I bought one extra large crab and one tiny one. I've named them David and Goliath. Now we are
up to 6 crabbies. One is molting, one is sort of quiet, two are active and friendly, David is tiny and new, so we don't know
his personality yet. Goliath is a gentle giant who likes to hug (he comes out and grabs my fingers and then likes to
back into his shell while holding on tightly to mommy's fingers)and is currently housed in a Sulcose Tonna shell. I'll put some
jewelry findings onto their shells tomorrow. When we got back we found that SweetiePie had dug in even more! Joe is
fixing the lego play yard (it sort of came apart a bit). He is also putting taller walls on it since Goliath can just walk
out with no effort at all!

May 22, 2006

SweetiePie is still dug in and now and then I hear a few sounds from the ISO tank. I'm not sure what is going on. She has not
been up since she dug in. From all I've read the most successful molts are when the molter is left alone to do her own thing. Boy is
this hard. I SOOOOO want to peek. Writing this here has helped. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that SweetiePie molts
and comes up soon, bigger and better than before. I've removed the food bowls, and I'll be changing the water in the bowls
and misting a bit.

May 23, 2006

I'm wondering what today will bring. Still hearing noises from the ISO tank. I'll play with the babies in a little while - I'm
thinking of putting Goliath on the floor for a while. With a crab his size, it would be really hard to lose him.

May 25, 2006

Funzilla went shell shopping overnight and got into a new shell!! Cool! It's a Tapestry Turbo shell. I've put on a jewelry finding
and got her all ready to go out on her leash. Put a finding on David and Goliath as well. They are all roaming around in the
raceway. I think I'll bring them all out with me today to get Joe from school. I'm thinking we should head over to BJ's soon
and get some styrofoam "to go" packages for transport.

May 27, 2006

Well, only to add confusion to the mess, Houdini went shell shopping and ended up in FunZilla's old shell! Talk about
weirdness! It's a good idea to keep track of these critters and their shell changes, otherwise it would be too confusing.
They are after all not their shells! Funzilla and Houdini are about the same size, so it would be easy to confuse them.

We still have no sign of SweetiePie. No sounds emanating from the ISO tank. I put the others in their while Joe
rebuilt the crabtrack - can we say obsessed with color blocks??. Anyway that is ready, but HotStuff is in one corner
of the ISO and was either cleaning herself or attempting to dig in. I told Joe to leave her there and we'll see what
happened. She didn't dig in, but she did get really interested in the fresh water bowl and then hid in her shell again.
There is no foul odor coming from the ISO tank, so I won't go peaking, but I really WANT to! SweetiePie where are you?!

June 7, 2006

Sad news, Goliath has died. Possibly due to stress. At first he dropped a claw (his large one), and was very listless
- barely moved. The next day when I put more food in (hardboiled egg and honey) I noticed he hadn't moved. When
I picked him up he wasn't moving, so I tried putting a bit of water (spring) on him. He didn't move, so I gently
turned him over on top of a paper towel and he slipped out of the shell. No movement whatsoever. There was also
a bit of an odor (well it is a nice warm moist environment in the crabitat). We've said our goodbyes now, and I'll miss
his hugs. For now we'll stick to our smaller crabs until we are more knowledgeable about them all. Someday
we'll be ready for a large crab again.

HotStuff decided to clown around and switch shells (I swear she is trying to make us feel better). She switched into Houdini's
first shell (definitely waaaay too small for her). We did end up checking on SweetiePie (I know, leave them alone),
and she didn't seem to have any signs of molting, so she went back into the main crabitat. She's dug in under the
water bowl, so now and then I check up on her. Maybe she's just a little shy??? Can't figure out why she's doing this.
I'll check out Crab Street Journal and see what they say.

July 18, 2006

Been a while since I updated...the Joy kind of went out of having hermit crabs after Goliath died and we got mechanical in
their care. They had food and water and all they needed, but neither Joe nor I felt like playing with them much. Today I went
in to change their food and water and decided to do a head count (we had several dug in). Well after combing around gently
I found them all and put them in the raceway. SweetiePie has molted successfully and I pulled out the excess bits (hardly
anything left!!). Change of shells too. Now we have no crabs in painted shells - YEAH!!!! SweetiePie is now proudly
walking around in a gold mouth turbo shell a bit larger than her former shell (blue flame). HotStuff changed into a jade
turbo. I'm going to go enjoy them now!