Hermit crabs and cowry shells...

A few ladies at work have beta fish in thier offices, there's three of them to be exact. Another lady has a hermit crab in a tub in her office. The hermit crab has all kinds of shells and such and gravel and what have you laying around. Kathy, the hermit crabs owner, seems very proud of her crab, God only knows why.

At any rate, Easter weekend, those ladies were doing to be gone for a three day weekend. They asked me to feed the beta fish on Saturday, as the fish apparently can't go that long without food. I've done it for them before, dropped some of the food into the bowls and watched most of it float down right past the stupid fish and settle on the bottom. I don't know that the fish go down to get it later or not, could they think like that? Maybe they can think like that, what do I know about fish? I won a goldfish every year at the carnival and it was dead within a week, that's what I know about fish. Oh, that and broiled haddock is pretty tasty.

But I digress. I fed the fish as requested. this week, when I went into thier offices, Kathy, the hermit crab owner, accused of being a crab killer. She said when she came in, her crab was laying in the middle of the tub, all cold and unmoving. SO she cleaned it out. And the strangest thing, she picked up the crab's usual home, and she could hear something rattling around in there. And when she looked, she could see his claws still there, but they were all white. He was so sick, not only did he die, but he came undone from his claws. I felt a bit sad for her, but I knew I hadn't done anything, and she had already cleaned the tub out and threw everything away and all.

Well, the next day, when one of the beta-fish ladies heard about this, she got online and checked some things out. Turns out, hermit crabs molt. Their old skin falls off, and thier new skin is white and cold until it gets used to the heat and the light and stuff. So, what we thought was a dead hermit crab was actually just it's molted skin, and the white claws? They were the real crab still inside its shell, alive and adjusting to its new skin.

Right before it got tossed in the trash and thrown out.

Now, we ALL know who IS a crab killer and who isn't! (I did get an apology from Kathy, even though I hadn't taken anything seriously. Still, nice to know you won't be known around the office as the Pet Killer.)

POLT

I got rid of my teeth at a young age because I'm straight. Teeth are for gay people, that's why fairies come and get them. - Master Shake, Aqua Teen Hunger Force