Thanks for the reminder-I think it's a good thing to keep in mind.
Regarding studies on LHCs, I think this is a very interesting subject, because there is so little we really do know for sure. I think as pet-owners as well as hobbyists we are interested very different things than those who are doing empirical studies and experiments in the lab and the field like biologists and ecologists are interested in.
I am finishing my degree in a scientific field (it's a "soft" science compared to those I've mentioned, but still) and I have come to appreciate the rigors of research to make informed choices (with critical thinking, of course). I went from hating reading studies, to loving it and always want to know the study methodology and limitations, if its measurements have validity, and if it has been repeated with similar results. Not a heck a lot out there on land hermit crabs, really.
I have always kept careful data about my crabs, purchase date, shell preferences, molting patterns, and so on, but never set up any experiment to correlate any of the data, because I don't want any manipulation of independent variables to harm my crabs. But to be perfectly honest-I have not put a lot of thought into creating such an experiment (I like critiquing other people's research, not especially designing it). But I guess my point is it is difficult to find cause and effect w/o potentially harming a pet, and so less true experimentation can be done. But, of course there is a lot we pet owners can do to add OUR knowledge base.
My question is (Finally, right
) Is this data we are collecting as pet owners, for those who do studies, or trials, stored and collected somewhere? It would be cool to look at people's designs and methodologies to either duplicate them and add validity, or try to address limitation in the study and re-design them, or even look for patterns among different people's data. I know this might sound totally snooze to most people, but to a nerd like me I would love it.
)
