In memory of the 7 that passed on.

[Guest]

Humans are not perfect. All we can do is strive to learn from our mistakes and try harder. I am far from the perfect hermit crab guardian, and I've made my mistakes, mistakes that have contributed to the death of a few of my crabs. I've grown from them however, and will use their memory to continue the care of the crabs I have now.I've kept a total of 12 hermit crabs in the 3 years I've been crabbing. My very first crabs were Salty and Scuttle, two PP's purchased at a popular beach spot camp store. That's where it all started.Ultimately, because Salty was my first hermit crab, she was my favorite. She was tiny, but active. She died sometime during the first year I had her, I accidentally let her out of isolation too soon, and another crab stole her shell and she was hid in the corner of a tank naked. I got her to take up a new shell, but she never recovered. She was so pale... and she stayed pale. When I went away for a weekend, leaving the crabs in my brother's care, I came home to find her shell empty, and her pale body sprawled out underneath the food dish.I recently learned of Sushi's background, I was originally told my friend had him for a year and then didn't want him anymore. I brought him home and he became the bright orange crab of the group, so I was fond of him and his silly antics [I have a picture o him hanging off one of the analog gauges in my brother's tank]. He was a rather healthy crab, but for a short while I neglected to change the water as often as I should in their tank, and one day I found Sushi dead by the water dish. Never again will I allow the water to sit for as long as it did. Never again will I let my laziness compromise the health of my hermit crabs. I recently learned that Sushi was not with my friend for the year she said she had him, in fact, he was purchased and brought into school to be the model of a ceramics project, and after that my friend simply didn't want him anymore. It's hurts how disposable my friend thought he was. Sushi is one I'll never forget.I went back to the vacation spot where I first purchased Salty and Scuttle, and brought home a jumbo wedged into a purple painted shell far too small for her and named her Neptune. I bought her a brand new condo of a shell [a polished green turbo], and she joined the rest of the hermit crabs in my 20 gallon tank. Two weeks later she passed away due to PPS. Another victim of the hermit crab pet trade. At least she died in a shell that fit.Uzumaki was a tiny crab I also bought on vacation that year with Neptune, and he died around the same time as Sushi. I blame myself.Chopper was a micro I spotted at PetsMart with only one leg and his feeder claw partially intact. I took him home and set him up in his own KK, and kept him in the bathroom where it was warm and humid, and he was fed powdered crab food. He died a month after I brought him home. I feel that if I had the proper isolation tank set up, Chopper would have had a better chance of survival.Misty and Mango were both victims of the souvenior trade. They came from the very same camp ground store where I had previously purchased Salty, Scuttle, and Neptune, only this time the over crowded wire cages reeked and were littered in sopping dead crab bodies. They died within the first 2 weeks I brought them home. With those odds, I've only had a 20% survival rate from that store.Since Chopper's death last year, I decided I need to be prepared for everything, whether it be streaking crabs, molters or brand new rescues, so I set up a 10 gallon isolation tank of mixed EE and sand that is in my room. My mistakes and the mistakes of others caused the deaths of 5 hermit crabs. Five crabs who just wanted to live their lives scavenging for food on the beach and making hermit crab babies in the ocean. They were taken away from this life, forced into captivity, where I failed as a crab caretaker to each and every one of them by not providing for them properly. I will not repeat these mistakes, these acts of laziness or cheapness. I have deticated myself to the care of the 5 hermit crabs I have now; Scuttle and Sharkbait, who I've had for almost 3 years, Random Crab Number 5, who's been with me for two, and Ichigo, and Tiki, who I brought home this summer, and any new ones who join our community. I will continue to educate myself, I will continue to educate others, so that the lives of the 5 I failed to keep alive won't be in vain. The worst mistake of all is not learning from them. coming soon...