amandadee
New Member
Herman has been acting weird lately. At first I thought he was stuck in between two rocks when he didn't move for a couple days. He has this really elongated shell (picture a swedish milkmaid with one of those pail-carrier thingies on her shoulders) and was hiding way up inside his shell. So I moved him down onto the floor, and was relieved when he came out of his shell and started waving his little antennae around when I dropped some crushed flake in. A couple hours later when I looked in, he was back up in his little rock crevice again.
This morning I look in and my heart skips a beat because OMFG he's died and fallen out of his shell...but no, there's two little claws peeping out of the milkmaid shell. What the ??? So I scoop the little ex-body out. Coolest of cool things, it's an exact duplicate down to the antennae and EYE STALKS! You can even see the little mystery feet that supposedly he uses to hang onto his shell, but you will never see because if you try to pull him out he will rip in half first! Yes, I touched it, and did a little Sebastian dance on my desk with it, but the best part was surprising my sleepy-head husband, who jumped two feet and yelled "whattafuggisdat!"
So it occurs to me that my hermit crab is not a regular hermit crab, since I checked the boards and no one else is reporting this type of thing. He's pretty large in comparison to other hermit crabs, I think. His milkmaid shell is about 3" and his legs and emerging body parts are 3/4". He doesn't have red or blue legs, they are brown and black vertically striped and furry, and both claws are the same size. He actually looks alot like a spider. I will try to post some pictures but 1) camera sucks and 2) I'm totally challenged when it comes to shrinking and attaching pics.
This morning I look in and my heart skips a beat because OMFG he's died and fallen out of his shell...but no, there's two little claws peeping out of the milkmaid shell. What the ??? So I scoop the little ex-body out. Coolest of cool things, it's an exact duplicate down to the antennae and EYE STALKS! You can even see the little mystery feet that supposedly he uses to hang onto his shell, but you will never see because if you try to pull him out he will rip in half first! Yes, I touched it, and did a little Sebastian dance on my desk with it, but the best part was surprising my sleepy-head husband, who jumped two feet and yelled "whattafuggisdat!"
So it occurs to me that my hermit crab is not a regular hermit crab, since I checked the boards and no one else is reporting this type of thing. He's pretty large in comparison to other hermit crabs, I think. His milkmaid shell is about 3" and his legs and emerging body parts are 3/4". He doesn't have red or blue legs, they are brown and black vertically striped and furry, and both claws are the same size. He actually looks alot like a spider. I will try to post some pictures but 1) camera sucks and 2) I'm totally challenged when it comes to shrinking and attaching pics.