Originally Posted By TALL Disney Guy For those of you who were here last year you know this isn't an insult, lol. Ursula and RoadTrip are parents of several hermit crabs, and about a year ago they were the talk of the boards. I was just makin' a comment to Urs about dogs in jasmine's puppy thread and I thought, hey, we ain't heard a peep in MONTHS about anybody's hermit crabs! So what's the word?...
Originally Posted By TALL Disney Guy And then there was 2oony and "the Buster incident", but we don't like to talk about that...
Originally Posted By RoadTrip Hmmm... The Hermits have gone to that great big borrowed shell in the sky. Spot, my second hermit had been sick for a while and then died. He seemed to be having a difficult time with a molt, and I was not surprised to see him go. My first hermit, Rover, died tragically. My best friend's wife scared him to death. Some background on her... she is an absolute camera FREAK. She is the biggest pain... whenever you see her she has to take a dozen pictures of EVERYTHING! Well, my friend wanted to see Rover so I took him upstairs to where the cage was. All of a sudden his wife was there with her danged camera about one inch from Rover cranking off several close-up flash pictures in a row before I could even do anything about it. Stress is terrible for hermits, and Rover was dead the next morning. No more pets for me. It's not that you get really emotionally attached to your hermits, because I didn't. But I just can't stand seeing any animal needlessly die, and I would never want to be in that position again.
Originally Posted By Ursula I am very sorry to say that my darlings all died. All signs pointed to a microscopic infestation that was brought on by the purchase of two new hermit crabs that I rescued from a pet store who just didn't take care of them well. I learned the lesson of isolation of new pets from bad pet stores. Well, it wasn't a bad pet store, it just didn't take care of hermit crabs well. On a happy note, we have our darling Nibbler, an exotic Siberian Dwarf Hamster who we just adore and dote on like a daughter. The girl has a teeter-totter, a ball, a hidey-hole shaped like a TV that she sits in, and her own vet. We really need to be parents.
Originally Posted By TALL Disney Guy I'm sorry to hear about your hermits, Trippy...though if your best friend ever has a fight with his wife, now you have some guilt ammo for him. ;-) Well, you tried a new pet though. Sadly it doesn't always work out...
Originally Posted By TALL Disney Guy Jeez, another bad hermit report...sorry about yours too, Urs. I'm glad y'all love your little "daughter" though.
Originally Posted By Ursula I am so sorry, Roadtrip! The poor little guy... My guys were so irritated, they removed their shells. Two drowned themselves and the other three just died, I assume from either the infestation directly or from not having shells to keep them moist. Now I wonder if the stress from it did them in, as I had forgotten about how sensitive they were to it.
Originally Posted By sherrytodd I found Hermie, one of my son's hermit crabs in the tank dead the other day. I pulled the horrible, run to the pet store and replace him before he finds out trick.
Originally Posted By TALL Disney Guy Jeez, I think I put my foot in my mouth creatin' this thread---sorry!
Originally Posted By sherrytodd Haven't a clue. We had out first two that we got from one the kiosks in the Mall that died within a week. Turned out that they were accidentally selling salt-water crabs and giving fresh water instructions. Then we got Hermie and Crabbie. We had them for about three years. Then there was the unfortunate passing of Hermie the other day. Crabbie is still going strong. I have no idea how long they are supposed to live. They are both pretty good size, so I don't know how old they were to begin with.
Originally Posted By Ursula It's okay! We also have a great Beta named Shag and a Chinese algae easter named Ming. Shag is the greatest fish. He has this fun personality and wriggles whenever we call his name or wave at the tank. He flips out whenever my husband runs his hand over his head for some reason. Hysterical, I tell you.
Originally Posted By Ursula Hermies can live over 20 years with careful care and luck. Sometimes, they just up and die during a molt. I found out the hard way that most places selling hermits didn't know the difference between salt and freshwater crabs. I was amazed to find out that the freshwater ones benefitted from having two water ponds of each type. I know I did my best and I asked questions on hermit websites and I did what I could. My three guys lived almost two years before the incident. One of my first guys died in a molt, too. I loved that they were easy to care for and I could take them to work when I wanted to. Vacations? No problem! It was easy to show others to care for them, too.
Originally Posted By sherrytodd Hermie had just finished a molt and upgraded his housing. Maybe it was just too much for his poor little Hermie heart to handle. =( I'm actually getting a little tearful over this!
Originally Posted By Ursula Hahahha!! When my husband runs his hand across his own head, like one does in frustration or sorting things out. Shag used to live on my husband's desk over at Disney and would just stare at him as he worked. LOL! When we went to Vegas in December the fish caretaker at his work inadvertantly knocked the light too close to Shag's tank and we almost lost him due to a type of sun-burn. We took him home and nursed him back using medications and water-temperture therapy.
Originally Posted By TALL Disney Guy Ask an innocent question, shatter a few lives...once again, I'm in the shoes of Kar2oonMan... *sheepish*
Originally Posted By Ursula ACK I wasn't laughing at Hermie, I was laughing that I didn't make it clear about who's head...
Originally Posted By TALL Disney Guy <Hahahha!! When my husband runs his hand across his own head, like one does in frustration or sorting things out.> Well I thought that was what ya meant, but just makin' sure, lol. <Shag used to live on my husband's desk over at Disney and would just stare at him as he worked. LOL!> LOL! <we almost lost him due to a type of sun-burn.> Interesting...I thought pigs and humans were the only animals susceptible to sunburns...I never thought about fishies...
