A Place of Refuge (for Hermit Crabs that is)

Yesterday I get a call from my friend Melanie. She had been on a trip to the beach this past weekend to be with family and said that they had collected shells on Saturday. Now, one of those shells was crawling around her car! Yes, a hermit crab. She asked if she could bring it over (because I am such an expert now on hermit crabs hehe)

Mel and the crab arrived and I had a salt water soak all set up for him, after all, he had been in a ziploc bag in her car since Saturday. He came out after a few minutes and was very cool looking. He has striped legs and is bigger than any of my land crabs.
Mel leaves only to return a few minutes later with the ziploc bag of shells. One of the other shells is grabbing the bag! Another Crab!

I prepare another bowl for the second crab. Luckily I had a spare cage from my past Hermit Crab fiascoes. So now I have my three in their regular cage and two more in another. Well the striped crabs from the ocean really need special care, online it said you have to create a subtropical environment for them, yeah right. I call Mel and then she calls the Aquatic store down the street, who (thank goodness) is going to take the ocean crabs and care for them.

So last night was the first night we had to turn on the heat. The poor crabs need the warm temperature and I didn't have a heat lamp for them. So I put them in the bathroom by our bedroom where it is warmer by the vents. All night I heard those crazy crabs!
The crabs are leaving today, so I will have a vacant cage again. And seeing as how I am such the expert now, I am happy to accommodate any future displaced crabs. ;)

I tried to take a picture of the Striped Crabs but it seems they are a bit camera shy. Here is a pic I found online of what they look like.