In the local mall here in Reno, there is one of those small carts you always see selling junk not quite interesting enough to warrant its own shop. Tupperware, those microwave-neck-pillow-heaty-uppy things, cell phones…
But the other night, when Mr. Bunny and I were on our way to Hot Topic to pick up my St. Patricks Day Flogging Molly t-shirt, I saw the strangest, saddest thing I’ve ever seen. “Expressive Crab”, or something like that. Hermit crabs, with specially painted shells that say things like “Diva” or “Hot Stuff” or skull-and-crossbones, and are then laquered (the shells, not the crabs). The sight of this tiny aquarium filled with aimlessly meandering crabs with stupid messages painted across their backs upset me more than anything has in a long time, and I can’t quite put my finger on why. But I am quite sure they’re being exploited, and as stupid as that sounds it’s the closet I can come to expressing my sadness for these poor little crabs.
Does this sound as completely and totally wrong to anyone else as it does to me? I mean, I have to tip my hat a little to the inventor of such an idea, because it really is imaginative…but COME ON! These are little living creatures, and you’re pawning them off like red white & blue cell phone covers! :mad:
And oh yeah. Fuck. You know, the Pit.
Hrmph. I suppose they should have used Alaskan king crabs instead, huh?
Seriously, that is one strange gift idea. Then again, you can always buy them but the case and give them to your husband, then brag that you gave your husband a case of the crabs.
Okay. Lemme get this straight. They’re selling “tagged” (vandalized) hermit crabs in a mall in Reno? Where there’s no salt water, and no natural food source for these hermit crabs, right?
Now, I understand (I guess) that people in non-coastal areas keep hermit crabs for pets. What do they feed them? ('Cause I see 'em at the beach all the time and I’m not sure what they eat. I would guess they eat little teeny things they find in the sand.) It’s not like they make Hermit Crab Food… (or do they?)
As a novelty gift, I find this one to be excessively stupid. People will purchase them, give them to whomever and the gift will get up and walk off on its own. To starve to death under the couch. And then, this special gift will stink up the house until the crab rots to dust and someone finds a weird tagged seashell under the couch six years from now.
Wait a minute… I think I can think of a few people for whom this would make a GREAT gift! (evil grin smiley)
And, btw, metacom I don’t make my dog wear his sweater. He gets cold and won’t go outside until I grab his little fleece coat and velcro it on him. Then he happily dances around the yard wearing his little purple coat. My dog wants to wear his sweater.
But I can’t figure out how to get the funny hats to stay on their little block heads.
Actually, they do make hermit crab food - see http://www.seashellshop.com/hermitcrabs/food.html - and a whole assortment of hermit crab accessories for the responsible hermit crab owner. I don’t think this sort of thing appeals to the responsible hermit crab owner, though.
The painting in and of itself, though, doesn’t seem to be cruel to the crab. It’s the crab’s home, not a part of its body, and people seem to be able to glue all sorts of crap to them without disturbing the crabs too much.
I had hermit crabs for many years, and I live about 400 miles from the nearest ocean. They do, in fact, make hermit crab food (it’s a powdery stuff, and I don’t remember what is in it.) and they even make hermit crab cakes and other special ‘treats’ that you can feed to your hermit crabs.
I had two hermit crabs, and they lived with me for about five years apparently quite happily in their big aquarium with the bowl of water and the seashell of hermit crab food and treats. They had toys they played with, stuff to climb on, and a ‘heating rock’ to keep them warm in the winter.
I always kept extra shells in their tank so that they could change homes any time they wanted, and sometimes they did change homes in the middle of the night for whatever reason. The biggest risk to the crab was when it molted its exoskeleton, at which times I was very careful not to touch them or play with them. They were pretty big and I’d say probably pretty old for a hermit crab when they died.
Never occurred to me to decorate their homes though.
I’m glad I’m not the only one this doesn’t sit quite right with. I don’t know about the paint possibly being toxic to the crabs…I’m sure they’ve probably thought of that and are using non-toxic paint and laquer. I was concerned with the fact that there were about 100 crabs crammed into this obviously way too small observation tank, but that’s something you’re just as likely to see at a low-quality pet store as well. It was the actual painting of the shells that really bothered me, because the crap that they had on them…giant red lip “kiss” marks, black with flames down the sides (okay, I can see the appeal of that one, but still), Happy Birthday, Happy Anniversary, etc. The little crabs just crabwalk around wearing big stupid slogans on their bodies, when the real shells that they would pick were they actually walking on the beach would be so much prettier.
And it’s not really the same as sweaters for dogs. Those are to keep dogs warm, and when they DO have stupid messages on them, they’re usually some form of affection directed at the DOG, not the recipient of the dog.
THAT’S WHAT BOTHERS ME!!! It’s encouraging the idea that pets are gifts to be given, disposable and existing only to convey a feeling of affection from one human to another. They’re not, like, actual entities in and of themselves or anything. So let’s decorate them and give them as birthday presents. They’re just wasting their lives crawling around on the stinky beaches anyway.
The shells are not their own. In fact I had a number of shells for mine because they move from shell to shell as a habit and to grow. They occasionally crawl out of their shells to dump waste or for a change of pace. They only do this when they feel very safe. ie you ain’t around.
they don’t mind crowds (other crabs) as long as there are bits of food to find since they are scavengers.
they are real easy to please - humid habitat, a few fead pieces of wood to crawl on, food,water and their pretty content. It helps that they have a brain the size of a grain of sand. They are not great thinkers.
They don’t taste good (No I didn’t eat one - they are pets because somebody a while back dis try to eat one. Result, not good for food but still interesting to watch)
But the hat on, feed treats copiously, remove hat and stop feeding at exact same time. Repeat many times, gradually increasing the amount of time that elapses between the time the hat goes on and the time the treats commence. Eventually, stop giving treats. Bingo, a dog wearing a funny hat.
Back to the OP:
I really don’t care about hermit crabs. They’re not even mammals. The store in the mall could be running a little hermit crab death camp, complete with darkly-painted “guard” crabs and an evil overlord crab that speaks in a vague german accent, and I wouldn’t be outraged. Perplexed, and even a little disturbed, but not outraged.
So you don’t care about anything that isn’t a mammal? What an interesting, blissfully ignorant life you must lead.
I’m not trying to be patronizing. I tend to stress myself out about the feelings of everything from fish to trees, so I’m being serious when I say “blissful”.
ANYway. I know the shells don’t belong to them. I’ve seen the episode of the Simpsons where the happy little hermit crab makes a home out of the beer can Homer tosses out the window. However, it still bugs me for the reasons listed above. Ah well. It didn’t look like they were doing a thrifty business anyway.
[QUOTE=NailBunny]
So you don’t care about anything that isn’t a mammal?/QUOTE]
I didn’t say that. I said I didn’t care about hermit crabs.
Not feeling empathy towards a small, non-endangered inverterbrate with a miniscule brain doesn’t mean I’m ignorant.
You think trees have feelings? :eek: I’m not trying to be patronizing, but I think that’s a bigger problem then the commercial exploitation of hermit crabs.
:mad:
