Our Pets

Herman (the Hermit Crab)

Herman is our biggest and oldest hermit crab. He was picked up in a cray pot out off Bicheno (on Tasmania's East Coast) but hermit crabs can also be found around reefs, rock pools and all the way out to depths of 200m. Like most hermit crabs he was a scavenger and in the wild he would only eat dead and decaying animals. Now he’s with us we like to feed him our leftover fish and he also loves mussels and clams. Hermit crabs do not have a hard covering over their entire body like other crabs. Only their legs are protected by a hard covering, their tail area is squishy and brown (it's pretty gross - trust us, we've seen it!) That’s why they need to find shelter in a shell. Herman has moved into a Bailer Shell after the previous owner died. Using his tail, he hangs onto the inside of his shell so that it doesn’t fall off and carries it with him as he goes. He likes to use his shell to push the crayfish out of the way when they're fighting over food. He's a bit of a bully really. Next time you’re in make sure you check out Herman’s cute blue eyes and hairy legs.

Hermia (the Hermit Crab)

This is Hermia in her original shell. We don't really know if she's a girl or not, we simply decided she was due to her pretty pink shell. About three months after Hermia arrived she decided to move house. As crabs grow too big for their shell they search to find a larger one to live in. They spend a lot of time searching for just the right shell. Hermit crabs also moult - they shed their skin as they grow, the same of our crayfish. We haven't seen any of our pet crabs moult yet, but they have all changed their shells at least once.

Craig (the Crayfish)

Craig is really a Southern Rock Lobster (SRL), but Tasmanian's generally refer to rock lobsters as crayfish, so we stick with the local name. Southern rock lobsters are predominantly red in colour. They become darker red in shallower waters but can be almost white in very deep waters (out to 200m). Craig, like all crayfish is carnivorous - that means he likes to eat meat! We feed him things like leftover fish, mussels and clams. Our pets get fed once a week and they know when it's feeding time. As soon as we put our hand in the water they start going crazy and we need to make sure each cray gets their own piece so they don't fight. In the wild Craig's major predators are octopus, gummy sharks, conger eels and fish species such as wrasse, ling and cod. In our shop Craig's major predators are our customers! We are always telling people that our pets are not for sale.

Earl (the Eastern Rock Lobster)

Earl is an Eastern Rock Lobster (ERL) and is one of only two species of the family Jasus found in Tasmanian waters, the other being the Southern Rock Lobster (SRL). The ERL is rarely seen, preferring the warmer waters of Northern Victoria and New South Wales, so we were pretty lucky to end up with Craig. Many cray fishermen think it's bad luck to sell them and we do too. Earl's darker in colour (usually referred to as green) than our other pet crays. He also has three horns around his eyes, where SRL's only have two.

Jeff (the Purple Cray)

Jeff is also an ERL, we named him after Jeff the purple wiggle. When we first got him he was the same colour as Earl but he went through a transformation. In order to grow a size bigger crayfish “moult” or shed their shell, usually just before the mating season begins in Autumn. Jeff moulted in July and when he threw off his old shell he was bright purple underneath. So far we don't know why this happened, but we are endeavouring to find out. We just think he's really pretty and hope that he stays this colour permanently.

We have had lots of our pet crays go through the moulting process. Here you can see a photograph of one of our pet crayfish going through the process of moulting his shell. After they have discarded their old shell the new shell underneath is extremely soft and these so-called “soft-shellers” aren’t allowed to be caught, they must be thrown back. We assume that the process must be quite traumatic for the crays as they stop eating for a week or so before and move very little. After they’ve moulted the crays have trouble maintaining their balance for a day or so.

Doug (the Slug)

Doug is our slowest moving pet. It can take him up to three weeks to move from one end of the tank to the other. Some days we're not really sure if he's still alive, but when we come in the next day he's moved positions so we know he's still going strong. Doug is a Cabestana Snail (Cabestana Splengleri) which is part of the Cymatiidae family. Doug grazes on algae (which our tank has a lot of) and he may grow up to another 5cm. Cabestana Snails are common in the waters around Tasmania and from South Australia to Queensland.