Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Houdini

Ok, So here's the amazing(well, to us anyhow!) story of Houdini the Hermit Crab.

Indian Key is home to a bunch of hermit crabs.  My cousin has brought some home as pets over the years,  they are really neat and they haven't died.  Now, she has brought some home from the pet store and those have died, but not the natural ones from Indian Key.  So after a few times of watching her and the kids take a couple home, I decided we need to have one for a pet, at least for a year.  An exchange student, if you will, for in exchange of Houdini's shell(a large bleeding tooth, that I covet!)and some entertainment, I will provide her with good food, water, a safe place to live and hide, a new shell and then return her to her original home in a year's time.  Isn't that a fair exchange?  How do I know it's a her, you ask?  Well, there are two holes on the underside of her veeeeeery back legs that means she's a girl.  If she was a boy, she wouldn't have them.  How did I happen to see those?  Ohhhhh, well, she was really stretching to reach something one day and I happened to be able to see underneath her legs and saw the holes, they look like little spots.  They have to come out of their shell quite a ways for you to see them.
Back to the story....
Zman and I picked Houdini up on Indian Key and put her in a cup to contain her and gave her some tamarinds to eat and a sponge to hang out on.  It filled up the cup alot, but since we were leaving that day I figured she would keep till I got her a larger cup.  When we got back to the car and loaded up, I checked the cup holder in which I had placed Houdini's cup and she was gone(we hadn't named her or known it was a her yet)!  My cousin can think like a hermit crab 'cause she has had a few, and we found her under the passenger side doormat.  OK.  Back into the cup.  We said our goodbyes then Zman and I headed down the road.  We stopped briefly for another goodbye and lo and behold, when we got back to the car she had escaped again!   At this point we named her Houdini, after the great escape artist.  We searched and searched the car and could NOT find her!  Every time we stopped, we looked for her.  When we got back to Granny's house, I tore the car apart, took everything out, and still couldn't find her!  "Well", I thought, "Maybe she fell out when we were shaking mats or towels or something...?"  I braced myself for the smell of rotting in the weeks to come, just in case.  I also didn't tell Sweetie Pie or The Rocket about her as they would be sad they almost had a hermit crab for a pet.
Three weeks go by.  Yes, you read that right! THREE WEEKS!  We were getting into the car one day and Sweetie Pie screams "MOM! THERE"S A HERMIT CRAB IN OUR CAR!!!!!!"  "Holey Moley!" I replied, "I can't believe Houdini survived!"  She looked at me incredulously and said "You know this crab????"  She and The Rocket were so excited!  I told them the story of the crab and about the original Houdini, then they understood the name.  That crab survived three weeks of no water, not really any food to speak of(except the crumbs and left over french fries and candy under the seats) and more importantly, the sweltering heat inside of a car left in the sun!  Resilient creatures hermit crabs are....
So now Houdini has her own beach condo that sits outside on our porch, complete with a pineapple, it's just not under the sea. However it does overlook the pool, if she can see that far... She eats all manner of things, and makes the neatest tracks in the sand.  She loves to climb and sleep in her pineapple.  She is incredibly strong, she rearranges the coral and digs little bunkers in the sand.  I put the exchange shell in her condo, she's not interested in it.  She may be holding out on me.....

For more information on Hermit Crabs, you can visit this site,  It's where I got most of my information from. I am looking forward(kind-of) to the release date, mostly because I feel bad taking her from her home and putting her in a confined area for our enjoyment, and she is alone.  I hope she is enjoying the solitude, when I see my cousin next, I'll ask her for one of her crabs to keep Houdini company.

1 comment:

D'Ache' said...

Of course she's going to hold onto it. You left her in the car for 3 weeks. :)