In A Pinch

Yesterday, we let the crabs, George and Sherry, out for an afternoon romp on the coffee table in the family room. Sadie and Josie were very entertained by their "crabby" antics: climbing on their little ladder, almost falling off the table, creeping around on top of their shell.... Josie was especially interested, and she was brave enough to hold them in her little chubby hand. Well, Sherry is not known for her friendliness - she's more of a hermit than most hermit crabs I know - but Josie picked her up and was being very gentle and careful. As I sat next to her in the floor, she held Sherry up to get a closer look at her beady little eyes. Then, quick as a flash, BAM! A little purple crab claw shot out of Sherry's shell and grabbed Josie's upper lip and hung on! You should've seen the look on Josie's face! She was so startled she just stood there, with this crab pincher attached to her little lip, dangling there from her face. I grabbed Sherry and somehow got her to let go, putting her back in her cage, and then I took the now-wailing Josie into the bathroom to wash her little pinched lip off. It took a while to calm her down, let me tell you. It was post-traumatic, apparently. Anyway, as I sat there snuggling her, I heard Sadie from the other room saying, "Bad, mean old crab! You pinched my sister! You are going in time out!" Then she dumped Sherry into her water bowl and came stomping into the bathroom to give Josie a kiss and a hug. Here are the girls modeling some "crab-proof" goggles :)