Pets Unlimited

[Salt and Pepper]

We have a small non-chain store that would be considered a 'mom and pop' store. It is owned by this one guy, who is nice but tries to get customers with savings and stuff. So, this was the only pet store we hadn't tried for hermit crabs yet. We looked all over in the store for hermit crabs but couldn't find them. We checked the reptiles and fish and small animals and everything and we didn't see anything. I was looking up at a hamster cage, and then I saw a small critter keeper.. With hermit crabs. It was piled under large hamster cages so it was non viewable. It had no price tag like the others. It simply looked like a cage buried under boxes. "Hey, look I found the hermit crabs!" I said. My aunt said "You don't know that, you can't see it good. Ask the girl if she know what it is." I said, "What species are the hermit crabs?" She says "Uhh... I don't know. I only know they're hermit crabs." "Can I please look at the cage and hermit crabs?" "Sure! *takes cage down*." I look around at the tank. 3 Es were staring sadly at me. The tank had a small cap of tap water with a small natrual sponge. There was pointy, jagged, colored fish tank gravel. There was no heat or humidity. The cage was about 5 Gallons. All the hermit crabs' shells WERE MADE OF PLASTIC!!! They had extra shells (PLASTIC!) that were micro-sized, but the crabs were small. I was upset. I decided to buy one, as I had been wanting an E. He was also in a plastic shell. I named him Cocoa for his brown color. I placed him out the cage to walk around. He walked, but only at a medium speed. I gently placed him down in the middle of the cage. He stayed there for a while and I came back and he was under the coconut hut. The next day I noticed he was just sitting there not moving at all. I picked him up gently by the back of his shell. He didn't move at all. I placed a small drop of water on his left leg. He didn't move. I gently petted his leg. He still didn't move. We then isolated him and checked on him later. He didn't move. Unfortunately, Cocoa died to PPS. We then got a refund. It clearly says on the reciept NO ANIMAL REFUNDS. The guy said he would 'make an exception' probably because we told him that we would buy a guinea pig cage from him. We chose another one and named him Coke. He seems afraid of Eco Earth, but is doing well.

That was THE WORST store I've ever seen.

[CrabbyJo]

I've noticed that healthy E's in a pet store will walk quite quickly. If they are sluggish, chances are they are close to death (or I would assume so).
That's horrible what they did to those crabs. I do hope they aren't getting any more in. You could ask them if they are, and could maybe take them a printed out crab care sheet with all the info they need to care properly for crabs. Just offer it nicely, suggesting that their crabs will live a lot longer and will not die when people take them home, if they set up their tank like it suggests and then educate their customers too.
They may just listen to a little girl who has learned so much about caring for crabs.