My hermit crab died

By Dan Cahoon
Posted Saturday, August 25, 2007

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Moncure, NC - It really did. No family member has come forward to tell me but I know that it is true. I am not too broken up about it. I know that it has died because I found it’s dried out carcass on a paper towel on my kitchen counter, next to the new hermit crab habitat and the recent butterfly and wayward lizard containment system. At first I thought it
was a shrimp, lost and forlorn.

My hermit crab (which, honestly, I have never really seen or bonded with) was the smaller one and tended to burrow deeply in the sand of it’s small, yet humid enclosure. I was assured by all other members of my family (who had extensively researched the care and feeding of hermit crabs) that this behavior was “perfectly normal”. I think I will live, but it does make me think about some recent animal surplus problems I have heard about.

I know many who have rescued kittens and dogs locally. I have heard how some other people are seen dropping these animals off at convenient locations like parks and river access areas. This is very bad behavior. I don’t think anyone who does this sort of thing takes the time to read posts on this chatlist (they would be ashamed if they did), and I doubt my words make a difference but please please please be good pet owners.

Have you animal spayed or neutered at the earliest opportunity. If you have chosen to adopt an animal then take the time and find the resources to make that animal unable to reproduce. It should be a law. I weep when I see sweet and loving pets left on roadsides and culdesacs. Dumping unwanted animals at public sites is a crime. I know
I can’t save every animal (human or otherwise) but I feel responsible for those creatures that are dependent upon my care or the care of others.

Thank you to C.A.R.E., the Humane Society, our county animal shelter Chatham County Animal Control) and the many individuals who care. We need you.