Post by Sach-Crabministrator on May 6, 2010 21:34:28 GMT -5
Warning: Very Graphic
Okay, so when it came time to bury Cartman, my son volunteered to be the one to try & get her out of her shell for me. After he'd dug the hole (& I'd hit my head on the hanging bag with Cartman in the coconut...long story), he started trying to shake her out of her shell. He came to tell me I needed to come look because she'd torn in half. I came out to look and was flabbergasted. The part of her that we'd seen had been huge. When I saw the size of her body where she "came out" of her shell, I was truly amazed. There's no way to describe it. I expected her "waist" (so to speak) to be smaller, but not by such a large margin. When my son went to shake her out of her shell, her heavier end just tore away. We had to pick the back end of her out of the shell; it was so compacted in there. When Pikachu died, his back half slid out and was small and shriveled. Cartman's was still stuffed into the shell as if it had been packed into it. We got her out in pieces. As one bit would pull loose from the rest of her, the next piece would shake down towards the shell hole to get caught. She really was too big for the shell, even after death. After we got all her pieces out, (I say "we" but that means I directed while my son used tweezers and a plastic bag) I noticed there was still something packed into the shell. As we used the tweezers and a stick (we noticed it was mush before we knew for certain what it was)to scrape it out, I noticed that it was crab poop. The blob that we got was bigger around than a dime. If it were rolled into a ball, it would have been about the size of a marble, maybe bigger. I've seen crab poop, so I know the color and it was obviously not part of her body, and was the last thing in her shell after her body. It was the consistency of baby food, or wet cat food (the mushy kind). I started thinking about all of these things in combination with the stuff I already knew/observed about Cartman & hermit crabs in general. Although I never knew exactly how they got their poop out of their shells, I saw Godzilla dropping some into a corner the first week we got him, so I knew they kept it in their shell and then somehow got it out & disposed of it. The fact that Cartman seemed to have so much built up in her shell bothered me. It seemed like she'd been unable to get it out. I thought it might have rotted/contaminated her tail or back half of her abdomen. Seing her rip apart the way she did made me realize she really was stuck in her shell. Not stuck like Pikachu was, but like someone with a broken ankle who has to have their shoe cut off of their swollen foot. I kinda figured this stuff out just from observing (I am a big science/forensics/CSI/pathology buff-I just couldn't do it on "someone" I knew ) but after talking with one of my members, she told me how they get rid of the poop (normally) and that they can be "shell bound". It all fit with what I observed with Cartman. I don't know if having this knowledge when I got her would have made a difference or not, but I know that I was called to bring her home when I first saw her. At the very least, she taught me some things about hermit crabs that I have heard no mention of on any other forum I have visited. I also know (especially after seeing the poop) that she ate well in her time with us and had good friends, both crab and human alike. She also made a feline friend in Frodo. I just can't help but wonder if having more choices of shells for her would have made a difference....if all the "good eats" made her grow even more in her time with us. I know that she was overdue for a molt and that in the end, that may have been what killed her; trying to molt and being unable to dislodge from her shell enough. I don't know. I wanted to share this info, see if anyone else has any insights (Mel, feel free to weigh in with what you already told me-so others can know, too) and see if there's anything I missed. The part that makes me the most angry? I knew she'd been in captivity too long (by the size of her in comparison to her shell) when I got her, but knowing what I do now, it bothers me that places like Superpetz are allowed to get away with this kind of stuff. Had she been a puppy kept in something so small as to be trapped or decomposed by her own feces, they'd be found criminally liable. Maybe we should see what can be done to change laws regarding critters like hermit crabs at pet shops.
Okay, so when it came time to bury Cartman, my son volunteered to be the one to try & get her out of her shell for me. After he'd dug the hole (& I'd hit my head on the hanging bag with Cartman in the coconut...long story), he started trying to shake her out of her shell. He came to tell me I needed to come look because she'd torn in half. I came out to look and was flabbergasted. The part of her that we'd seen had been huge. When I saw the size of her body where she "came out" of her shell, I was truly amazed. There's no way to describe it. I expected her "waist" (so to speak) to be smaller, but not by such a large margin. When my son went to shake her out of her shell, her heavier end just tore away. We had to pick the back end of her out of the shell; it was so compacted in there. When Pikachu died, his back half slid out and was small and shriveled. Cartman's was still stuffed into the shell as if it had been packed into it. We got her out in pieces. As one bit would pull loose from the rest of her, the next piece would shake down towards the shell hole to get caught. She really was too big for the shell, even after death. After we got all her pieces out, (I say "we" but that means I directed while my son used tweezers and a plastic bag) I noticed there was still something packed into the shell. As we used the tweezers and a stick (we noticed it was mush before we knew for certain what it was)to scrape it out, I noticed that it was crab poop. The blob that we got was bigger around than a dime. If it were rolled into a ball, it would have been about the size of a marble, maybe bigger. I've seen crab poop, so I know the color and it was obviously not part of her body, and was the last thing in her shell after her body. It was the consistency of baby food, or wet cat food (the mushy kind). I started thinking about all of these things in combination with the stuff I already knew/observed about Cartman & hermit crabs in general. Although I never knew exactly how they got their poop out of their shells, I saw Godzilla dropping some into a corner the first week we got him, so I knew they kept it in their shell and then somehow got it out & disposed of it. The fact that Cartman seemed to have so much built up in her shell bothered me. It seemed like she'd been unable to get it out. I thought it might have rotted/contaminated her tail or back half of her abdomen. Seing her rip apart the way she did made me realize she really was stuck in her shell. Not stuck like Pikachu was, but like someone with a broken ankle who has to have their shoe cut off of their swollen foot. I kinda figured this stuff out just from observing (I am a big science/forensics/CSI/pathology buff-I just couldn't do it on "someone" I knew ) but after talking with one of my members, she told me how they get rid of the poop (normally) and that they can be "shell bound". It all fit with what I observed with Cartman. I don't know if having this knowledge when I got her would have made a difference or not, but I know that I was called to bring her home when I first saw her. At the very least, she taught me some things about hermit crabs that I have heard no mention of on any other forum I have visited. I also know (especially after seeing the poop) that she ate well in her time with us and had good friends, both crab and human alike. She also made a feline friend in Frodo. I just can't help but wonder if having more choices of shells for her would have made a difference....if all the "good eats" made her grow even more in her time with us. I know that she was overdue for a molt and that in the end, that may have been what killed her; trying to molt and being unable to dislodge from her shell enough. I don't know. I wanted to share this info, see if anyone else has any insights (Mel, feel free to weigh in with what you already told me-so others can know, too) and see if there's anything I missed. The part that makes me the most angry? I knew she'd been in captivity too long (by the size of her in comparison to her shell) when I got her, but knowing what I do now, it bothers me that places like Superpetz are allowed to get away with this kind of stuff. Had she been a puppy kept in something so small as to be trapped or decomposed by her own feces, they'd be found criminally liable. Maybe we should see what can be done to change laws regarding critters like hermit crabs at pet shops.