HCA: Hermit Crab Association

I had walked past the little kiosk in the mall countless times, always stopping for a look. My family thought I was being weird; my sister called me immature. As my 17th Birthday approached I had decided that was what I wanted: a hermit crab. My parents seemed strongly against it, though. My dad thought it would make me a hermit. My mom thought it was a joke.I got home from school on my birthday and my mom told me to come in the kitchen, and quick! (Talk about suspicious!) I practically ran in and there, on the kitchen table, was a big critter carier with a tiki hut, palm tree food dish, sea sponge, and two hermit crabs. "The lady said they get lonely," my mom told me.They were in painted shells--the only kind sold at the kiosk--and those shells aided in their naming. The smaller one was in a shell with a fishy on it. Realizing that I liked the name Nemo, that's what I named him. My sister hadn't been feeling good so I let her name the other--who was in a Hello Kitty shell. After much contemplation, she decided on Fluffy, so Fluffy it was.I did tons of research. I went all over the internet gathering information on the proper way to care for them. The lady in the mall had said you could wrap a blanket around the tank when it got cold; even I knew that was a stupid assumption. That weekend we went to Petsmart and got a ten-gallon fish tank, a glass top, a new water dish (they had been drinking from a crystal coaster), cocunut treats, etc. I got some sand from my dad's work and by Sunday, they were all moved in. I soon realized that I had no idea what temperature it was, and I had forgotten both a thermometer and an under-tank heater. I took a cheap magnet thermometer and taped it up in the tank. Then I got my mom's heating pad and put it on top of the tank (the temp had been low 60s!). The temp soon rose to a good level.It wasn't long before Nemo started acting weird. Actually, both had been acting kinda weird. I would flatten all the sand before I went to bed and it would be undisturbed by morning. But then Nemo wasn't reacting to much of anything. And Fluffy dropped a claw. I was in denial. "They're molting," I kept telling myself. It was bad enough not having any extra shells for them; I didn't want to think about them dying.A week and a day after I had first gotten them I started panicking. I called home between first and second periods and left a frantic message on the answering machine. I mentioned a pet store I had found in the phone book and called, a place that said they had hermit crab supplies. It was hard to concentrate all day at school; all I could think about was whether or not my babies were going to live.My mom drove up to pick me up from school that day, and I got a surprise. I opened the door to find a little critter carrier with some sand and my crabs inside, along with the address and phone number of the pet store. We went straight there.The lady at the store took a look at my babies and gave me the bad news: Nemo was dead and Fluffy was barely hanging on. She said they were dried out. She took Nemo out of his shell and gave it back to me, and she put Fluffy in a plastic cup with a quarter inch or so of water so he could rehydrate. We were able to get some much-needed stuff there: a thermometer/hygrometer duo for the tank, some extra shells, two extra food shells, and an extra sponge. Then I picked out a new crab so Fluffy wouldn't be alone. I named her Sandy.We got home and I updated the tank. I also put Sandy in. Sandy is quite a character. I loved her from the very start, but it was still a bittersweet ending.The next morning Fluffy wasn't showing any progress. At least not good progress. He hadn't moved in the night. I changed the food and put him in the dish so he could maybe eat and get some strength back. I checked back after school and my worst fear had come true. I took him out to see what was up. He didn't respond. He easily fell out of the shell if you tilted it. Two crabs in two days. I hadn't even had them for a week and a half. I barely got to know them. I had protected them from my cat. I had let them crawl on the stairs in my house. I still don't know the real cause of their death. The humidity in the tank was fine after I fixed it. And Sandy is still perfectely energetic.I'm writing this on the very day I found Fluffy dead. I've cried my eyes out, and still have more tears to come. I did more research and I think the lady at the mall was to blame. I'm going to try so hard to make sure Sandy survives. I'll probably wait a little longer this time to get a new friend for her, just to be sure, but I'll definitely get it from that other pet store. Maybe my first two babies didn't make it, but I hope there will be others who may live a good life in my home.R.I.P.Nemo: 3/8/06-3/15/06Fluffy: 3/8/06-3/17/06