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My Hermie History – Rosie –Central
Jersey
Land Hermit Crabs are the best
pets to have if you are allergic to feathers and fur. Most
people consider them throw away pets but they are very mistaken.
Hermit crabs or “Hermies” as I refer to them, love
to socialize and if they are handled with tender loving care
they will fill your life with a lot of enjoyment.
My hermies and I have a special
bond, they allow me to cuddle with them, not all hermies like
to do that but mine do. They make living my life from a wheelchair
a little easier by making me laugh with their humorous antics.
Let me tell you how my adventure with hermies started.
I bought my first hermie, Henri, at Jenkinson’s Gift
Shop in Point Pleasant, NewJersey in 1996. Most of my other
hermies have also come from there as well. I started with
Henri and devoted a lot of time to him since he was alone
I would spend quality time with him every night. He came with
me when I went to Florida as well as the Poconos. Then as
a 1 year anniversary I bought him a friend, Ricki. Henri
and Ricki became great pals but I still made sure that I gave
them quality time. As the years progessed I added Sly, Jake(1998),
BJ(1999), BB(2000), Sasha & Shelly (2001)(all of these
were bought at Jenkinson’s in Point Pleasant . Pippi
(short for pipsqueak as she was a teeney), I bought from Christa
as well as two equadorians named Diego and Rosita in 2001
when I was in Ocean City, NewJersey. So in all I have had
a total of 11.
Last year was a very rough year because I lost
my first hermie Henri. In the five years I had him he successfully
molted 3 times. His last molt was November 2000, he had changed
shell numerous times, but for some reason one day in March
of 2001 I found Henri out of his shell. I called the help
line at FMR as well as talking with my hermie friends online
but no matter what I tried it didn’t work. Poor Henri
had crossed over the rainbow bridge. Later that I year, in
July/August I bought Pippi, Diego, and Rosita. All my hermies
became friends quickly.
Their sizes ranged from a dime (Pippi) to a ½
dollar(Diego, Rosita,BB) all the rest were about the size
of a quarter. At different times, during that fall Diego,
Rosita and Jake also crossed the rainbow bridge, but wen
they did they just stopped in the middle of what they were
doing It was as if time had just stopped.
BB and Pippi had become fast friends, Pippi would
often catch a ride on BB’s back. She was the perpetual
“little sister” always hanging around trying to
see if anyone wanted to play. BB and Pippi even molted together,
BB made it through the molt but died a couple days later and
to add to my saddness Pippi crossed the bridge with BB. So
now I have 5 hermies Ricki, Sly, BJ, Sasha, and Shelly, but
I hope to get a few more this summer.
I have them in a large plastic Critter Keeper now that there
are five, but I take them out to exercise every other day.
I make sure they have plenty of water, their sponge is wet
and their food is dry. I keep commercial hermit crab food
in their keeper but I change it and give them clean water
everytime I take them out to play, that is also when they
get a bath and wash themselves. They also get treats such
as apples, bananas, pasta, rice, lettuce, carrots etc….
While I had Henri, I needed to come up with a way
to keep him warm in the winter, since I didn’t have room
for an under tank heat lamp so my mom and I thought about
it and created Henri’s Hermit Warmer’s (it is actually
Ricki in the picture because when I had Henri I didn’t
have a digital camera) but this is what I came up with.
If you would like
more information e-mail me at :
HenriRozan@aol.com
Please make sure to the subject Henri’s Hermit
Warmers.
I hope you enjoyed reading “My Hermie History”
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