I have crabs!

These are my hermit crabs, Shelly and Claude. We adopted them in Ocean City, Maryland over the summer. Shelly is currently inhabiting the shell with the glow-in-the-dark flowers painted on it, and Claude is in the impenetrable white shell with the spikes. Shelly was in the one with flowers when I picked her out, and Claude was in this groovy one painted like a tiger. They've switched shells a million times since then, and I always keep their big house well stocked with spare shells (this house used to have plastic tree branches that Shelly used to climb on, but she escaped out of one of the air holes one day and was found behind a dresser so the branches were taken out). I actually got to see Claude change shells the first time he did it. It was very fast as they're pretty vulnerable without their shells, and they're also pretty ugly. They have a total of 10 legs, including one big old pincher claw that they use for climbing and covering themselves when they slink back into their shells and a small claw used for feeding. They're kind of boring, especially when it's a little chilly. They don't like the cold weather, so they're more active in their houses when it's warm. They like to climb, so I bought them a little play cage that's made of wire mesh so they can hang out. The big sponges in their cages are loofahs, on which they can climb or hide under because they like to burrow and their gravel isn't quite deep enough for that.
They're a bit shy, so it was tough to get a picture of one of them out of the shell. Usually when you go near them and they're out, you hear the typical combination, which means that they suck back into their shells and usually fall off of whatever they were on.
They might be kind of boring and maybe kind of gross, but I like my crabs. They're neat pets and easy to take care of. You can buy hermit crab food and treats very cheaply and they don't eat much. As long as they always have fresh water and you mist and dunk them every once in a while they're fine. I kind of thought that they would be like those goldfish you win at a fair, where they die the next day. But we've had them for maybe two months, and they're fine. There have been reports of them living for 13 years, so who knows.