Every other shell we picked up on Jekyll island had huge hermit crabs inside. So we neatly put them right back down again. We even picked up one small little shell and saw a baby crab blown across the sand from under it. But this shell was empty; so we decided to take it home.
While waiting in carline the afternoon I wanted to check on the shell; just in case. I got out of the front seat; opened the back door; leaned over; opened the console between their seats; turned the shell over and..............saw a dust covered hermit crab sticking out.
Eeeeeeeeeeeeeekkkk! I almost immediately put it back down because I swore something was crawling over my foot and up the side of my leg. Of course the moment they got inside the car they opened the console and continued studying it; the difference being I now knew there was a hermit crab inside the shell!
"Mommy, it is moving!"
"Put it down, please!" I demanded while visions of the befuddled crab escaping the confines of the console and scuttling under the driver's seat, never to be found again, swam through my mind.
"We need a habitat for the hermit crab!" said Fudge.
"I will get some sand from the sandbox and figure out the rest once we get home."
"We can "goggle" the internet and see what we need to feed it!" said Caramel.
"Yes, we can GOOGLE the internet and see what we need!" I reiterated, thinking to self the internet did not even exist when I was six years old.
"What about crab food?" Caramel suggested.
"Yeah, crab food will do the trick!" I said with a smile.
We got sand and a shell together and I went to get the crab from the car. Once I was holding it over the sand (so I can drop it in a split second if needed) I shook it a little bit just to see if it was alive and the poor, shriveled up little crab fell out of the shell.
The disappearance of the hermit crab came to a solemn and abrupt end! Any thoughts of adopting another pet evaporated like mist under the sun. It was replaced with thoughts of the story he had to share with Saint Peter once he arrived at the pearly gates! I think it would've made some best seller list for sure.
