HCA: Hermit Crab Association

I tried to help when we were down there this past August, as well as the year before that. It was horrific but I didn't find one shop that gave a hoot about the crab care. One clerk was dangling a jumbo out of the tank for onlookers to gape at, there were flies in every cage and the stench was horrible. I know exactly where the worst offending shops were, right past 26th street on the boardwalk going north. I'll have to hunt around and see if I can get the names of the shops but it's to the point where it's impossible to argue with people that look at me like I'm crazy. I also ran into a language barrier with the clerks which didn't help; I'm not the most eloquent speaker to begin with but especially not when I'm upset. The only place that I was able to make a difference (hopefully) was last year at the touch museum at the Cape May lighthouse; they had a good set-up overall but they needed different foods and sea water, which the caretaker promised to add since it was right out the door. We didn't make it to Cape May this year so I didn't have the chance to see if the tank was changed around.

I'm guessing your friend when to the store named, "Hermit Crabs". That is where I got my first Crabby. The condidtions are HORRIBlE. It's like a slave ship just with crabs.There is no room to move and the only way for them to walk is if they walk over one another. They have one water dish in the middle for about 100-200 crabs. And to make things worse they have tons of dead crabs just siting in the tank.

I live out side of Ocean City about 45 minutes from Wildwood. I got our first and last crab from Ocean City. Yes the conditions are not the best. They have them in tall cages piled on top of each other with little water. My daughter pointed it out to a clerk about needing more water and some sponges in there. I never went back to check to see if they did it or not. I wasn't a crab lover like I am now! A lot of the problems with the shops at the NJ shore, a lot of the clerks are collage and high school students. Some are over with a working visa and can't speak much English. They don't really care. The wording "free crab" is you get a small crab if you purchase a cage set up, cost about $20. That is how they make their money. Not on the crab. So they don't really care about the crabs. Isn't that a shame? Also like I said in an earlier thread I found one that was thrown out of a car because they didn't want it anymore. It’s a shame but I guess that is what happens in a seasonal town. It's not just the crabs that are treaded this was it's also cats and dogs. Visitors will get one and find out it's too much work and ditch them. BTW most if not all the shops are closed for the season. Wonder what happens to all the crabs???

Apparently, five years ago one man tried to ban hermit crab sales in Wildwood: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.h ... A9679C8B63. Unfortunately it looks as if the Mayor put the kibosh on the whole proposal. He said it would have ruined the "fun" of the boardwalk by banning hermit crab sales.