He Was Loved

Very early last Saturday at around 2am, I lost a very special hermit crab. His name was Bikini and the short time he spent in my care was not enough to save him from the severe neglect and abuse he endured at a local Petsmart store.

I bought Bikini as a mercy purchase at 2pm on Friday afternoon. I immediately took him home and set up a isolation tank for him with moist moss, an undertank heater, and salt water. He barely had the strength to move and couldn't support his own weight, so I held him upright in the shallow dish of water as he drank. Bikini wasn't able to dip his little pincher in the honey dish and bring it up to his mouth to feed himself. Instead, I cradled him in my hand and placed a toothpick dipped in honey up to his mouth so he could taste it. Shortly afterward, I was still holding Bikini when he collapsed and died.

Bikini suffered a slow, horrible death because he wasn't provided with the very basics he needed survive. He was probably at least a decade old when he was collected from the wild and put up for sale as a "disposable pet". The staff at Petsmart had no interest in providing him with the proper care and neither did the vets at Banfield, whose office is inside the store and only 30 feet away from the hermit crab tank.

I loved Bikini in the hours he was with me and I continue to love him even though he is gone. He deserved so much more than I was able to give him.