What Made You Decide?

[Eric]

Look at me today 40 crabs later, owner of HCRU, Lol. I am so glad i opened this forum as i am meeting so many great people like myself.

Cappa

[CudaCrabby]

First off WELCOME aboard silvercamaro77 and great to see you here, and wow thats great your boyfriend did that for you, depression can get the best of us anytime. *HUGS*

Cappa how does that saying go that Martha says, "Its A Good Thing" that you got this site together, up and running for everyone to share not only everything hermie but also the things we go thru each day with our lives and what we learn and can share to help others.

[SuperMom]

Great stories everyone.
I can honestly say that when I started crabbing I knew nothing. My Snuggerpuddin(husband) and I were at the mall with our girls and there it was Crabby Island. The man selling them told me that all I had to do is give them fresh water, food, and table salt(yep table salt). I wanted them so bad my husband bought 2 of them and a small KK food, and 4 shells. The guy says now you have everything you need. When I got home I couldn't help but be sad for these poor little critters. The KK was so small that by the time I gave them food and water and their extra shells there was no room for them to walk. I decided that night that I would buy a bigger tank in the morning. In the mean time I went online. I was up all night spent about 8 hours reading and then I found LHC. The next morning I went to petco bought a 20 gal tank, a 10 gal for ISO, 4 more hermies, and everything else I needed plus. I ended up spending almost $300. I will say that I am glad I bought them before I learned how to take proper care of them cuz I probably would have never bought them if I did. Now, I couldn't imagine not having them.

[iluvhermies]

Okay, one day, me & my mom were at Colorado Mills Mall. We bought some stuff, more stuff, and than ate at the food court... After we ate we bought more stuff. That's when I saw it. I saw a kiosk called "Hermit Crab Land"!
"Mom, I'm gonna check this out OK?", I said. When I laid my eyes on them, I fell in love! Hermit Crabs! All sleeping, crawling around... I thought they were SUPER cute! I decided to buy one. That crab that I bought was TheSwrirlMister(aka Swirly). Right after we got home, I was smart enough to do some research.
"Oh, shoot! I need to get some friends for Swirly!" 2 days after that, I went back to the mall and bought PipSqueak(aka Pipi).(I still didn't know to much about them and I didn't let them destress . About 3 months later, I got BB, Bonnie ,and Luna. And That is how I became a hermie owner!
The End! LOL!

[mari61960]

I got my first 2 hermies about 25 yrs ago. I knew nothing, they died within 1month. I then saw them in a tourist shop and thought they would make a great take to work pet (I work with retarded adults) I still knew nothing (2yrs ago) I was sold 4 hermies(pp's), a wire round cage with rocks on the bottom, 2 shells one for food and one for a sponge & water, a jar of Hermit Crab Food, and a book. Well after reading the book I figured out there was alot more to keeping them than I had been told. I started reading more at the library and on line. I went to a 10 gal tank, w heater, gravel....still not getting it right...now I have it all together but it took a few months, lots of mistakes and many undue deaths . I have learned so much from the boards I have joined and sites I have researched I could never thank everyone enough

[CudaCrabby]

Awwwww these stories are so touching and wonderful, Mari i remember getting my first hermie over 25yrs ago all PPs back then, there was nothing out there to purchase for the proper care of them and also very very little info as well and yup i to knew nothing and lost mine quickly as well. All we had back 30 some odd yrs ago was the hermie some rocks and one of those plastic kidney shaped turtle bowls to put ours in. If it wasnt for people with carring/loveing hearts and also doing all the research they can to properly house and care for hermies i dont think we would have the hermies we all do today as we would still be in the dark about them. Its good we all have each other to suport one another and help when ever we can.

[Eric]

Very Great Stories, Thanks for sharing everybody.

Cappa

[SuperMom]

I just love stories with a happy ending.

[babyreba]

This is my first post here, and it seems like a good place to do an introductory post!

I got my first hermies about 15 years ago when I was in high school--I can't remember where we got them, but I remember we thought they would be neat pets to take care of. We kept them in a huge glass bowl full of gravel as I recall. We had them for a while, and looking back I'm surprised they lasted for the year or two we had them, considering their care was far from optimal!

But I always thought about them over the years, and earlier this year I decided I really wanted to get some again and started doing research on them. My BF thought I was crazy at first, but we went on vacation to Chincoteague Island in Virginia and we browsed all the tourist shops and looked at all the crabs and even he was won over! I was really kind of depressed about how the store owners really didn't seem to know much, if anything about taking good care of them them, so I got my two PPs on the island and since then I've been going to lots of pet store in my area and checking up on the conditions of the crabs and trying to talk (nicely) to the folks who work in the stores about better hermie care. I really had no idea I was getting into such addictive little companions!

I've now got nine crabs, 8 store bought and 1 jumbo Indo I adopted from a rescue who listed him on Petfinder!

[SuperMom]

I've been going to lots of pet store in my area and checking up on the conditions of the crabs and trying to talk (nicely) to the folks who work in the stores about better hermie care.
________________________________________________
First of all welcome to the forum it's great here lots of nice people.
I love your story and I have to say that I personaly think talking nicely gets more done. Most of the petstores don't like to be wrong, so rather than just coming right out and saying they're wrong. I simply start a nice conversation and let them know that I have been doing my homework on these cute little crabs . Then in a proper manner I let them know what they can do to improve their tanks rather than what is wrong (same thing I know). I have actually made a few friend at my local Petco .

Hope to see lots of ya...