Tonight we headed over to I and A’s for dinner and, as chance would have it, a spot of karaoke.
I & A live in this great house on what when compared to Jakarta seems like a half a sheep station. They’ve got bats and bugs, chooks (no birdflu) and dogs and their lovely daughter B (Happy Birthday B!) has great pets — two hermit crabs!
When I was a child we went through all the main pets — rabbits, guinea pigs, budgies, cats and dogs, but we never had a hermit crab.
They’re so stupid you don’t need to worry about training them — and even if you do try they just retract into their shell — so all you need do is feed them (B confided that they like apple the best) and give them a little water – to drink — not to swim in.
Then, every few months you need to drop in a shell a little larger so that the crab can move house and grow a little bit bigger.
I was watching B play with her little hermits (she has two) and found myself thinking what a great pet — no crap to clean up out of the back yard (perhaps I should recomend them to Grandma), they’re apparenly very cheap — there’s a lot of seafood to go before hermit crabs get to $20 a kilo and, best of all they don’t bark, meeaow or make any other irritating per noise…
I couldn’t believe it — the perfect pet!
That was until I pointed out they can live to 45 years old and can weigh 10kgs… that’s a big shell!