Painted Hermit Crabs - To Paint or Not To Paint

Mother nature has a wonderful way of creating and displaying her beauty to the world, but we took it upon ourselves to spice things up a bit by inventing painted hermit crabs! And you know what, it was a great idea all made possible by the way these nifty little guys survive.

Like all crustaceans they lack a backbone and unlike most they lack a hard calcified shell so mother nature provided them with an exoskeleton - a tough outer layer.

In addition, to protect itself from it's enemies in the wild they need a home and this is quite ingenious because it uses a shell or what I like to call a Winnebego! This not only protects the little fellas but it also makes them mobile! A home on wheels! Whoo Hoo!

Painted hermit crabs use land or marine snail shells to live inside. Their home is so important to them that they would rather fight to the death than abandon their shell.

As we'll see soon having a mobile home is a real benefit to the crabs in the wild but a little bit of a downer for the painted hermit crabs in captivity.

Anyhow, it is percisely because of this quirk of nature that some crab enthusists or entrepreneurs can paint snail shells and sell them to folks like us.

Hey this is just a call between "Joey the Claw" (my hermit crab) and an emergency response operator - Joey asked that I include it to lighten things up! If only they could really speak!

Hello 911 What's your emergency?

I'm stuck to my shell

Who's calling please?

I'm one of those painted hermit crabs. You know the ones you see in the pet store window. My name's Joey the Claw - my friends call me Joey.

How did you get stuck Joey?

Ah ... I moved into a wet shell ... the paint hadn't dried on the inside .... I've no idea what to do ....can you help me?

We need to get you out of there. Are you injured in any way?

I can't move my right claw and I can't move in or out of my shell .....please help me ....my friends say if I can't get loose I'll die!