I had acquired somewhere in the neighborhood of 10-12 hermit crabs when I learned, for the first time, that hermit crabs are harvested directly from the wild. I stood gazing into the tank. Every one of these crabs had been roaming a beach somewhere, probably in another country. The largest of my clan, a very big robust fellow was probably in his 20s or 30s. It was a horrifying moment. As a long time pet lover and pet owner, wild harvested animals were on a very specific and firm list of animals I would never own. It was precisely this reason that I never looked into getting a salt water tank. Too many tropical fish are wild harvested.

Now, this is only my opinion. We all make our own philosophies for ourselves. However the fact remains, that each hermit crab owner must make the decision of whether or not to buy crabs from a commercial pet store. The journey a crab takes from beach to petstore is not a pleasant one. They are collected in burlap sack where they may sit for days, even weeks as the harvesters work to meet their minimum load. Then it's time spent crated, shipped, delivered and unpacked. To add to the difficulty, most pet store setups don't meet basic humidity, temp, or water requirements and the crabs are additionally stressed because of this.

Armed with this knowledge, a hermit crab owner should never find themselves in front of the crab tank at the local petstore. Yet, there we stand, chatting with the petsmart worker who knows us by sight as the "crab lady". (Not that this has ever happened to me . . . um ever. Yeah, right.) And as we dig through each of the crabs in the tank, we find that one. You guys all know the one. He's feisty. He's usually missing a few limbs. He's social. He's usually got some hideous shell strapped to his back that you just know could be replaced with a turbo you have at home that is *just* the right size.

Then the cold pangs of guilt hit you. You take Snappy home (no, I don't know when he got a name) and you are supporting an industry you swore you would never contribute money to. You leave him here, it is practically a death sentence. If you are like me, sometimes you walk away, sometimes you bring him home, and sometimes you bring him and 4 of his friends.

Look, there is no right answer on this one. Your head tells you that buying them isn't right. You can sign up as an adoptor but they just don't turn up very often. Your heart tells you that this little feisty guy needs a chance and you've got a wonderful setup that could make his crappy day into something not so bad. Both are right. You're not a horrible person for buying that crab. You're not the perfect crab mama for walking away. Each day is a struggle, take it day by day, and case by case. You have to pick your battles. And today, I decided that this battle was better fought *for* Snappy, rather than for all of hermit crab kind. Who knows? Maybe next time will be different, or maybe next time I'll get Snappy a friend named Pinchy. (Note: I had to hold his shell to make him stand still, he's feisty I tell ya!)