Ahoy! Long ramble ahead. So I've found myself with an interesting combination of spare space, tank equipment, and live rock that I've been curing since last year. Extra space? Extra equipment? Extra rock?! You know what THAT means....hur hur 
My husband and I have been looking for something to fill the gap in our lives left by the huge angry swimming crab we had for quite some time, and an LFS got a hitch-hiker crab that seemed like a good bet. Of course, by the time we got to the store, it found a hole in one of the rocks just big enough to fit all the way in with only a claw hanging out. I didn't really feel like buying an 8lb piece of LR for one crab (8lbs at $8/lb...no thanks
). However, a frantic couple came running into the saltwater section with a bucket and a queen conch shell. Apparently they just got off a plane from the Bahamas, where they had been collecting shells on a beach. But, they didn't check to make sure shells were the only thing they were collecting. Some amount of time and a plane flight later, they opened a suitcase to see a bunch of hairy legs coming out of one of the shells and immediately went running to the nearest pet store.
I probably didn't put the best foot forward by hearing "Bahamas," "hairy legs," and "conch shell" and immediately trying to barter the thing off of them while they were still trying to figure out what it was and if it was alive. Fortunately the store people managed to convince the couple that I wasn't a complete lunatic wanting to eat the mystery beast for lunch or something. They put it up to fate that the hermit showed up at the same time the crazy snail and hermit crab lady came looking for a new mean beastie, and so home I went with a free, new hairy-leg-containing conch shell (...and some other stuff, since my husband had to go look at the freshwater section while i was trying to get the hermit dagnit).
Unfortunately, to take it on the short trip from suitcase to pet store, the couple put about a cup's worth of tap water in the bucket with the hermit (whyyyy???! Why why why why...) and it was still rather desiccated after who knows how long out of the water plus the time spent on the plane, so it's got some recovering to do. It's showing some temporary paralysis from the desiccation but by now is mobile enough to have had a go at my finger twice. From the looks of him I'm guessing he's Paguristes punticeps, although I've never seen one of those up close before, so I'm not 100% sure. Desiccation followed by a trip through airport baggage scanners and a dunk in chlorinated water is a lot to go through, but I have my fingers crossed that the hermit will be alright. I brought one other hermit back from a much worse state (dried out to the point of being like crab-jerky), so the odds can't be too bad.
Moral of this story: it's a really good idea to look inside that shell BEFORE you put it in your suitcase if you don't want to open it later and see an alien looking back at you.
My husband and I have been looking for something to fill the gap in our lives left by the huge angry swimming crab we had for quite some time, and an LFS got a hitch-hiker crab that seemed like a good bet. Of course, by the time we got to the store, it found a hole in one of the rocks just big enough to fit all the way in with only a claw hanging out. I didn't really feel like buying an 8lb piece of LR for one crab (8lbs at $8/lb...no thanks
). However, a frantic couple came running into the saltwater section with a bucket and a queen conch shell. Apparently they just got off a plane from the Bahamas, where they had been collecting shells on a beach. But, they didn't check to make sure shells were the only thing they were collecting. Some amount of time and a plane flight later, they opened a suitcase to see a bunch of hairy legs coming out of one of the shells and immediately went running to the nearest pet store. I probably didn't put the best foot forward by hearing "Bahamas," "hairy legs," and "conch shell" and immediately trying to barter the thing off of them while they were still trying to figure out what it was and if it was alive. Fortunately the store people managed to convince the couple that I wasn't a complete lunatic wanting to eat the mystery beast for lunch or something. They put it up to fate that the hermit showed up at the same time the crazy snail and hermit crab lady came looking for a new mean beastie, and so home I went with a free, new hairy-leg-containing conch shell (...and some other stuff, since my husband had to go look at the freshwater section while i was trying to get the hermit dagnit).
Unfortunately, to take it on the short trip from suitcase to pet store, the couple put about a cup's worth of tap water in the bucket with the hermit (whyyyy???! Why why why why...) and it was still rather desiccated after who knows how long out of the water plus the time spent on the plane, so it's got some recovering to do. It's showing some temporary paralysis from the desiccation but by now is mobile enough to have had a go at my finger twice. From the looks of him I'm guessing he's Paguristes punticeps, although I've never seen one of those up close before, so I'm not 100% sure. Desiccation followed by a trip through airport baggage scanners and a dunk in chlorinated water is a lot to go through, but I have my fingers crossed that the hermit will be alright. I brought one other hermit back from a much worse state (dried out to the point of being like crab-jerky), so the odds can't be too bad.
Moral of this story: it's a really good idea to look inside that shell BEFORE you put it in your suitcase if you don't want to open it later and see an alien looking back at you.
