Surprise Surprise

The hermit crab that we thought was dead turns out to be alive and well!

In early December, I moved the hermit crab upstairs so that I could decorate for Christmas.  And then we forgot about it and only occasionally remembered to feed it and give it fresh water.  Partly, we forgot about him because of where he was situated; and partly we forgot about him because he was basically hibernating, buried under the coconut fiber substrate of his enclosure.  Either way, by early February, I suddenly remembered him and checked to see if he was alive.  He was buried under the water dish.  Usually, when he buries himself, he carves out a little fox-hole with room to move around and breathe.  But when I lifted the water dish, he was completely covered and surrounded by dirt.  I lifted him out, and saw absolutely no movement, not even the drawing-in that he usually does when he's picked up.  He was dead. 

I told Maddie and she cried, mostly because she thought we were going to have to throw away his shell, which is her favorite color.  After promising that we would bury him in the garden when the ground thawed, I replaced him in the hole and left him. 

This morning, as I was heading downstairs, I heard a clicking-clinking sound that I hadn't heard in quite a while.  Could it be?  Was that the sound of shells clacking together?  I turned around and examined the hermit crab enclosure.  Sure enough, there was the crab, out of the soil and leaning up against the water dish.

I announced, "It's Alive!"

"What is?" the children exclaimed excitedly, not knowing why they should be excited, but excited nonetheless. 

"The hermit crab!" I exclaimed right back.

And we spent the next 30 minutes cleaning his box and preparing food and water.  Once he was inside, he happily started exploring, just as if he'd never been dead! We watched him for 15 or 20 minutes or so.

In honor of his resurrection, we made some pictures and wrote some stories about the hermit crab.  Here they are.

by Angelyn
The hermit crab is at the beach.  He likes to eat coconuts. 
He is called a lepperd crab because he has teh same printes a lepperd has.

by Madelyn
Hermit cerab is wec and tird.  He is geting too his food bol.

(Hermit crab is weak and tired.  He is getting to his food bowl.)