Crabby "Crib" Upgrades

After the beachcombing trip a while back we ended up with quite a few whelk shells in various sizes, and by some miracle my ever picky violas finally decided to start shell swapping! The shells are all completely natural  beachworn and battered, some sporting barnacle clusters, but the crabs absolutely adore them. No perfect shop bought shells for these crabs, only the finest beach fresh will do. Crabby couture?

First to change was Rupert who naturally went for the biggest and best of the bunch.

Next to change was Sky, who has already been adding more of a curve to the shell for her eyes since this was taken.

One of the babies has also made their way into a tiny whelk, and as for Vandal, the mystery is solved and "he" is actually a girl!

Oliver decided to take one of the others recently vacated tatty old shells instead, and as usual Ninja and two of the other babies are still happiest in their oversized long spiral shells. 

Here come the Ruggies!

During the hunt for a suitable species buddy for Tara I found a local source for some very healthy and active little baby Ruggies. These little guys are absolutely miniscule, very active and are a beautiful range of colours that I hope will get even better over time with their new diet.

There are five, four I had chosen and one that came home due to a deformed leg from an issue hardening from the last moult, and every one is full of personality. They have been settled into their own tank with Tara and won't be kept with the violas at all, partly due to size, partly due to preference and partly due to me not wanting to risk the violas occasional desire to hunt with such tiny crabs. The little guys have been making the most of the rose, bamboo and Japanese maple sprigs that have been put in there, as well as the woven seagrass and water hyacinth climbing wall that I moved in from the main Viola tank.


                                                                    Little injured leg.

Facebook Picture Competition

The first ever Crabby Cravings picture competition is now on at our facebook page!
To enter like our page then message up to three pictures of your choice, with the crab names and species. Each picture will be uploaded to our entries album to be voted on via likes until the end of June 2013.

Two prizes will be awarded, one to the picture with the most likes at the competition end and the other to a picture chosen by us! The prizes are a pair of our hermit crab fan magnets available in the shop giftware section, one with the slogan "I  Hermit Crabs" and the other "Home is where the hermies are", plus three free bags of our own range of popcorns with the next order from us!

The magnets will be sent out for free via RM 1st class to UK based winners, shipping and taxes etc will be at the winners cost if outside the UK, and unfortunately the three bags of popcorn will not be available to winners outside the UK. The popcorn prize may be passed onto a UK based friend at winners discretion in these circumstances.

Three entries per person, sharing asking for likes is acceptable but vote beg spamming, the use of multiple accounts and buying votes will result in immediate disqualification, as will the use of pictures that are not your own.

Click here to enter

MORE Violas?

Ruggies are a species I particularly love and have wanted to keep for a while now, so when a shop considered a good choice had some in I decided to take the plunge and order.
The crabs that arrived have bounced back and seem healthy, but when I opened the pots the bright reds made it apparent right away these are no ruggies!

Due to the stress of posting I decided it was best for the crabs welfare for them to stay here, so now we have another three baby violas and a PP. The baby violas have all started colour transition in at least one area, and the PP is fairly pale in colour but very alert if shy.

One of the violas is in this beautiful grey shell, the other two are in the long black ones identical to Ninja's. This little one is nicknamed "Psycho" as a bit of a joke. 

This is Tara, the beautiful little PP who will now need a species buddy. 

All the crabs are settling in well.