I Pit the Exploiters of Hermit Crabs

The BBQ Pit
41

Hey, NailBunny, I’m with you on this one. So, there’s at least one person who won’t mock you here. I’m a crazy treehugger, and I’ve learned that these boards aren’t terribly open to the idea. Oh well.
Anyway.

I saw one of those places at a mall in Austin. I just stood there and watched them for about 20 inutes while my sister and friend clothes shopped (yawn). They’s interesting little critters. Then again, I tend to have boring pets because they’re quiet.

I hate to see ANY animal in a mall. The mall is a place of impulse buys, and I hate to see pets being bought without any knowledge of an animal - a lot of them end up dead.

I felt bad about the shells for a few minutes before I realized, well, they don’t care. As long as they have a shell to live in that’s big enough, all is right in their little world. And the display case seemed plenty big enough, had a bunch of empty shells for Moving Day, water, toys, and food. They looked better cared for than some animals in pet stores.

42

I’m sure I read something a while back about a store selling keychains with a shell attached, inside which was a living land hermit crab - the idea being that you keep a living hermit crab in your pocket.

43

Not for long, though…

(“Jimmy…why do your clothes smell like 3-week-old beached fish corpses?”)

44

Well, quite; even while they are alive, hermit crabs are stinky little critters.

45

Nothing with claws is going near that part of my anatomy…

46

Wittle feelings, hell! You really don’t want to piss off the Ents… Did you learn nothing from Saruman’s example?

47

You know, NailBunny, if you want people to respect your beliefs, you might not want to go around calling other people “ignorant” because their beliefs don’t match up with yours.

You also might want to notice that, really, the only person trying to give you any shit about that “trees have feelings” thing is milroyj, who is notoriously stupid. Don’t mistake his reactions to your post as representative of… well, anything on Earth, really, let alone the general disposition of this board.

We don’t generally much like crazy anything. There are plenty of perfectly rational treehuggers who get along here just fine.

48

The pequeninos might not be too happy about it if you piss them off either.

49

Actually, it would be more accurate to say that there are a lot of people on the Dope that don’t care about anything that isn’t human. Their concern doesn’t even go as far as the whole class of mammals. You’ve been here awhile, nailbunny. You must have seen the trainwreck threads where someone has had the audacity to suggest that maybe humans should take a little bit of care with the rest of the creatures on earth.

  • featherlou, another Doper who cares about the feelings of crustaceans, trees, ants, etc.
50

And many who not only care about these things, they dedicate their time, energy, and money to them. There are members of activist organizations, people who work in pet rescue, etc etc etc.

A Pit thread about painted hermit crab shells, with 50 replies in it, isn’t going to be a realible indicator of overall board sentiments about non-human rights.

51

Perhaps if the OP was about real crustacian suffering people wouldn’t be sniggering quite so much. I personally find it hard to start wringing my hands over pet crabs with painted houses.

But then again maybe not. I like to throw living, breathing lobsters into boiling water. And then I eat them. They are yummy.

I’m such an inhumane beast.

52

That’s where you’re wrong. There is nothing rational about treehuggers. People here are often mocked for Christianity, why should treehugging be any different?

53

I’ve started to notice that people are often mocked just for being milroyj. Why should we stop at treehuggers and Christians?

You know what? I think there should be a national day of mocking. On that day we can mock everything we think is irrational with impunity. Until that day I reserve the right to snigger at people who go to seafood restaurants and are appalled that people are eating seafood there. And to snigger at those who equate conservationist with Christianity with irrationality.

Maybe we can call it National Derision Day. We’ll eat mock apple pie and everybody will wear “Kiss me, you’re stupid” buttons. And fun sticks. There should be fun sticks to poke at people with.

54

Hi,

I haven’t posted in forever but someone sent the URL to this thread to me saying it was linked to my LJ. As for the crabs with painted shells, as long as you don’t paint it while the crab is in it, they’re fine. When they select shells they will actually choose the brightly coloured ones over the natural shells. Their vision isn’t that good so I guess the bright colours attract them. I just got two myself, they were in fact impulse buys from a touristy gift shop down in the seaside town of Galveston here, but I read a book that was provided about them before I purchased them, and have been doing much research on their proper care since I got them home. My pair are in natural shells, just because I like low-key and the painted shells would clash with my room decorations… even my pair of bettas have natural-coloured decorations in their tanks. But the painted shells don’t hurt them and isn’t cruel to the crab at all.

Granted these guys may not be much up on the evolutionary ladder higher than goldfish, and probably a lot of them do die shortly after getting home, but if properly cared for then can live up to 10-20 years (from what I’ve read). Mine are tiny because I wanted to have them a long time. Unlike spiders and scorpions and such, they’re very tame, and the more you handle them the better (as long as you’re careful). About the only time they might pinch you is if you try to mess with them while molting, or you’re holding them and they become afraid they might fall. Right now one of mine has already decided to molt, probably because I took him from the huge community tank and gave him much more privacy… he is buried in the sand of my tank beneath their driftwood ornament…and my other crab is crawling around on my desk between my arms as I type this.

I brought my crabs home and they live in a substrate of sand that I spot clean every couple days and will have to clean completely once a month. The eat FMR hermit crab food, the best brand, with a mix of FMR hermit crab treat, which is made of papaya, coconut, and some other tropical fruits. They are mostly nocturnal, which means they get cranky sometimes if you play with them in the daytime, but at night they shuffle around swim and munch on their seasponges and choya wood and other treats. The crabs you see in the mall and gift shops are freshwater land crabs. They’re not the same ones you see on the beach, though they look almost just the same. There are two major pet species and the most common one doesn’t need salt water at all. These crabs do not have any kind of scent at all, and I have one of the most sensitive noses of anyone I know. Maybe if you let their tank get really, really dirty… but that would be mildew and such you were smelling, not the crabs.

All they really require is a clean tank, a soft substrate to live in, clean, treated tapwater sponges and daily misting (both of the crabs to keep their gills wet, and the sides of the tank to keep the humidity up) and some food and choya wood and seasponges to knaw on. When they get bigger I’ll mix some special calcium supplimented sand in with their regular sand, to help them form their exoskeletons in bigger molts… but… that’s about it. Oh, and lots of extra shells.

So I hope the info helps, and I don’t really like the assumption that just because a pet is an impulse buy, or because it has a painted shell, that it necessarily won’t be well cared for.

55

My post wasn’t only about this thread, but an attitude that pops up periodically on this board by some posters. I’m not saying this whole board has a bad attitude towards non-human rights; of course there are lots of Dopers that love and care for animals. There are also others who don’t give a damn about anything but humans. I’ve noticed this attitude here occasionally; you may not have.

56

NailBunny, I’m a former card-carrying member of PETA and a former ethical vegan, but this just stumps me. You go to a restaurant called Red Lobster and have a breakdown over lobsters in a tank. What did you expect them to be serving? Asparagus and brussel sprouts?

You’ve never heard of a little place called “Mel’s Char Palace”, have you?

“You find your cow, you stun it, you kill it! We cook it! As big and as thick as you want 'em!”

(I’m not trying to be nasty here, I promise - I guess I just don’t understand how one can stick their head in the sand - no pun intended - and then react with such vehemence to an issue that’s quite obvious from the name of the restaurant.).

Ava

57

So, you’re saying there’s nothing rational about Christianity?

58

Bingo! It is a about Faith, nothing rational about it.

59

like my typing asn spelng abilities, I I guess??? :frowning:

60

Any day now the following groups will form:

Save the Roaches

People for the Ethical Treatment of Bathroom Mildew