Crabnapping!

Last Saturday afternoon I went on a bay/ocean cruise where we headed to a couple of uninhabited islands to shell. Sand Dollar Island was a bust as far as its namesakes were concerned -- a few were found offshore but on the sand it was mainly bivalves and angel wings. I did find a cool skate egg case. Our next stop proved a bit more fruitful although unbroken shells were few and far between. I found a (mostly whole) fig shell and a slipper shell, more angel wings, a bright yellow coquina and one I couldn't identify -- either some kind of murex or whelk.

In my closets, I have boxes and boxes of shells that I've collected over the years so I didn't bring too many home. This morning (Tuesday) I was unpacking my travel tote and put my plastic bag of shells on the kitchen table. Not long after, Jack came into my office and said, "Your shells are making noise and moving." Naw! But I went into the kitchen and opened the sack, moving the shells around. Nothing. Then I saw the murex/whelk wiggle. Pulling it out of the sack, I was just in time to see little hairy claws retracting into the curled recess.

Yep, the stowaway was a hermit crab. He's very shy -- but probably very hungry and thirsty! I carried the shell out to try to take his picture -- unlike Miley Cyrus, he wasn't interested in exposure! We took him over to our grandson Alex who is the animal kid in our family. Then we took Alex to the pet shop. Thirty-five dollars later, we have a terrarium, sand, soil, a water dish, water conditioner, food, sponge, spare shell and an instruction book for the free crab! What a deal!