I feel totally sick...

I'm almost positive that one of my E's in the 20 gallon tanks has passed away.

I was just doing the last minute checkups on my crabitats before I go to bed... I look in the 20 gallon to find two (shells of) hermies buried in the freshwater dish, covered in sand. Apparantly the water had dessicated out (from the sand), but oddly I had two hermies dug in, my smallest E, and Hershey.

I took them out of the now dry water dish, and immediatly noticed that the leg tip of Hershey's inner left leg was bent at a strange angle... They both seemed not well or scared, and slowly peeked out of their shells before running for cover.

Then I picked up my second largest E in the large Nerite shell... I noted that he seemed asleep, eyes tucked in, legs curled up. But then I noticed his antennae were stuck out, in a surreal unnattural way, with no movement whatsoever...

I'd seen this last with my deceased Io when I discovered him under the moss...

I checked for a smell. Nothing. Nothing seemed amiss about him, except for the fact that he wasn't moving, not even his antennae. And then as I was moving him back to where I found him, he began to seemingly slide out of his shell... Then I knew.
I am partially too afraid to go back and check on him, or to bother him. There is the possibility of a surface molt, but I don't think this is such a case... But I'll leave him alone for atleast another day or two for that faint hope.

Now if he has passed, I beleive it is entierly my fault. In my rush to intoduce my 2 new seemingly anxoius and rambunctious new E's from Wonder Aquarium, I'd carelessly removed him from his tunnel (He was half buried inside the plastic cave, but only partially. I could still see most of his shell) to bathe him and the other residents with the newcomers.

He seemed to be fine afterwards, went to seemingly destress below the second level for a while (where I noticed some seemingly agressive behaviour from one of the new comers, he would back the other up under the second level, in the corner. However there was no chirping, or any clawing, so I assumed it was just the usual posturing, and pecking order), and moved to a spot in a corner of the tank. I'd noticed that he hadn't moved in about a day, but thought nothing of it, and was instead distracted by the antics of the two new crazy E's exploring the tank.

I am starting to think there is something wrong with the current 20 gallon. My only deaths have occoured in this tank, and it's occupants are all rather inactive and lethargic for E's. The first 5 E's were always inactive compared to my other E's. The new PP's that have moved in are showing signs of slowing down too, which worries me.

Tomorrow I will post on the Addiction. Perhaps I am missing something with the setup of my 20 gallon tank. I'll also probably know if my poor E has made it or not.....

Pet store visit, "Wonder Aqautics"...

Yet another appalling pet store... NO substrate at all, NO food, NO water (only a tiny puddle lining the tank), NO hideys, NO shells, NO gauges, NO Lid, the only thing they had right was a heat lamp (which was obivously too high a wattage, and too hot), and the ONLY thing in the tank other then the crabs were some soaked peices of PACKAGING STYROFOAM.

The worker (manager??? ) there had stated that they'd just received the crabs (which was painfully obvious from their frantic scurrying, trying to get AWAY from the light, and away from eachother) Perhaps fortunatly only for me, this atleast meant they were healthy, and less likely to be affected by PPS.

But unfortunatly, I was there with my aunt, and only had about 6 bucks on me. So I bought the two largest E's (only species) in the tank, feeling sorry for them being so cramped up in basically a glass prison with nothing in it, hoping that atleast the smaller ones would atleast adjust easier to the situation, and had to leave without so much as a word.

This store is located not even a block and a half from my school, I realized. So tomorrow, I'm paying a visit back to the place, armed with caresheets and checklists, as well as the e-mails of important people in the crabbing community after school.

I am going to talk to whomever is in charge, and try to convince them that it would be far better for the crabs, and their buisiness, to improve the conditions of their hermit crab tank. The store is only walking distance from where I go every day (my high school), and if they won't change, then they're gonna have to deal with me each day.

I'm not going to let this store operate keeping hermit crabs like this, like I did with the Pet Centre. I know I can change this store. The worker I talked to seemed like a fairly reasonable and knowledgable guy...


