Lucy, Ricky, Fred, and Ethel

[Arirang]

It is with a heavy heart that I announce the deaths of my hermit crabs: Lucy, Ricky, Fred, and Ethel. All went into molt at the same time, Lucy before the rest. She emerged weak and with limbs missing, likely from stress. The other three were hungry during molt and ate each other.

Lucy is especially important to me. She actually saved my life. I struggle with really bad depression, and there was a day when I was prepared to kill myself. I looked over and saw that their bedding needed to be changed. I knew that nobody would find me for several days, and that I couldn't leave them like that, so I changed it. I took all of them out, their decor, did a bedding change, wiped everything down, replaced the decor, and started putting the crabs back. Lucy, the smallest by far, was the last to be put in. I was sitting there, still depressed, just... staring at this tiny little life resting in the palm of my hand. And she chose that moment to start singing and chirping. If no one has ever heard it before, hermit crab songs are very cute and also oddly beautiful in a way.

It was a really beautiful moment. I broke down and started crying. I knew better than to try and hug her (I had never been pinched before then; since the Ricardos and the Mertzes have passed, I actually have been, and it's deterred me from replacing them). That little crab saved my life. It's amazing what a little shellbug named for a sitcom character can do.