Naked Oscar... Dead.

I woke up on Saturday morning to find Oscar sitting in the tank, naked. When he (yes, it's a male) saw me, he quickly ran towards Hermie who was hiding in Oscar's original shell. I saw him trying to climb on top of Hermie but gave up after a while. He just stared back at me, not moving at all.

I have a feeling Oscar was upset that Hermie took his shell. The two of them probably fought over that shell the night before and Oscar got injured. Not sure.

Anyway, I quickly took Hermie out of the tank so that he won't hurt his naked buddy. Meanwhile, I sprinkled a bit of water on Oscar to keep his gills moist. I also placed other empty shells near him so that he can quickly go into one of these shells (it is crucial for hermit crabs to be in their shells so that their body don't dry up and that their gills are kept moist).

After that, I placed the isolated Oscar in a dark corner and left it alone. I don't want my presence to stress him out further and hopefully, with the privacy, he would go back into a shell.

Few hours passed and I went to check on Oscar again. Unfortunately, he was still naked. So, I have no choice but to try to help him into a shell.

When I first touched Oscar, I freaked out a little bit because his whole body was so soft! His claws and legs were usually very hard and tough. Also, I'm not used to seeing him naked, it looked quite gross. His tail is really long and curled up and it's soft and purplish in colour. I noticed there were no signs of injury or wound. So, if he did get hurt, it's probably an internal injury.

Also, normally Oscar is quite aggressive and he'll try to pinch me whenever I hold him. However, when I held him then, he was very weak and could barely move. I tried referring to many hermit crab websites for all the techniques to coax a crab back into a shell, but none worked.

So, despite all my efforts, Oscar passed away at around 2pm. =(

I hope he's happy in Crab Heaven. I didn't bury it or give it a proper funeral. I placed his body in a container and brought it back to the shop where I got him. Since he's still under a one-month warranty, I was given a new crab in place of Oscar.

This new crab is so different from Oscar and Hermie. Will introduce it to you all in my next post. I have yet to give it a name. Some of my friends (mean mean fellas!) wanted me to give it a STD name, i.e. syphilis, gonorrhoea or sigh... herpes. Anyway, I'll think of something more creative. =)

Sorry for not posting Oscar's 'death pic' here. I just don't feel comfortable taking pictures of my dead naked crab. Hope you understand.

Bye bye, Oscar...



Few days ago, I did a thorough examination on Hermie. To my surprise, I found out that Hermie has got a missing leg!

I referred to the first pic I took of him (I posted the pic on my first post in my blog) and realised that Hermie has already lost his leg before I picked him up from the shop.

This naughty gangster must have been fighting with other crabs in the shop before I got him. Anyway, Hermie is doing well. He seems quite happy. I just hope that he won't miss Oscar too much and would try to get to know his new friend in the tank better.

Circle shows the part where Hermie's missing leg is supposed to be.



Now, I know this is totally irrelevant but yea, just to end this post on a lighter note:

A 'pau' a day keeps the doctor away! (char siew pau preferred). Go grab a pau now!
Yum... too bad u can't see the steam.