Better place: RIP Prada

     After coming home from work and walking into my room I was greeted by a fishy odor, I almost cried. I knew right away it was Prada. I removed the fake plants and dishes to get a better view of her to which I saw she never had moved and lifted her up. She didn't fall out of her shell but after testing her limbs I noticed they were weak and moved too easily with my touch. I'm so depressed and have no idea what I did wrong, if I did anything wrong... 

     More questions enter my head; was she walking like that because she was in fact missing a claw or was it something else I didn't notice? Is it the food I gave them? The play sand I placed inside the crabitat? That damn tree?! Every since I bought it two of my babies have passed on. Just to be on the safe side I removed it for now; what if Chloe decides to resurface now and climbs all over it only to die by morning? 

     I'm completely heart broken and am really paying close attention to Chloe now. Since she is molting she's extremely weak and I don't want another dead crab. 

I hope you're eating the largest bowl of raisins right now, Prada :{

      That was my favorite picture of my little girl, I really caught her beautiful red coloring. 

Here is a video by expert village that states how to tell if your hermit crab is in fact dead.

Molting?!

     Wow, don't I feel like an idiot... I came home from work today and checked on my babies only to see that Chloe is molting now. This means that about a week ago she was just preparing, go figure. I also looked for Prada, who was very active last night, and saw her sitting behind the tree I just placed inside the crabitat last Saturday only to see she wasn't moving. I misted down the tank, hitting her with a little bit of water and she was still lifeless.
     I refused to believe that two of my crabs died within such a short time span and searched it up on google.com. I hope she's just surface molting, I'm scared to lift her up and she falls out or something so for the next couple of days my eyes will be glued to the both of them for any abnormal signs. Oh, wish me and my hermies the best of luck, if I loose another one I don't think I'd be able to take in anymore for the fear that I'd kill them :'(  

Until next time,
Pearl Popping~

Prada's Obsession

     I'm pretty sure that no matter what I place inside the fresh food dish Prada will always only eat the raisins. It's come to the point that I put more of those then anything else. She grabs a bunch and hides them all over the tank and in the sand that I know I'm going to have to do a deep clean soon. Chloe still hasn't moved however and I don't want to force her so I've been doing spot cleans for the time being. 

     No one ate the shrimp that I know of but its fine, I gave the creepy things to my friend that owns turtles lol. I just can't deal with them. I hope they like it and if not I told him to throw them out, I never want to see them again. 

     Well, I'm still trying to find other foods she will eat but it seems that she likes fruits more the vegetables however I know she needs protein too. Ugh, why is Prada so difficult? And when is Chloe going to resurface?! As I've stated she isn't molting under there... Whatever, all in do time I guess. 

Until next time,

Pearl Popping~

Canned Shrimp

     After coming home from the movies I noticed that Prada was peeking out of her hut and heard action underneath the driftwood from Chloe. Now, I thought, is a good time to add the shrimp to their fresh food bowl. I was so excited for unknown reasons and quickly washed their dishes, throwing out old food and replaced it with fresh. I then opened the can and succeeded in keeping my ground but I was so freaked out! 
     The little shrimp (and they are tiny!) still have their heads and kind of look like worms! Ugh, I hate bugs so much... Well, I quickly spooned a couple into their food dish and tossed the rest in the refrigerator hoping that tomorrow I can face them better although I'm not looking forward to it. I should have bought the freeze dried ones instead. 
     Bottom line is I hope they enjoy it and they better eat those creepy little shrimp lol. I also gave them romaine lettuce, raisins, carrot pieces, and gold fish flakes. I'm always looking for something new to introduce them too but is also healthy for them and after searching up lists of food that is great to feed hermit crabs (which is really long, by the way) I've found that most of the items are for other animals - even us. Like peanut butter is a get way for them to get protein. However some food is better to just give them the real deal, thus the shrimp. It is packed with carotene which can help my strawberry crab keep his coloring as well as Prada and Chloe :)

eww...

    

Basic care

     Here is one of the sites I go to all the time whenever I feel lost about something. It's pretty straight forward, filled with facts, and has helped me in many ways.

Hermit Crab Basic Care*

Until next time,
Pearl Popping~~ 

Eating an apple

Aww, when hermit crabs eat its to cute to me~

Tank setup of my dreams

     I love this setup, its so beautiful and roomy but also gives the hermit crabs the things they need to climb and hide in. I have no idea how large this tank is but if I could pay the person behind this to redo my own asap I would.
     I just had to share this lol.

Until next time,
Pearl Popping~

Oh my lucky day!