Well these two E's are quite the characters. They are larger than any of my E's, perhaps only slightly smaller than Mungo, my PP, making them nearly Mediums. They are incredibly fast! Not very shy, as far as E's go anyway. During the trip in the plastic baggie I was given to transport them in (couldn't it be atleast a cup? sheesh. I wasn't planning on buying hermies so I didn't have my Iso with me), they continously kept on trying to climb up the plastic to escape, and failing every time.

I have a feeling that they'll add some life to my 20 gallon tank residents, the E's anyway, who all seem to be shy, and a bit lethargic, comparing to my main tank E's. (Impending mass molt? 1 has already)

Updates, new tank looking great!

I finished the deep clean last week, and have posted over on the Addiction about it. The tank looks absolutely great!

After buying some new fake plants from Wal-Mart, as well as a new digital gauge, I set up the new tank.

I'll let the pictures do the talking:

Re-added moss pit (large terra-cotta), new plastic shell bin, foliage all over.















Another view. Sloped sand layout.














New Coconut fiber (Bed-A-Beast) section, a filled top half of the Hermit Crab Cove.
















Oberon exploring the new tank.















Callisto up on the turtle dock second level.
















Large saltwater dish.















Green foliage everywhere!













Finally, a sort of "group picture" of my main tank residents. (Sorry for poor quality! Had to take photo while trying not to frighten over a dozen already panicking crabs!) Took the photo right after taking out the last hidey from the tank.

















Visable (well mostly lol) from left to right: Peaches, Purple ruggie, Pepper, Hermippe, Proteus, an E, Apricot, Mungo, Carmine, Sycorax, Azura, Keisuke, Callisto, Asuka, and Goten (indo). Not all of them.

Other photos taken during the day:



Apricot, up from his second molt with me already, saying "Hello!" his name more fitting than ever.









Black ruggie, also a recent molter.







My purple ruggie, successfully finished his molt the day before the deep clean. Still as purple as ever, and even more hair. Just look at those eyes!







Keisuke out and about (sheesh he's a pincher! OW! Didn't let go for a whole 5 minutes) Molted early Feb.








Opal, yet another of the molting frenzy. Still too small for his shell lol.








One of my original three, Proteus, after his second molt. Lost his outer left armored leg somehow, apparantly during the molt...






Callisto, the rambuctious (hairy) monster is back! His second molt completed, and already he's scheming his way across the tank, trying to find the escape route.







Peaches, nearly two months after his molt, still as ... well peachy as ever... I wonder if this was some sort of molt deformity? He's gained a small amount of color, but still not much...










Mungo's finished her first molt with me, and has darkened nicely.

Deep Clean, end of day 3...

Well I've got the freshly cleaned tank nearly set up, new fresh (some old though sifted) playsand, TONS of new decorations, a large (nearly 1/8th of the tank) section of Bed-A-Beast in the Hermit Crab Cove, and a new shell bin from the stand of the Cove all set up. However I have yet to move over a couple decorations, the moss pit, the water, and most importantly the actual crabs. I'll have to finish up tomorrow as it's currently 12:46 AM...

I went out to Wal-Mart earlier today, and finally got some fake ivy plant, aswell as a larger silk plant for the 'tat (and a second digital gauge). Just these two simple additions have REALLY spruced up the tank. Add that to the fact that I've added a new moss pit, using a REAL second level with the turtle dock, and the B-a-B pit, and the tank looks totally different, and much better.

Unfortunatly it's going to mean (and I already know this is going to happen LOL) that I'll have less then 3 of my 23 main tank residents up and visable at any given time, because they will either be A) Buried in the CF, B) Buried in the Moss, C) Buried in the sand, D) Hiding amongst the leaves, or D) Hiding in the various terra-cotta pots. Oh well, atleast this'll make life more comfortable for them, hopefully. Atleast more comfortable, once they leave that cramped rubber bin they are currently temporarily in!

