I found an exotic pet store near me and decided to swing by and see if they had any non-sticky UTHs - they didn't, but they did have hermies, so of course I had to take a look.
pretty standard pet store, sadly - my hopes were high for an "exotics" store. 5 gallon or so tank with no heater or lid (I will say, it was right next to an aquiarium with a huge iguana that had a big heat lamp on their side, so I hope they're getting soem of that heat, at least), right by the entry door - IN MICHIGAN!, bedding looked to be an inch deep mix of EE and sand, but that's all there was going for it. shallow pool of water, food bowl with pellets and vacation feeders, one or two extra shells with probably 15 crabs. Luckily all natural shells and, for the most part, proper styles and sizes (though I...sadly....assume the empty shells were removed dead crabs), and there were also no limbs or parts around the tank - which is always nice.
It was a little disconcerning, however, that they told me I could fish around in the tank and handle the crabs, but the tank was pretty high up and there was no way for kids to reach it.
Now after being told that half of the PP's were "basic brown crabs" and being subject to product pitches for every crap crab food imaginable, I noticed a teeny tiny little zebra nerite sticking out the sand. I flipped it over and sure enough, little almond shaped brown claw and lots of little hairy brown legs
I fished around in the substrate a little more and though I flipped over a few more nerites, no more little E's to be found I told myself no, that I wasn't going to get him from a store with piss poor conditions, in the middle of winter, and when he had no species buddy to come home to. But him crawling around my hand and looking at me with those big Equadorian eyes of his....sigh.... how could I resist?
so, after having him tossed into a paper sandwich bag and handed to me - sigh... I put the bag inside my coat (to keep him warm) and hurried home!
On the way home, I decided to him Noel
PS: good lord, I definitely have an E now. All I hear in my tank is CLANK CLANK CLANK CLANK CLANK, I keep getting up and running to look and it's just him crawling all through the shells and knocking them against the glass.
PSS: If anyone has graduating E shells from dime to quarter or so for sale - please message me
He's so tiny and cute!
