Meet our new additions

When our fish died a few weeks ago, I immediately thought I'd get a new one on our next Wal-mart run. We have had a Betta fish for the the past seven years, so it seemed natural. Then our neighbor friends came home from their trip to North Carolina with two Hermit Crabs. My mind was then altered. I remembered there was a kiosk at the mall called Crab Mania. Months ago I had stopped and inquired about the crabs, the costs and of course their life expectancy. The guy actually told me they could live up to 2o years, which didn't make me more inclined to buy one. It made me think I don't like long term, committed relationships when it comes to pets. While I knew the boys would LOVE to get one, I wasn't buying....yet. But it got me thinking. I mean doesn't every kid need some sort of a pet to take to show and tell or write about in their journals? I thought so.

I brought up the idea about getting a crab with they boys and they loved it. They wanted to rush out and get one right then. When we left for Utah I promised them we would get two (they need a friend!) upon our return. Today was the big day and while the boys complained and whined about going into the mall (who doesn't like a surprise) they were ecstatic when they realized why we were shopping. They picked two crabs, one with fish painted on the shell, the other has red and black spots. Josh informed me that they were both girls. I would say it's a 50/50 guess. Josh and Matt named the fish crab Shelly and the other is Pincher. She earned her name when she grabbed on tight to Trey's finger five minutes after we got them home.

I think this will be fun. I love Hermit Crabs. Growing up I would search for them at the beach in San Diego with my family. The girls were squealing and chasing them when we let them crawl on the carpet. Josh carried the little container up to their bedroom tonight so they could sleep in their room. They are fun and hopefully a low maintenance pet. We'll wait and see. At least we have a guaranteed 14 days of bliss, since they'll replace them for free if they die before then! We'll let you know how it goes.