In 2005, I figuratively and literally gave up one of my all-time favorite hobbies: caring for grapefruit-sized jumbo hermit crabs.It was a literal sacrifice because I gave away my biggest crabs (named Grover and Wilbur) to one of my students (who was an incredibly smart and knowledgeable enthusiast). Nate was only in middle school yet was sure that his senior project would be dedicated to the study of them. His knowledge base rivaled that of my own, and--after being the faculty adviser for the Hermit Crab Club which he established--I entrusted their welfare to him.
It was a figurative sacrifice for me because giving up these precious hermit crabs meant giving up a hobby that I greatly enjoyed. Was it a nerdy, weird pastime? Of course. But I didn't care. And, when I helped to establish the Hermit Crab Association back in 2001, I knew I wasn't the only weird girl out there who found their little eye stalks to be irresistibly adorable. :-)
But I gave up these gentle giants anyhow because (I thought, incorrectly) I was moving on to bigger and better things in life. [No pun intended.]
I kept the other 3 small and medium-sized crabs I had because they took up less space and were easier to care for, but--gradually, over time--various unfortunate incidences of difficult molts and mistaken cannibalism left me with only Fragile Flossie, who I thankfully still have today.
She is growing rapidly and is a bundle of activity and good health, but--in the 7 years that I've had her--Flossie has only grown from the size of a pencil eraser to the size of a penny, and it's hard to communicate with someone when you still have to squint to see her.
So, when I jetted off to the beach spontaneously with Shawn and Andy this weekend, I suggested we go to Rehoboth, simply because--as of 4 years ago--that beach's boardwalk has had the best and largest hermit crabs for sale. [Trust me. Between 2001 and 2005, I did a systematic sweep of the Northeast Coast beaches to come to this conclusion.]
Over the last many years, the presence of jumbo hermit crabs has rapidly and significantly decreased, even in my beloved Rehoboth. This is, unfortunately, due to the unregulated harvestation of hermit crabs from the Carribean. So I knew the chances of me finding a grapefruit-sized goodie was slim. In fact, in the last two summers spent at the beach, I hadn't even seen a single crab bigger than a plum. *sigh*But I carried an empty bird cage with me anyhow, living on a prayer. And even when I told the guys I would be heading to the public restrooms to (illegally) change into my bathing suit, they thought I was nuts for lugging the cage along with me.
And although the crab cages I had already paroozed in various stores were all sans jumbos, as I approached the restrooms, my memories from 2001 suddenly tugged at my heartstrings.
A non-descript, looks-like-all-the-others beach shop (called Ryan's Gems & Junk) was to my right, and wasn't this the place in which I had discovered most of the jumbos from my past? Why should a store that looks like all the others (selling an array of flip-flops, beach chairs, and boogie boards) be a secret stash of the Northeast beaches' largest hermit crabs? And, just because it once was, would it still be this today?
Perhaps this store's manager ordered his crabs from a different company than Florida Marine Research; or, maybe it was that he checked off the little box that said "jumbos" on the FMR order form, even though requesting these would probably cost extra money and patience.Either way, THERE HE WAS, tucked snugly in the back of the cage, his presence visible to me only because I caught a glimpse of his leg tip, poking out from under a gargantuous shell (that was probably thought by most children and parents to be a giant shell decoration for the cage, and certainly nobody's portable home).
Indeed, he was for sale, and he would cost only $11, if I wanted to adopt him. I could not have been more thankful, and I instantly paid for him! Hermit crabs really do not come any bigger than this guy, and I figured he needed a name that was as monumental as his size.
And so I named him Reginald Rutherford, mostly because I couldn't decide between the two names, and also because I wanted the option to simply call him "Reggie."
So far, Rutherford has enjoyed eating raisins out of my hand, and last night he gobbled up a 1-inch by 1-inch square of savory honey baked ham. He has already run circles around my apartment (although at that slow, sleepy hermit crab pace, of course).
So this morning, before leaving for class, I safely secured him in my bathroom so that he could walk around all day today. But, on my daily commute, the girl in the apartment beneath me called to say that she suspected a rodent or something was loose in the floor boards between our apartments! Haha!I had to tell her that the sound was the drag of a heavy shell across linoleum. Not to fear! It was merely Reginald Rutherford! :-)
[Ryan's Gems & Junk is located on the boardwalk near Delaware Avenue and can be reached at 302-227-3797.]