Complete resident's list.

Continuing this list from earlier...

My Hermit Crabs

In order of purchase/adoption.

Callisto



Size and Species: Medium-Small C. Compressus
Gender: Male
Current shell: Tiger Moon. (11 changes)
Date purchased: June 15th, 2005, Pet Center - Julliard Dr.
Molts: 2 successful - late August; early February



(12/05)
Proteus


Size and Species: Small-Medium C. Compressus
Gender: Male
Current shell: Tan Rock shell. (1 change)
Date purchased: June 19th, 2005, Pet Center - Julliard Dr.
Molts: 2 successful - early September; 2/20/06 -1 dropped limb molt (outer left leg)


(10/05)
Azura


Size and Species: Small C. Compressus
Gender: Female
Current shell: Tiger Moon. (4 changes)
Date purchased: June 19th, 2005, Pet Center - Julliard Dr.
Molts: 2 (mostly) successful - early October, again early April. Regenerated BP fully.



(10/05)
Crimson

Size and Species: Small-Med C. Clypeatus
Gender: Male
Current shell: Goldmouth Green turbo. (1 change) Only painted shell crab.
Date purchased: August 28th, 2005, PetCo - Arden Way
Molts: 1 successful - Up from molt 1/31/06.


(10/05)
Mungo

Size and Species: Medium C. Clypeatus
Gender: Female
Current shell: Pearl banded tapestry turbo (5 changes)
Date purchased: August 28th, 2005, PetCo - Arden Way
Molts: 1 successful - Up from molt 1/22/06



( 11/05)
Pepper


Size and Species: Small C. Clypeatus
Gender: Female (?)
Current shell: Silvermouth Green Turbo (1 change)
Date purchased: September 17th, 2005, PetCo - Bruceville Rd. (Elk Grove)
Molts: None known.




(10/05)
Io *Deceased* 2/5/06.


Size and Species: Medium C. Clypeatus
Gender: Male
Current shell: Pearl banded tapestry turbo (2 changes)
Date purchased: September 17th, 2005, PetCo - Bruceville Rd. (Elk Grove)
Molts: 1 unsucessful. Up from molt 1/15/06.
Cause of death: Unknown stress, limb loss, post molt.


(1/06)
Pico

Size and Species: Micro C. Clypeatus
Gender: Male (?)
Current shell: Pica. (0 changes)
Date purchased: October 15th, 2005, PetCo - Arden Way
Molts: 2 (?) successful - Late December, 3/25/06 - appears to have molted, did not come out, so still uncertain.




(01/06)
Oberon


Size and Species: Large C. Clypeatus
Gender: Male (?)
Current shell: Tapestry Turbo. (2 changes)
Date adopted: December 4th, 2005, Adopted from Riven Leither.
Molts: None known. (recent molt)




(01/06)
Sycorax

Size and Species: Large C. Clypeatus
Gender: Male
Current shell: Unknown turbo? (0 changes)
Date adopted: December 4th, 2005, Adopted from Riven Leither.
Molts: 1 successful molt. Up from molt 3/18/06



(01/06)
Carmine

Size and Species: Medium-Lrg C. Clypeatus
Gender: Female
Current shell: Unknown turbo? (0 changes)
Date adopted: December 4th, 2005, Adopted from Riven Leither.
Molts: 1 sucessful molt. Up from molt 3/26/05




(01/06)
Peaches


Size and Species: Medium C. Clypeatus
Gender: Unknown
Current shell: Green Turbo (4 changes)
Date adopted: December 4th, 2005, Adopted from Riven Leither.
Molts: 1 successful molt. (naked then into small shell and finally proper fitting pica) Up from molt 1/15/06



(01/06)
Unnammed PP

Size and Species: Small C. Clypeatus
Gender: Male
Current shell: Tapestry turbo (1 change)
Date adopted: December 4th, 2005, Adopted from Riven Leither.
Molts: 1 successful. 2/25/06



