Meet My New Riki

Last Thursday my frens (Fakry and Jalil) and I went to a downtown bazaar located in front the Mines (they feel bored cuz their TV broke down so they're goin out - its highly unlikely to see them going out for leisure at night.. :P). Mines downtown, is just another downtown but with quite a few eye-candies (*wink wink*) , an Outdoor Gear Shop (like!) and surprisingly a few booth selling pets.

I never adopted any pet before and I dun really have any intention to do so even though I do love animals like cats and dogs (cuz i find them cute). As we were passing by a pet booth, there is 1 container that attracted my attention. It was fulled of sea shell so I had a peek and it turns out to be hermit crab! (i dunno hermit can be made pet, i thought they are just ignored by the seashore or worse case, be collected to be eaten.. hahaha). I saw the 'kakak' managing the booth is holding 1 hermit on her palm and rubbing its leg. Wow, that's real cool! At first, I was afraid to hold it on my hand as its still a crab and it does has pincher. The lady said it wont pinch and encourage me to hold it, and so i did! When I hold the shell to lift it up onto my hand, the hermit hide inside the shell, but once I put it on my palm, it did come out and its not shy at all, mebe a bit cautious. (well of course, imagine urself on a giant's hand, i guess u will be running away or at least hide urself too rite?).

Then we went back and i cant keep my mind out of the cuteness of a hermit crab (honestly i wud prefer a dog in term of cuteness - which is prohibited - but this hermit crab is inviting enough for me to even consider myself to adopt a pet). So on Saturday nite, Jalil and I went back to the downtown. This time, I got myself one hermit crab (i cant believe i already have the name before i even bought it! *faint*). This time, I only bought him a small mobile pet container without anything else.

On Sunday, Jalil and I went to Jalan Pasar to buy the pebbles and driftwood for its crabitat (crabbers call the place they put the hermit 'crabitat'). I bought a 2-feet sized aquarium as the container. So I officially got myself a pet now. I hope that i can take care of him very well and have been doing a lot of research towards that. I need to get water container for him (1 fresh water and 1 salted water), a few more drift wood (as hermits love to climb on them), sand or coral sand (for them to bury themselves in).

Oh btw, my hermit's name is Riki. So far I only give him green apple, but from what i've read, hermit can eat various stuff such as banana, papaya, peanut butter, bread, sponge cake (wahh really this thing can eat cake?) , chicken breast ('steamed' one, not fried one). There's even pet shops that sell pellet specially made for hermit crab. So I cant wait to go and shop new stuffs for Riki and try to feed Riki with other kind of food. :D Here is Riki's pic.

From what I've read as well, hermit is a social creature and lives in a large group, so since Riki's currently living alone, I plan to buy another one to be his friend (actually I dont really know whether Riki is a male or otherwise :P). What shud I name the future friend of Riki eh? Hehehe.

Btw, to keep a hermit crab. You will need the following items.

1. 2ft glass tank (can also use plastic tank) with covered tank lid
2. Beach sand / crushed coral sand
3. 1 feeding dish (can use sea shells)
4. 2 small bowl (1 for freshwater & 1 for saltwater) - can use sea shells as well
5. Red Sea brand sea salt.
6. Some sea shells of various sizes
(preferably same size or slightly larger than what the hermit crab is currently using)
7. Driftwood (for hermit crab to climb or hide)
8. Aquarium lighting
9. Aquarium fan with on/off switch. (optional)
10. Thermometer, humidity reader (optional)