This thread has me thinking about the feasibility of picking out a lobster from the market and keeping it as a pet (yes, it’s been a slow day at work). A search of the `net turned up information about catching and cooking them, but very little about keeping lobsters.
So, is it possible? I’d need a saltwater tank, and I know what lobsters eat (small fish and shrimp), what else would I need? One website suggests they need cold water (35-45 degrees Fahrenheit), but they were specifically talking about the commercial transportation of live lobsters. Can lobsters live in warmer (room temperature) water, or do they make refrigeration units for aquariums? Would a lobster be hard to keep? I imagine they’re fairly hardy animals, given the conditions they’re kept under in a market.
(Note: I know this could probably be a GQ, but I’m not seriously considering this and that’s why it’s here.)
Well, they don’t eat shrimp and fish, they eat dead stuff that’s rotting on the bottom.
They tend not to do well in captivity outside of exceedingly large (multi 1000 gallon tanks,) and often not even then.
You can keep them for a week or so in a very cold tank, but they tend to become torpid in captivity, stop eating and die, so you might as well just eat them first.
I don’t know about the feasibility myself, but I must leap in and say that I had the idea long BEFORE I saw that episode of the Simpsons. And I still like Lucky.
It must be possible to keep them in captivity. The local aquarium has an ancient, enormous one that must weigh 30 or 40 pounds. I imagine duplicating their set up would be a bit expensive, though.
They survive, barely, but I wouldn’t use their care and conditions in the food market as a gauge for whether or not they could thrive as pets (in an acquarium environment).
Yes, there is very little info online about these crustaceans that doesn’t involve harvesting or cooking…
From the reading I’ve done elsewhere, I’d say it possible, but not practical or advisable to keep lobster(s) as pets. There are research facility who are studying lobster (as well as seafood restaurants who keep them as part of the decor) so it can be done. But for one thing, getting the temperature and salt balance of the water is tricky (I’ve read and been told).
Also, I would imagine that it would impact the crustacean’s life span and quality of life unless you had a truly huge aquarium (they’re used to the ocean or gulfs afterall), and as I mentioned in the other thread, lobsters continue to grow as they age so eventually the habitat would have to become larger and large to allow the same space and movement. The species is also bottom-dwelling and spent their lives along the sandy, stoney ocean floor hiding in holes and behind rocks when they are hunting for food.
Lobsters are territorial. When confined to small spaces in groups, they can turn on one another, so cannibalism can also a problem in small quarters (if you maintain more than one lobster). A major reason for the bands on their claws in commercial tanks are to protect “the merchandise,” not the buyer.
I don’t have any of the articles handy here at work, but I can quote more specifically from home if you are interested. I have a few articles and some information on my website, though its not really user-friendly formatted yet–just up there.
Occasionaly, while browsing in our local Petsmart, cavewoman and I notice “adorable” (to her) blue crayfish available for sale (as pets, natch)…we’ve not yet endevored to adopt one, though. It seems they thrive in freshwater, and being cosmetically similar to but more appealing than lobsters, might be a realistic alternative.
On another note, and by way of revealing what odd folks we are, back when we were dating, she decided to get some goldfish. Along with the batch of ill-fated fishies came a single ghost shrimp, who, since we were not charged for him, came to be nicknamed “Free”. The fish out thier little fishy lives as goldfish do: quickly. Free survived, and we lovingly cared for our nigh-invisible pet. We would use a net to take him out of the small fish bowl, put him in a temporary body of water, and return him home. Fun fact: ghost shrimp can JUMP! clear out of the water, too…
As time passed, she adopted more of the clear critters, baffling visitors with a seemingly empty aquarium, and feeding them fish flakes, which could be seen taking the whole journey through the tiny crustaceans. Finally, about 4 months on, Free passed away too. Slowly, his litte friends followed him, and we’ve not owned an arthropod since…(on to dwarf hamsters!)
I don’t know about their natural diet, but I have fed shrimp to lobsters.
I work in a supermarket that has a lobster tank. Almost daily, one would die and be devoured entirely by its buddies. They could be there for weeks so they were obviously dying of starvation. I’m not a PETA type. I have no problem with eating animals. Allowing them to starve to death just seems cruel though. I would take a handful of shrimp each night, chop it up, and drop it in their tank.
I have to say that it does not seem very practical. they can get huge over time. I think it’s cruel to keep any animal in a tiny habitat.
Are there zoning problems with lobsters? i’ve heard that there are problems with certain areas not allowing unusual animals as pets. I vaguely remember reading a story about a boy who wanted to keep his family’s dinner (lobster) as a pet rather than eat it, and one character mentioned that. Just thought I’d bring it up.
I had a fresh water crawdad when I was a kid, but only for about a week. I would wake up every morning and find him walking around on my carpet so I put him back in the lake.
I feel really sorry for them, I honestly do. I hate going to the fresh seafood section of the grocery and seeing them there, just like little aquatic POWs, waiting for death.
Lobsters are utterly, adorably cute. I always feel very sad when I see them in the supermarket. sniffle
I’ve considered getting a pet lobster for years now, but I don’t think I’d be able to give it the care it deserves. I did at one time have a crayfish. He’d battle with the plecostomus for the boiled zucchini I’d put in the tank. A week after I got him, I looked in the tank and there was a sad little husk and nothing more. I figured the pleco must have sucked his innards right out of his shell. I was distraught. But later, when I got home from work, poof! He was back. Obviously, crayfish molt. Duh. He’d been previously hiding amidst the rocks to protect his unhardened shell. My joy at seeing him alive helped mitigate my dismay at being a complete moron.
Homarus americanus is the Maine lobster. Homarus Gammarus is the emergency backup lobster. I mean, the European lobster, the smaller of the two. Those two make up the entirety of the homarus genus, and they’re both coldwater lobsters, which might present a problem for keeping them.
Some members of the Palinuroidea superfamily can make good pets. These include spiny lobsters and slipper lobsters, some of which have amazingly bright color patterns. They can tolerate warmer waters than the Maine lobster. However, they don’t have the big claws; if you want good claws you have to stay within the astacidea, which includes the Maine lobster and freshwater crayfish. However, it sounds like what you really want is to be able to buy pets at the supermarket, which is something I’ve always wanted to do too.
There’s some interesting information on lobsters at The Lobster Conservancy site:
Love the lobster, Weirddave! Buy him little hats and bowties and cute toys for his aquarium! Read to him at night and greet him in the morning. Take him for walks in the park! So much nicer than simply eating him.
I mean, you can only eat him once, but if you spare him, you can have a nice crustacean buddy for a long time.