(01/06)
Hermippe


Size and Species: Small C. Clypeatus
Gender: Female (?)
Current shell: Gold turbo (0 changes)
Date adopted: December 4th, 2005, Adopted from Riven Leither.
Molts: None known. (recent molter)



(01/06)
Apricot


Size and Species: Medium-Small C. Compressus
Gender: Male (?)
Current shell: Rock shell (thais hemastoma?) (2 change)
Date adopted: December 4th, 2005, Adopted from Riven Leither.
Molts: 2 successful. Up from molt 1/07/06; Second, 3/25/06




(01/06)
Asuka

Size and Species: Medium-small C. Compressus
Gender: Female
Current shell: Tiger moon shell. (1 change)
Date adopted: December 4th, 2005, Adopted from Riven Leither.
Molts: 1 successful. Came up from molt 2/24/06.



(01/06)
Unnamed E


Size and Species: Small C. Compressus
Gender: Female
Current shell: Brown rock shell. (2 changes)
Date adopted: December 4th, 2005, Adopted from Riven Leither.
Molts: 1 molt. Lost outer left and right leg... early February.


(01/06)
Ayanami

Size and Species: Teeny C. Compressus
Gender: Female
Current shell: Brown rock shell. (1 change)
Date adopted: December 4th, 2005, Adopted from Riven Leither.
Molts: No known molts.




(01/06)
Unnamed E

Size and Species: Small C. Compressus
Gender: Unknown
Current shell: Black Rock shell. (2 changes)
Date adopted: December 4th, 2005, Adopted from Riven Leither.
Molts: 1 successful molt. Early February.




Unnamed E

Size and Species: Small-teeny C. Compressus

Gender: Unknown
Current shell: Black rock shell. (1 change)
Date adopted: December 4th, 2005, Adopted from Riven Leither.
Molts: 1 molt. Lost outer left and right legs... Early February.



(03/06)
Goten

Size and Species: Medium-Large C. Brevimanus
Gender: Male?
Current shell: Green (?) Turbo. (0 changes)
Date adopted: December 4th, 2005, Adopted from Riven Leither.
Molts: None known. (Still slow moving, burying long periods, drinking ALOT)





(01/06)
Keisuke

Size and Species: Small-Teeny C. Rugosus
Gender: Male
Current shell: Green Turbo. (2 changes)
Date adopted: December 4th, 2005, Adopted from Riven Leither.
Molts: 1 successful molt, early February.




(02/06)
Unnamed Ruggie *Deceased* 4/20/06


Size and Species: Small-Med. C. Rugosus
Gender: Male?
Current shell: Green Turbo. (1 change)
Date adopted: December 4th, 2005, Adopted from Riven Leither.
Molts: 1 successful molt, early March.
Cause of death: Sudden lethargy, unreactiveness. Beleived to be exposure to pesticide/toxin from Bed-a-Beast.




(02/06)
Unnamed Ruggie

Size and Species: Small C. Rugosus
Gender: Male?
Current shell: Rock shell. (1 change)
Date adopted: December 4th, 2005, Adopted from Riven Leither.
Molts: 1 successful molt, up 3/24/06.



(01/06)
Unnamed E *Deceased* 4/22/05

Size and Species: Teeny-Micro C. Compressus
Gender: Unknown
Current shell: Tiger Moon. (2 changes)
Date adopted: December 21th, 2005, Free from Pet Center.
Molts: 1 successful molt, early March.



(01/06)
Unnamed E *Deceased* 4/20/05

Size and Species: Teeny C. Compressus
Gender: Female
Current shell: Rock shell (thais hemastoma?) (0 changes)
Date adopted: December 21th, 2005, Free from Pet Center.
Molts: 1 successful molt, early March.



(01/06)
Unnamed E *Deceased* 4/17/05

Size and Species: Medium C. Compressus
Gender: Male?
Current shell: Nerite. (0 changes)
Date adopted: December 21th, 2005, Free from Pet Center.
Molts: No known molts.
Cause of death: Sudden lethargy, unreactiveness. Beleived to be exposure to pesticide/toxin from Bed-a-Beast.



