The Hermit Crab Story: RIP Max ... The Story begins for Max II

The Hermit Crab Story so far ....  

Hermit Crabs: Introduction

The Hermit Crab Story: Part 1

We ended up losing Max (the first) on May 15th.

On the 14th he ended up losing limbs and on the 15th lost more, and eventually by the time we got home, he wasn't with us anymore.

I want to state for the record, the following picture was taken AFTER he lost the first two limbs, but before he died :(

So luckily we managed to have the warranty and it was still in the time frame, so we took Kaedyn to pick out another crab.  He ended up naming him Max II (the second) ...

The lady at the register at the pet store was funny.  We put Max in a cup, took him in there, and I started explaining how I had called earlier and talked to someone and the whole thing...  and I showed her the cup, and I said "This is Max" ... and Kaedyn pipes up ... "He's DEAD!"

Yep, that's my kid!

So she calls some guy (I think the manager?) and she lifts up the cup and says "This is Max, this little handsome guy needs a new Max."

LOL....

So he took us back to the hermit crab cage and we were looking at all the shells and stuff...  and I saw this green one with spikes on it hiding, so I pointed, explained, and said I think he would like that one a lot.  He pulls it out (after having to box with another ...) and Kaedyn sees that it's a green turtle shell and he got all excited.  So ...  Max II was named immediately.  "That's my new Max!"

I also want to say that I was a bit disturbed by seeing a naked hermie....  I'm scarred for life.   I hope he was just changing shells :(

It was bad enough watching Max loose limbs :(

So anyway - here is the introduction for Max II ...

Dennis says that he's a ham already .....

The Hermit Crab Story..... (part 1)

So if you haven't seen our INTRODUCTION to the Hermies ... please go check out that blog.

I had already written this blog once, however; I deleted it.  Yep... it's been one of those days....  PURE accident, I was TRYING to delete the blog I had started above it, but ... whoops!

So anyway - We had found this great page with a lot of Hermit Crab information.  Hermit Crab Association.  They have a forum too for Hermit Crab people :)

Well, we left the Hermies along for awhile after we got them, and then we took their first pictures.  Although they weren't named - completely - until just recently.

So I wanted to show off their painted shells ....  Sansa has already changed her shell and I included both.

However, I think we might be losing Max.  They dumped out their big shell of salt water, and the sand was super wet, so I didn't get a chance to take care of it right away, and today when we got home, Max had lost two legs, including his big claw :(   I'm worried.  Max has always been a very quiet crab.  He's always been the hardest to cox out of his shell.  Gandalf and Paco are the most friendly.  Sansa is getting to be more friendly.  Max has always been a loner.  Wants to be left alone. Of course he was in the middle of this wet sand, I'm hoping that he survives.  I'll share more on this later.

We'll be sure to update.

So here are their shells ... thus forth ...

We also spent some time trying to figure out what species they are.  We thought they were all one species, but learned they are not.

This is what we learned that they are...

We have found a few great links for some Hermit Crab work.

LINKS:
Anatomy of a Hermit Crab
Create Your Own Informational Booklets
Create Your Own List of Care Instructions
Hermit Crab Vocabulary

Hermit Crabs - Introductions :)

So back in the end of April - I was looking around on Freecycle.  Two things got my attention.  Someone was giving away their 10 gallon aquarium with four hermit crabs that their son had recently gotten for his birthday, but they were moving.  So they wanted the crabs going to a good home and and the supplies.  I thought this was fantastic, it's been something I have been wanting to do with my kids - definitely an interesting project AND great for learning.

The other thing was that same family was getting rid of their pet lizard and all the supplies for him (or her)....  but no terrarium for it.  They wanted to take their tank with them - who can blame them, right?   Well, we happened to have a big tank in our storage, so we got that and took both off their hands.   The kids have been hounding me to get a lizard - mainly Cal and Noah.  Actually, they were trying to talk me into getting a snake but I said if they wanted a snake - they'd have to earn money to get one.

So ....  we've had these guys for a little while.  I got a couple of things to put in the tank but everything else they provided.  The kids love them.  Nathan will park himself infront of the tank and just watch them do nothing.  Ha ha ...  because Hermies are nocturnal animals.

Shortly after getting them, well about three weeks after getting them, and just the other day - one of the crabs changed it's shell.   It was pretty cool to wake up and find that Sansa (yes we named them all) had changed her shell.

We did our homework of course, and now we're starting to teach the kids.  We figured four crabs was perfect, one for each of our boys.  That's the max "they" suggest for a 10 gallon anyway.  Each crab was in a painted shell.  For awhile, we called them by what was on their shells.... Cobra, Firetruck, Ladybug and Watermelon.  But after Dennis and I figured out how to tell their gender, we gave them a little more appropriate names.

Cobra - Calahan's ... Gandalf the Gray (cuz he's more brownish gray)
Ladybug - Nathan's - Paco, cuz Nathan's NOT Paco... but it's something he can say.
Firetruck - Noah picked as his - and seems to be the only girl in the bunch, so Dennis and I started to throw out names, and names from Game of Thrones ... and he liked Sansa.
Then last but not least, Kaedyn got saddles with the Watermelon one... he didn't care.  So he named him Max, cuz then there can be TWO Max's in the house.  (Noah's stuffed dog that he's had since he was a baby is named Max too) ...  

So ....  let me introduce you.