Hermie....or not

When I was young, my first pet was a hermit crab. I got him while I was in Girl Scouts and we had some kind of event either at the Catholic Club or Cosi in Columbus. It was SOOO long ago (hey! I was like in 3rd grade) I really honestly can't remember which, but I'm leaning heavily towards Cosi because I remember a magenta-ish t-shirt that I think said Cosi and had a picture of a hermit crab. But I could be wrong. In any case, I got my very first only mine pet. I named him Hermie. Creative, huh? lol Hermie lived quite awhile and had his little adventures. At one point in time while cleaning out his glass bowl, I placed him in a larger Tupperware plastic type big chip bowl. That was not too intelligent on my part as it was textured and I didn't think of how hermit crabs like to climb whenever they can. They have little pointy feet that help them do so too. Well sure enough, a few hours later I go to get him to put him back and he's GONE. He was in his bowl on a stand about 2 1/2 - 3 feet high, right by one of the heating registers in the floor. We thought for sure Hermie met his demise in the heater vent. I never smelled cooked crab, but what other possibility could there have been? I was quite sad and mom and dad thought it not a good idea to get me another pet until I became more aware of how to more properly care for them. About 4 months later my dad, who worked 2nd shift, got home around 11pm and went to the kitchen to make himself a sandwich. As he's making his sandwich, he hears a little scratching sound. He looks on the floor and there's Hermie!!! He was crawling out from under the fridge!! The little turd not only made it from the living room through the dining room and into the kitchen without being seen, but lived to tell the tale. Well, not really tell it per say, but we kind of guessed he must have smelled the food and lived on bits and crumbs from the floor or under the fridge. He was an active little critter and although I don't remember how long he lived, I will always remember that funny story.

I actually had Hermie II and Hermie III. Hey! What better name than Hermie for a hermit crab?? Really. lol

I now have little boys of my own that are 4 1/2 and 7 and while at the grand ol' Fulton County Fair again this summer, they wanted to play some games. I said absolutely NOT on the fish because of this. We needed no more of those goobers. So what do they spy next? A little ping pong tossing game where you could win.........a hermit crab. Could we leave well enough alone when we didn't get a single ping pong into the lily pads with the first 30 balls? No. We had to keep trying until we got one of those buggers. I will admit though that it was partially at my encouragement that we kept playing because I was nostalgic about the days of Hermie. I made them stop after we did win one though. Daddy won it for the boys. Meet.........????



(He has no name, or he might, but it's probably changed 100 times, just like the fish) And let me tell you, he is REALLY a hermit. He barely ever moves, eats or gets into the water. Hermie was ALWAYS on the go. You never saw him in the same spot in ten glances. He LOVED when we brought him out to play and would eat peanut butter and cheese off of our fingers. This one, I think it's scared of anything and everything, including water and food. If you take him out of his cage, he will eventually run around, but with two loud wiggly little boys, he doesn't get too far without hiding again. We have to pick him up every few days to make sure he's still alive and then I usually place him in his food in case he forgot where it was in his little 6"x10" container. Crazy dude.



This is his awesome shell. All the plain ones were, well, plain. Then I saw this kind. I also got a red one with a football painted on it and a blue one with a flower I think. Hey, they were $.50, you can't beat that and we don't live near any beaches to go find our own.

Ever see hermit crab poop? Hey! I have little boys, that sort of thing is a topic of daily discussions.



Yep, that's it. I clean it out every so often with my little mini melon baller. lol I've used it to scoop crab poop more often than I have made melon balls!!

So now you know of my mare Sassie, the gelding Remington, the three (now two) fish and ??? the hermit crab. One of these days I will try to see how I can put pictures up on the blog down the side of them all. HA. Someday.

Have a good day everyone!