     Wow, I can't believe it. Me, the most unluckiest person I know, has gotten a beautiful Strawberry crab for free! Let my tell you the whole story:

     I went to the mall, yes again, to buy a monster high doll (that they didn't have :'( ) and other things when I walked pass the "Crab Shack". I was talking with the girl working there for a bit; asking about prices and what came with it (just the shell on its back). After having a long fight with myself I gave in and picked out one that seems to be about the same size as Chloe and Prada, if not a little bigger. Well, after swiping my debit card twice with no luck, her register "being from the 1980's" and me standing there for about twenty minutes she gave up and said I could take it for free. I was willing to go to the bank and come back with cash but I was told not to worry about it. I have been so happy since! A crab that would have cost me $16.38, or higher depending where you look, for free ^--^  

     Once I got home I added food and water to the ISO tank and placed the little guy in there for the time being. He quickly went to the water dish and drank from it for a while before calmly taking a peek around and curling into his shell for a nap. 

     I didn't want to rush things but my house is actually cooler than the last few days and I wanted to get him in the main tank where its warmer so I gave him a bath, to which he seemed to enjoy as he just sat in the water, and put him inside the ten gallon. Prada has smelled his shell (that is painted sadly) but they haven't met face to face yet. Chloe is still buried underneath the driftwood and hasn't come out but after another quick peek she seems to be alright. I wonder if she is staying under there for something other then molting now... hmmm. 

   

There he is XD He's so cute~!

Until  next time,

Pearl Popping~

P.S. 
     I'm still against painted shells but I really wanted a Strawberry crab and now all I can hope for is for him to change his shell soon so I can remove it. His shell is actually already chipping too and the longer it stays in the tank the more of a risk there is for all the hermit crabs to eat it.
     Also, I don't have a name for him yet but I'm thinking. Hopefully in the next post he'll have one. 

Until next time, 
Pearl Popping~

Prada & Me~

     I never really get to see my little girl too much as Prada is always hiding and only comes out when its dark (I've noticed her time to play is roughly between three am to five am). So today, because I have a couple of hours before I have to run to work, I thought I'd have some bonding time with Prada. Of course I snapped some pictures :3 

She was slowly coming out for me and I was waiting patiently :3

There she is, looking so cute.

Here I was gently brushing her feet in some water to remove the sand but I never submerged her.

  

     Sorry about the pictures facing the wrong direction, I can't seem to figure out how to right it.I took many more but these were my favorite ones :) I hope you enjoyed the pictures as much I do. Also, just as a reminder: Prada is my crab who is missing her largest claw, I bought her that way from a pet store I shop at often. I'm assuming she was in a fight with another hermit crab.

Until next time,

Pearl Popping~

Shells and Stuff

     I was looking everywhere for shells; petsmart, petland, petco, and online. Gave in a bought a couple of them even though their selection was pretty sad. But when I walked into a craft store to grab a couple things I came across the fake flower section and spotted this cool net. I though I could make something for my crabs to climb on. Its a huge roll, 10 yards, and I'll have enough of it for the time to come.  (See the burlap roll here)  

     When I saw the burlap net I found the shells right next to it. A huge bag for $13. I made sure they were natural and hadn't be dyed, painted, or scented ( plus contained shell my crabs could use). They seemed fine so I thought,what the hell I'll give it a try. I boiled them first for about twenty minutes and let them cool then added some of them to the tank. I'm so happy I did buy the shells. Now I have more shells then I know what to do with them and more importantly my crabs are happy. What I can't use I'm saving for later to place on the beach, maybe someone else can use them :3

 (Sea shells)
 

Some of the shells I got from the large bag. This was about half way through when I had to switch the pot because it was too small. 

Chloe in her new shell standing next to her old one.

How small her first shell was and please don't mind my sad ass nails...

 Until next time,
Pearl Popping~

Why a blog?

     Never in all my life would I have thought that I would own a crab, two on top of it. But now that they are here I'm sure they're not going anywhere. I have two small crabs at the moment, Chloe and Prada: named for their shells and my sisters love of fashion. I did have another before these two, however, named Hermes but he was a fighter and so after placing a question on Yahoo!answers I thought it best to take the advice given to me and return him to my local pet store. After peace was returned to ten gallon crabitat I realized that as much as I hear Hermit Crabs are an "easy pet" it's not completely true. 

     

     I am always searching up new things for my little roommates (diet, substrate, shells, etc.) and wish I had someone to ask directly. Thus my Hermie Diaries blog was born. 

    

     Plus, it'll be nice to have a spot where I can show off my crabs and see other peoples as well :3

Until next time,

Pearl popping~