Crabs are in the house, folks.
Literally.
As in, in my house.
This is one of those “never happened in Chicago†things. And if you had told me 10 years or more ago that someday undomesticated crabs would, in fact, be in my house?
I honestly have no clue how I would have reacted. I can’t even begin to picture it.
While we occasionally found them underneath our house by the beach (it’s on pilings), we never had one inside the house. Now that we’re on a salt marsh, they are what you’d call regulars.
Most often, they’re in our garage, but occasionally, one makes its way inside our house, like this one. He was there to remind me that I needed to sweep the floor and clean the baseboards.
I found this one crawling about five feet off the ground on a doorframe.
Most of the crabs we find are fiddler crabs and marsh crabs as opposed to the ghost crabs and walking crabs more common in our experience by the ocean. Thus they are smaller, an inch or two in length, and unfortunately easy to miss when you are going about your business, unsuspectingly, in your home. My daughter, therefore, has given herself the position of crab defender, often throwing herself in harm’s way to protect an unsuspecting crab from the oblivious steps of siblings and parents as they move throughout the house. The initial screech, followed by the subsequent indignation in her voice, is a force we all would prefer to avoid.
Well, all of us except possibly her younger brother, who I strongly suspect sometimes feigns oblivion, just to hear the lion roar.
That would scare the beejesus out of me then give me the heebie jeebies all the time. You are a very brave woman!
I would have thought the same thing until it actually happened. It’s weird, I know, but I actually kind of like it. I don’t know what the aliens did with my brain.
I would love to have crabs creeping around my house! Good job, baby-girl — crab defender!
Want me to mail you some? I just had four sitting outside the door leading from my garage to my house this morning. It was like they were waiting for someone to let them it.
I don’t like crawling creatures in my home…lol. Crabs take it to a whole new level. You seem cool about it. Have a great week!!
Oh, I hate having most crawling things in my house, like mice, snakes, large bugs, and so forth. My kids aren’t allowed to have those types of animals as pets, because I’d freak out if they got loose in the house. But for reasons I frankly can’t explain, even to myself, I’m fine with the crabs. It’s weird, I know. Hope you have a great week too!
I would prefer the crabs to the ‘palmetto bugs’ (that’s southeastern coastal speak for cockroaches….big ones) that sneak into our garage at our house on our Carolina Island. YUK!
I could not agree with you more. Most bugs actually don’t bother me, but years of living here have not changed my disdain for palmetto bugs/water bugs/cockroaches. In fact, they’re a large part of why I like our geckos/lizards/Carolina anoles that hang around our deck. I even have pictures of one consuming a roach that I’m thinking of posting someday, pictures that are gross but oddly fascinating.
((shudder)) Sorry, but I don’t care what kind of crabs they are–they’re a little to arachnid for me. However, I adore geckos and lizards. They could come in anytime! Especially because they eat the grossest of bugs. I look forward to you posting the ingestion photo.
Honestly, I really can’t put my finger on why they don’t bother me. But they don’t. One could crawl on me and I probably wouldn’t care. Yes, the ingestion pics are pretty fascinating, if you are into that sort of stuff anyway.
Oh… my… ew!
Hey, it would make for a great science lesson though, right?
I remember having fun chasing after the ghost crabs down by the beach at night, but for some reason the marsh craps aren’t as attractive to me. I guess they really wouldn’t hurt anything or anyone, would they? It’s just that I don’t like being startled by spiders, bugs, etc. running across the room. Definitely not a problem in the midwest!
Ann
I now have another blog that is geared more to my likes and interests. Check it out!
http://cairncottage.blogspot.com/
As long as they stay out of my bed, I think I’m okay. They sort of grow on you after a while, really.
Cool. I’ll check it out!
Oh, that made my skin crawl. Ugh. I have enough trouble with finding spiders in the shower without adding tiny crabs to that. All yours
I’ll do my best to keep them down here then.