On my last day in Okinawa we went snorkeling in the ocean, and finished up before the tide came in. On the shore I managed to find a decent collection of shells- as many as my pockets could fit (I knew there was a reason why I had brought my husband’s swimming trunks instead of a proper bathing suit). Almost lost them too- on the drive back to Kei-san and Daisuke-san’s apartment, someone noticed something flapping from the roof of the van. Turned out to be said swimming trunks, hastily stashed on the roof while I was changing and then promptly forgotten about.

The day after arriving home in Tokyo I dumped the shells into a pot of water, thinking to clean them with a good boiling. But a minute or so after entering the water, several of the shells started sprouting little creepy crawlies.

Hermit crabs!

The shells had all seemed totally empty, but then again I had been looking for the original inhabitants- I hadn’t even considered that there might be hermit crabs.

There were seven in total, from a minuscule little cutie in a shell no larger than 1cm, to this big boy here:



Not knowing how to care for them, I turned to the internet. Which turned out to be no help at all, as the two types of hermit crabs (land and marine) require very different care and I couldn’t find a way to identify mine. A trip to the pet shop didn’t help either, but I picked up a small aquarium and some coral sand, vowing to take care of the little crabs as best I could.

But despite a thorough washing of the sand, removing the chlorine from the water, ensuring that the aquarium had both dry land and water, and giving them plenty of food (cucumber, seaweed and raw fish), 6 of them promptly expired.

I had high hopes for the survivor (the one in the picture above), but after a week he too kicked the bucket.

So these hermit crabs survived a few hours’ confinement in my pocket, a ride on the roof of a van, a day of being sealed up in a plastic bag, being tossed around in my suitcase, a few hours in an airplane cargo, and a near boiling alive. You’d think that, after all that, living a cushy life lounging around in an aquarium being hand-fed tuna sashimi would be a piece of cake. But no. I guess not everyone’s cut out for the good life.

But I’ve learned my lesson. Hermit crabs belong in the ocean, and so do any spiral-shaped shells that might house them.