found: abused hermit crab at walmart

[hermie101]

not to long ago i went to the pet section in a walmart and was looking at the food for my fish when i saw a little under a medium sized hermit crab siting there. she was in a very bad envirement heres the detail..... she was in a ten gallon tank, no sand, no water, no food, nothing to hide in, no lid(which is a welcoming to mites), there was absolusly nothing in the tank. so i picked her up to see if she was still alive.... and thankgod she was!but when i picked her up it was enough to make me cry. she was white with absolutly no color, scared to death, you could basicly pull her out of her shell( i didnt), so i opened a bottle of food and put some of it in there, only then did she come out. the poor thing, when she came out she could berly walk or stand up. it might sound crazy but i swear she was basicly trimbling because she was so weak. i already had 8 hermit crabs at that time but i just couldnt leave her there to die, i dont have the heart to do that. so i ended up taking her home. even worse nobody even knew that they were selling hermit crabs there. so once i paid for her i took her to the bathroom to give her some water and she came out for me.
when i got her home she was in crabby ICU two and a half weeks striaght. i only kept her seperate for so long because she was so unhealthy and i wanted to make sure that she would get all the calcium she needed from her food and i didnt want to run the posibility of her having mites and the other 8 getting mites. she sat there from. 7pm- 1:30am eating and drinking. i would take her out and let her walk around on the floor for a while and then hold her. now the only person shes not scared of is me.... happy to say she is in the 10 gallon just as healthy as any other crab and she always is out and crawling around. she is very sweet.
should i call walmart and complain or should i just sit back and do nothing and let them keep abusing the poor little hermit crabs?

[vckums]

You need to do what you feel comfortable with. If you call, be courteous and polite. Maybe write down all the points you want to stress to them, and then go off the list.
You could also bring in care sheets and ask to speak to the Dept Manager for the pet section.

[hermie101]

thanks for the advise, i'll see who i can talk to..... probably the manager thanks again!

[Hildegarde]

I don't want to discourage you at all from speaking with the manager and I agree with vicki's suggestions. Since you're new, you probably haven't seen the videos or heard the stories about how crabs are treated at Wal*Marts and other stores that carry crabs.

Don't be discouraged if you're given the cold shoulder. Stores are businesses and crabs aren't big money makers. But please try and let us know how it goes.

[Chuck_Norris]

I know this is slightly O/T, but does Walmart still carry crab in a cup? I didn't think they carried crabs at all, to be honest with you. I've never seen hermit crabs in Walmart, thank goodness.

[hermie101]

they put them in an empty 10 gallon and then when you buy them you put them in a little plastic cup to take them home in. chatam county walmart is where i baught lucky( the one i rescued) i think its the only walmart in chatem county that sells pets anymore.

[Chuck_Norris]

I hate the fact that they sell crabs, but at least they don't keep them in cups anymore.

[krackersmom2]

What a sad stroy with a happy ending. I have never seen hermit crabs at any Wal Mart. The only live animals I have seen are fish. I probably would have take the little critter home as well. I would make a phone call and write a letter as well....at least you can rest that you have done right by the crabby! I remember I was at Pets Mart one time and a lady kept coming back to the Banfield vet reception desk about a dying animal in one of the enclosures....I'm not sure if it was a bird or rodent or what...Banfield has nothing to do with the animals in the store....they kept telling her to go see the store manager and then maybe they could help if the manager chose to bring the animal to them. The poor lady was clearly distressed and I felt bad for her...hopefully she got the management's attention.
I don't expect the kids that work at these stores to be experts, but they should be at the very least providing basic life sustaining treatment of ALL animals in their stock. The department manager should have more extensive knowledge to direct his/her employees! Shame on Wal Mart!

[hermie101]

i agree with that. shame on any store that dosnt take care about thier animals. im going to talk to that walmart this weekend