(01/06)
Unnamed E *Deceased* 4/23/05


Size and Species: Medium C. Compressus
Gender: Unknown
Current shell: Nerite. (1 change)
Date adopted: December 21th, 2005, Free from Pet Center.
Molts: No known molts.



(01/06)
Unnamed E *Deceased* 4/25/05

Size and Species: Small-Medium C. Compressus
Gender: Male?
Current shell: Babylonia (2 changes)
Date adopted: December 21th, 2005, Free from Pet Center.
Molts: No known molts.




(01/06)
Unnamed PP *Deceased* 4/25/05


Size and Species: Small-Teeny C. Clypeatus
Gender: Female?
Current shell: Tiger Moon (5 changes)
Date adopted: March 10th, 2006, Adopted from Paul (parent's co-worker)
Molts: No known molts.


(03/06)
Unnamed PP *Deceased* 4/28/05

Size and Species: Small-Medium C. Clypeatus
Gender: Female
Current shell: Pica. (2 changes)
Date adopted: March 10th, 2006, Adopted from Paul.
Molts: No known molts.



(03/06)

Unnamed E *Deceased* 4/26/05

Size and Species: Small-Medium C. Compressus
Gender: Unknown
No Photo Current shell: Rock shell (thais hemastoma?)
Date purchased: April 4th, 2006, Wonder Aquariums - Keifer Bvd.
Molts: No known molts.


Unnamed E *Deceased* 4/26/05

Size and Species: Small-Medium C. Compressus
Gender: Unknown
No Photo Current shell: Spotted Rock [melon] shell (thais melones)
Date purchased: April 4th, 2006, Wonder Aquariums - Keifer Bvd.
Molts: No known molts.

Updates - FINALLY a deep clean.

Well it was going on four months since my last deep clean, and I couldn't put it off any longer.

I used a large RubberMaid storage bin to house my main tank residents, since my Iso tank is STILL in use by the 7 crabs (5 E"s 2 adopted PP's), and that 50 gallon is still lying in the back waiting to be fixed. I visited PetSmart AGAIN last weekend, to find that they were STILL out of aquarium sealant. Add that onto the fact that I got bad customer service (extremly rude chick), and the fact that I noticed several large spider webs all over the freaking filthy store, and I don't think I'm going to shop there anymore... Both local PetCo's are much larger, cheaper (well mostly) and have better, friendly staff. They are a bit further to travel though... But oh well.

So it's going on day 2 of being in the RubberMaid, and everyone seems to be doing okay. The first night, I had the first 16-odd or so transfered over. During that night, several E's and a PP came up (Pico made it for the big deep clean again, whom I hadn't seen in about a month!), and I transfered them over. I found Carmine, fairly freshly molted (regained all the color, but hadn't eaten much exo) underneath the turtle dock, and she's been transfered over to the freshly reboiled terra-cotta moss pit. (This time, she's near the top of it, incase that had anything to do with Io's passing on) She's already climbed out and gone off somewhere... Exo in the food dish... She's more beautiful than ever, deep red and purple, though seemingly smaller.

Callisto is ALREADY planning his grand escape. Freshly molted, he's gone beserk climbing over EVERYTHING and ANYTHING trying to find a way out of the bin, lol! Good to see him so active again. I hope I have enough weight on the lid to keep him in!

I was planning to finish up today, however I didn't finish in time, and plus I'll probably be able to go to Wal-Mart tomorrow (second digital gauge, new fake plants finally?), and finish up the new tank.

I've found the exo of my Purple ruggie (who's still as purple as ever, but even darker!), Peaches's exo (wow second molt in only 4 months!?), who's not so "peachy" anymore lol, and 2 PP exos (one being Carmines') and one other E exo. Only one of those I knew about, so that brings my total sucessful molts up to 19!!!

