As promised, I went to the Miss Crustacean Pageant. And, well, suffice it to say, it wasn’t that bad. Of course, if I had my choice, it really should not take place at all, it must be really stressful for the crabs. The pageant is a themed event, meaning the contestants have to have done something like a project your kids might have to do at school. Such as the cardbaord box with the planets/solar system thing. Only it has to be all about the crabs. So, the kids parade around the judges with the crabs on the box. The judges look for most unique decorated boxes. The winner was Crab Wars (star wars themed). There are 2 runners up in the competition. The winner gets a trophy with a cucumber inside. (Coveted cucumber rind cup) and walks down runway bedecked with flowers. A woman sings the miss crustacean song. Rice was thrown while the crab walked down the isle. I was not happy about that. AND, the woman who entered the crab, for her kids, kept dropping the poor crab onto the sand. SHe dropped it about 5 times. I stood up, my boyfriend grabbed my arm and said, keep calm……..so I got her attention, and gave her an info sheet. I then asked her if she was keeping her hermit crab, (I wanted to get that crab as far away from her as possible) She told me she has the crab at school (she is a teacher) and is using it to teach the children. Teach them what? How to drop a hermit crab? Did I forget to mention that she wanted to make the crab come out of its shell for the hermit crab races, so she poured bottled water on it, that was when I stood up and gave her the info sheet and asked about her keeping the crab. I almost lost my mind………It was very hard for me to not raise my voice….I cannot believe a school teacher would have NO REGARD for an animals life…..Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised that the MC of the event stated that the Hermit Crabs need specific care, heat and humidity and such. He told the crowd that they cannot let the hermit crabs go on the beach, they will not survive and if after the event they no longer wanted the crabs, to bring them to the office and they will find homes for them. He also said they have info on crab care that they will hand out. So, I gave him my info sheets, and he brought them back to his office. I handed out my info, as the contestants left the beach, each person thanked me, no one was mad, no one said, no thank you, they took the info and left. I didn’t really talk that much, I figured it was better if I didn’t pester them. I also left info sheets at various stores that sold crabs, and if I saw people purchasing them, I waiting until they came out of the store, and handed them an info sheet. I did go into one store and noticed no water for the crabs. Crabs were in the water dishes, so I mentioned it to the man behind the counter. He said he does usually give them water in the morning, but it got busy in the store. I waited until he gave them water. They piled into the dishes…….The guy was nice, he was not mad at all, and I left a care sheet with him. You can bet I will be there next year……….Me in the white hermit crabs rule t shirt, with a mom and daughter, the mom holding the info sheet, and her daughter with wire cage and crab.
Where hermit crab addicts go!
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