Pet crab business!

[Cardinal Tetra]

Did you guys read about the article on the Pet crab business? Reading it makes my blood boil!

For those of you of missed it, it reports about an ex-air stewardess starting a business selling live hermit crabs for decoration.

Taken from the article:

"Each cost $25, offer of $45 for two. They can live up to five years or longer. There are also packages worth $60 and $67, which include two crabs, a tank, two extra shells, and other accessories."

The article goes on about this woman who bought 2 hermits, and can distinguish them because one like to climb a 'plastic tree accessory' etc.

What is this coming to? What do customers know about keeping hermits, or does the package come with a guide on how to keep them?

Saltwater? Liverocks? Are those included in the package? If this becomes another trend like the 'Nemo craze', then wouldn't it cost alot of hermit crab's lives if people do not know how to keep them??

Please shed some opinions on this.

[dravan]

hmmmm i think those are freshwater hermits...

[kelstorm]

seen those on sale in Melbourne Queen Vic Market as well..

[veliferium]

Who in the marine hobby would want to get a hermit for 25 bucks when he/she could buy one for 1 dollars.IMO,this is mainly for those who find it cute and so buy them.

[Gouldian]

That's the POWER of MARKETING!

Put it this way, they set-up counters in shopping centres with beautiful set-up and packaging to entice the public. And the consumers like this kind of things - that's why it work.

It goes the same for bubble tea, its basically just some low-grade tea leaves mix with some low grade starch balls, colourings and sugar syrup packaged nicely to form a winning combination.

But as per all fads, it will die a natural death in due time.

[limbssg]

there are suckers born every minute....

$100,000 savings to start pet crab business

By Tay Shian

October 28, 2005

SINGAPOREANS love their crabs - especially if they are cooked in chilli or black pepper sauce.

But other than eating, would such passion extend to keeping them as pets?

Ask Ms Celestine Chong.

She hopes that the small and 'cute' hermit crabs will soon become a fad.

The 29-year-old entrepreneur was so convinced about these crabs becoming the next 'crazy' thing that she sank her entire savings of about $100,000, roped in her father, and opened a stall selling just hermit crabs.

The 'crab nanny' had accumulated that money over nine years.

Ms Chong, who is a stewardess, got the idea to set up Ha Ha Crabs, when she spotted a similar shop during one of her trips to California at the beginning of last year. She got hooked.

It's now their family business as her father and an assistant look after the stall most of the time.

It is the only company here that can import and sell them as pets, said the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA). The company got its licence early this month and opened the stall at Bishan Junction 8.

The first-time businesswoman said: 'I love flying, I love the lifestyle, but I will grow old one day. So why not give it a shot, do something interesting.'

So far they have sold about 500 hermit crabs.

They are priced at $25 for one, and there's currently an offer of $45 for two. They can live up to five years or longer.

There are also packages worth $60 and $67, which include two crabs, a tank, two extra shells, and other accessories.

When The New Paper visited the stall earlier this week, there was a constant stream of curious shoppers.

What do they think?

Ms Angeline Wong, 27, who had bought two of them, said that they are easy to maintain, and 'it's been very interesting having crabs as pets'.

She said her two crabs like to 'surprise' her by exchanging shells. She can distinguish between the two because 'one loves to climb the tree (a tiny plastic tree accessory), and one eats a lot'.

Samantha Lee, 14, a student, was there with some friends.

She said they were cute and she liked the colours of the painted shells, but they were 'a bit too expensive'.

She joked to her friends: 'Get me one as a Christmas present.'

Ms Chong admitted that starting up wasn't easy.

Even though the stall looks modest, there are a lot of 'hidden costs', such as renting storage space for the accessories and the crabs.

Also, they had to hire someone to feed and water the crabs at the storage area regularly.

'People think it's innovative and easy, but there's more behind the scenes,' she said.

Obtaining the licence from AVA also took about a year.

'It's not easy, you need to convince them and come up with proposals that you have the ability to house the crabs and treat them right,' she said.

She did extensive research and held meetings with AVA.

'That's when the people skills I learnt at the airline came into play,' she said.

'I was also very lucky, I chanced upon the right people at the right time, like people in the industry or who study the crab. Without them, things would not have been possible.'

Ms Chong is allergic to seafood. 'I can't eat prawns and crabs, though I eat oysters,' she said with a laugh.

But she has no problems handling the hermit crabs.

'Maybe I just can't eat them. So strange, 29 years down the road, I am doing something related to them.'

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Painted shells safe

HERMIT crabs move from shell to shell as they outgrow them.

Some of the crabs sold by Ms Chong live in shells painted in bright colours.

But is it safe to keep them in painted shells?

Ms Chong said that the shells are imported from an established source, which has been supplying them to pet shops in the US for several years, and that the paint is non-toxic.

She added that the shells are painted while they are empty.