As for my two new misfit PP's, they're settling in with my 5 E's in the 20 gal well. They both show obvious signs of being mistreated... The larger of the two shudders and spazes (sp?) every time I make the slightest move, while I'm holding her (checked and found gonopores earlier). Missing the tips of her inner legs. The smaller of the two is doing great after that frightening shelless experiance, and is extremly active and friendly, though in a way that seems abnormal...

The larger of the two (who I'm thinking of naming Spaz LOL) has moved into a slightly chipped green turbo, and the smaller into a beautiful tiger moon, and has become the first PP to try on such a popular E shell, after both trying several other shells.

Terretorial agression?

Just caught sight of something strange... I went over to check up on my main 40 gal breeder residents, and heard some shuffling from beneath the second level.

There I see my PP, Sycorax, my E Ayanami, and near by, Oberon.

For some reason, Ayanami was clawing away at the base of the second level, inbetween it and the glass side of the aquarium, trying to fit through the opening, seemingly trying to escape from something. She starts to chirp, and Sycorax raises his inner two legs, and then uses his small claw to knock Ayanami off of the cup, onto the substrate below.

Sycorax then flips Ayanami over, grabs ahold of the top lip of her shell with his large pincher, and flings her into the glass wall upside down! He moves to the shell and digs a claw into the aperature, so I immediatly opened up the lid to intervene. Of course, innocently, Sycorax withdraws into his shell, while I then pick him up and move him across the tank. Ayanami then scurries off faster then I've ever seen her run, for the cover of the fake tree.


I'm not quite sure what drove Sycorax to behave so agressivly, but he seems to not be interested in fighting any longer... He's currently chilling out in his hideout below the second level. Perhaps this is the pre-molt terretorial agression I've heard of?

As a side note, Carmine is still no where to be found... She's been missing almost a month and a half now. My purple ruggie is also missing, now for about a month.

2 new adoptions!

I finally went over to Paul's (mom's Co-worker) and picked up those two hermies last Friday. He gave me the Hermit Crab Cove they were stored in aswell...

When I got there, I noticed that both crabs were a bit lethargic and unresponsive. I also noted a fishy smell, and assumed one was gone right off the bat, but when I got home, I found both of them to be alive and well. There was quite a bit of buried commercial food... He was feeding them TetraFauna Hermit Crab Cakes (Ethoxyquin +) causing the smell. He had told me he bought them from a PetSmart (instead of via mail, through the coupon that the cove comes with).

The cove was SLIGHTLY larger then I had expected, perhaps a 2-3 gallon tank (as if it could hold water), made of the cheapest plastic imagineable (I can easily push in a side of the tank, or crush the top). Amazingly it had a lid, and a sponge in the water dish, which was too shallow for even a micro to use. The 'cute' little food dish was no larger then the largest crab in the tank... The water dish had a small puddle of yellowish foul smelling stagnant water, and the sponge also leaked this liquid...
Makes me wonder how companies actually can sell products like these, and make a profit, when people can buy a MUCH larger GLASS tank for 1/3 the price of the Cove ($7.99-11.99 for a 10 gallon glass tank), large food/water bowls, tank decorations, food, and more for less than $30

Both crabs (PP's of course, being from PetSmart) were found huddled together under this plastic cave thing, in the farthest corner of it. After being held a little bit, to warm them up, I moved them over to a 70% humid 2 gallon iso tank, they started to move around... Only to scurry back into their plastic cave. One paused to inspect the food (peanuts, raisins) but didn't bother to sample it. The larger was in a striped fox shell, perhaps about the size of my PP Crimson. The smaller of the two would have to be the second smallest PP I own, maybe twice the size of my micro (but still much smaller than Riven Leither's smallest PP), in a trochus shell far too small for him.

I'd forgotten the water dishes somehow the first few hours (I dunno where my brain went right about then), but I gave them both a dip in the saltwater dish, trying to flush out some of the foul water they'd somehow filled their shells with, causing them to reek as well. (I really don't see how they could of filled up their shells with so much water in such a shallow dish).

