Hermit Crab 101

It has been a big day in the lives of two of the Gray hermit crabs. Here is a little hermit crab 101 for those of you who have never had a hermit crab. During their lives they change shells. They out grow the shell they are in and if given some extra shells, will check them out and move into a bigger shell. Occasionally, they'll fight another crab if one crab has a shell the other one wants. Three of our four crabs have done just that. I'll throw some new shells in and then check back and they will have moved on and put on a bigger shell. Zack has one particularly picky crab who has thumbed his crab nose up at every shell I've ever offered. He has stayed crammed into the same shell for the past year and a half. Well, finally last night I threw an old Shrek shell in and the kids and I actually witnessed him check it out and then move in. This is pretty amazing because crabs, we found out, are nocturnal and actually seeing a crab doing anything remotely interesting is about zilch unless you wake them up during the day. We've all been excited at this big news. Well, Ansley gets up this morning and is hysterical because her crab has abandoned his big shell and is missing. Can't find him anywhere. Where is he? In a much smaller shell, huh??? Here's a picture of Hermit the second, now Shrek; Spot who used to be Shrek; Kermit now Pearl and Smiley, now Rainbow. I can't keep up.