Mr Madhavan Kannan, Head of AVA's Centre for Animal Welfare and Control, added: 'Painted shells are not hazardous if the chemical is not poisonous.

'Ha Ha Crabs has the knowledge to look after the crabs.'

He added that AVA has a 'stringent' process for those applying for licences to import and sell animals as pets.

Applicants should display sufficient knowledge and ability to look after them.

They should also educate buyers to do the same.

Ha Ha Crabs import hermit crabs from Indonesia.

They are already kept as pets in countries such as the US, Australia and Japan.

They are omnivores. That means they eat food of plant and animal origin. They need a warm and humid environment and co-exist in pairs.

[ervine]

poor crabs... they would be much happier in a proper reef tank i suppose

[fishtalk1517]

the painted shell sure makes the hermit crabs like a "CLOWN" HERMITS though

[Cardinal Tetra]

Anyone knows if its freshwater or saltwater hermits? Won't the hermits need a bigger shell if they grow bigger? then why the fancy shell which can only be used for a period of time? Hmmm... like what someone said, I rather they be in a marine tank and be kept by reefers like us than people who do not have any experience in keeping them.

[kelstorm]

i get the feeling that these are land hermit crabs.. not the marine hermit crabs that we are talking abt..

[dravan]

these crabs are land hermits but need freshwater dips once in a while... i chanced upon an article about them written by someone in america... they need a wet sandbed to live as well... actually i believe it wun be an evergreen trade like marine or aro... rather it will fate like the louhan...

[framerunner]

After reading this article, i have an idea for a new business venture... selling bristle worms as an exotic pet.... i can get donations from the reefers here and my own tank and to sell it off to suckers out there...... what do you think

[CKS]

framerunner: what will be ur marketing hype like? hehe

beri beri cute furry wormy.. start your worm farm today!!

btw.. hermit crab biz has been around for quite sometime..

Zoomed has been selling hermit crab accessories

http://www.zoomed.com/html/hermit_crab_home.php

Von Braunhut (creator of Amazing Live SeaMonkey)

sold Crazy Crabs (hermit crab in a box actaully)

[framerunner]

Hmm.. my marketing hype will be......

"Raise a bristle worm today and you can earn $50,000 USD!"

If you feel disgusted watching with the following pictures, fear not as you will be $50k richer soon. Here are the reasons why you should keep bristle worm as pets...

1. Help to train your fear such that by the time you eat your pet, you can eat all sorts of things in Fear factor. We are confident that you can win that $50k

2. Help train your patience and eyesight to fish this thing out of the live rock

Buy now and be $50k richer

[somebody]

framerunner: your avatar sure goes with whatever you just said and the pictuers you posted man.. tsk tsk

[flamey]

Hmm.. my marketing hype will be......

"Raise a bristle worm today and you can earn $50,000 USD!"

If you feel disgusted watching with the following pictures, fear not as you will be $50k richer soon. Here are the reasons why you should keep bristle worm as pets...

1. Help to train your fear such that by the time you eat your pet, you can eat all sorts of things in Fear factor. We are confident that you can win that $50k

2. Help train your patience and eyesight to fish this thing out of the live rock

Buy now and be $50k richer

[dravan]

eeeks better off selling anti mosquito kits these days... haha.... marketing is about the 4ps and hype... ur price is not rite ur promotion puts ppl off u ur product eeeeeeeee ur placing oso dunnoe where u gonna sell.... not gonna make frm this venture lahz..... haha

[silverfish]

$100000 to start up the business.. thats quite a lot of moonies sunk in. Dunno how long the craze will last..

they look like this?

[silverfish]

actually quite cute looking.. but I think the hermits will prob die within a month due to lack of interest, poor hygiene, etc,etc.. poor guy

[ervine]

wonder if fear factor got make people eat bristleworms or not.. Hmm....

[wil_lee76]

wonder if fear factor got make people eat bristleworms or not.. Hmm....

maybe src can organise a FEAR FACTOR Challenge (singapore version)?????

[FuEl]

I got superworms that will come towards you when you call them. Give them a piece of fruit and they play ball with it. Each superworm is uniquely intelligent, with the appropriate care it can metamorphose into a cute black beetle. Each worm is specifically chosen to be the best among the batch. Each worm costs $2. Hmm.. Do I need a permit?

The toughest thing with keeping land hermits is moulting. I doubt many consumers are aware of it. Finally my individual molted when it was the only one left, other hermits probably stress/cannibalize molting individuals and they die due to failure to molt. Also keep them away from ants. After the last one successfully molted, ants ate it.

[SpiderOne]

i highly doubt there are many people in this country who will pay $25 per hermit . and those that do know where to get them cheap will spread . they have sold only 500 crabs so far . thats barely 10% of her 100k back . i dont think she will be seeing it .

[flying carpet]

Poor hermit. Their fate is going to be like louhans.