A bit later I introduced some shells into the tank, and IMMEDIATLY, the smaller crab changed out of his tiny trochus shell and into my smallest Murex. The larger tried on a Pica... Took some photos, will post later... but anyway.

The next morning, I awoke to see only one of the two seemingly on the surface... No signs of any digging, so I checked all the shells, to no avail. But then I checked the shell the largest PP was latched onto (His original fox shell), to find in horror the littler one clammed up inside! The shell was clearly waaay too large for him, he could hardly lug it around. I suspect that he'd only gone into the shell to protect himself when the other crab got too close during an aborted shell change.

After getting the other to let go, I seperated them and moved them over to the 20 gal to introduce them to my resident E's. (Well the only one of the five that was up anyway lol).

I was rearranging the tank a bit, and I was going to move the smallest PP over, who was inspecting a tiny white rock shell, when amazingly, he crawled RIGHT out of his shell in my hands! I nearly panicked, and I put him back onto the sand, and the shell he was latched on to... He tried to swing his abdomen into the shell, but it was far too tiny, and so he started to walk off WITHOUT a shell! (The shell he'd taken off rolled away a bit). So I gently picked him up and placed the old shell, and a few others, nearby. He immediatly crawled back into the one he'd just left.

I hope to NEVER experience something like that again. I could have easily of injured the poor little guy, but I think he's okay... It's been almost 2 full days since then, and he seems to be doing okay, and is quite active...

I'm planning on keeping them with my 5 E's and moving them over to the 40 gal tank when it's fixed up (if it ever does get fixed lol)...

But anyway I'm glad that I've had the opportunity to save atleast 2 more hermies! I can already tell these two will be quite interesting characters!

Not yet...

After thinking about it a bit more, I'd asked if we could instead arrange a time to meet, to instead pick up the hermies, rather then leaving them in a car for 8 hours during work!

Unfortunatly, he doesn't work Sun-Mon, and we have no idea of his phone number/adress, so I'll have to wait until next Wednesday at the earliest, to pick them up.


Anyway, I've offered up some lettuce and carrots for tonights dinner... Within 2 hours it was GONE. This is the third time this has happened, and all three times, I'd seen Peaches in the area (who STILL has not regained much any color at all). I'm not entierly certain why, but they've all been eating ravenously this last week!

Also, Asuka came up from a molt yesterday. I didn't get a very good look (very late, extremly tired, and she buried again the next day), but I could tell she'd completed a molt. Callisto seems to have totally regained his color, and he's looking great! More uniform orange/dark sienna all over instead of only around his BP and far left leg!

Tomorrow, I will be going to PetSmart to get some stuff (out of Oceanic) and FINALLY (hopefully) get that sealant..... I've put it off far too long, I need to do a deep clean on the main tank, and my isolation tank is currently in use...

Adopting 2 more!!!

Not that long ago my mom had told me that one of her co-workers kept two hermit crabs of his own. She'd told him about my 28 and how I took care of them, and today he decided to adopt them out to me!


He'd told my mom that they never bothered to come out of their shells, in the few months that he'd had them, other then when he put food in their cage (I beleive a small kritter carrier), and that he didn't have time to take care of them anymore [Take care of them? Feeding them and Watering them is the least you can do, and only takes mere minutes a day! He makes no attempt to increase the in tank humidity at all... Fortunatly humidity is naturally pretty high around here...]

I've set up my 2 gallon hexagonal tank for them, and my mom will have to keep them in their break room (reasonably warm, above 70F+) until she gets off work. I just hope that they make it okay through the 8 hour wait... I'll include one of my hygrometors and have her use the spray/mister to get the humidity leveled out at 70% (Going to increase it gradually as they've likely had lower levels before).

So hopefully by tomorrow I'll have a pair of new hermies! [Probably saving their lives.] I am almost certain they will be PP's (From PetSmart), so I'll be sure to include some spare turbos.