Crabnapped

09/01/2025

09/11/2024

Beautiful lady with a great book all about hermit crabs

09/11/2024

An early morning start for me tomorrow. I’ll have a stall in the Cleveland Sunday Markets. I hope to see you there!

09/11/2024

Crabnapped has now had 12 5* reviews on Amazon! Thanks to everyone who has bought my book and reviewed it. It makes my heart sing that you liked it!

It’s available on Amazon Australia, USA and UK and other locations

AUSTRALIA https://amzn.to/4d1BGqH
USA https://amzn.to/4fXwCFd
UK https://amzn.eu/d/04GvAaAK

Or you can buy author copies via my website

https://www.vanessascrabitat.com.au/shop/books/crabnapped-a-land-hermit-crab-story-childrens-paperback-book/

08/11/2024

The Land Hermit Crab Owners society has helped countless hermit crab owners over the years and their yearly calendar is one of the main fundraisers. Share the crabby love all year long!

“This unique, limited-edition calendar is a must-have for hermit crab enthusiasts everywhere. Each month features stunning photos of our beloved hermit crabs, highlighting their quirky personalities, vibrant colors, and heartwarming interactions in their natural and human-made habitats. Captured by members of the Land Hermit Crab Owners Society, these images celebrate the beauty and charm of our shelled companions.

Purchasing a calendar directly supports the Land Hermit Crab Owners Society’s mission to educate, advocate, and enrich the lives of pet hermit crabs and their owners. The funds raised will help us continue to provide resources, conduct research, and raise awareness about hermit crab care and conservation. By hanging this calendar on your wall, you’re not only enjoying adorable hermit crab photography all year but also contributing to a worthy cause!

Order your 2025 Hermit Crab Calendar today, and let these delightful crabs brighten your year while making a difference in their lives.”

https://lhcos.org/product/2025-lhcos-hermit-crab-calendar/

08/11/2024

I will be selling and signing my book 📕 “Crabnapped: a land hermit crab story” at the Cleveland Sunday Markets in Brisbane SE Queensland. It’s on from 7am-1pm. I hope to see you there! Free colouring competition to win a copy of the book

27/10/2024

I’lll be at Logan BookFest November 2nd 2024 reading my book “Crabnapped: a land hermit crab story”at 11.45am. I hope to see you there

23/10/2024

If you bought my book Crabnapped I would love it if you would write a review. Either for Amazon or for my website.
Thank you!

13/10/2024

Vanessa will be reading from Crabnapped on stage at 11.45am

How exciting is this line-up... there's a little something for everyone here!

08/10/2024

I will be at at the Mental Health Day Celebration at Cafe Arabica in Cleveland for their Mental Health Day this Sunday October 13th.

I will be selling my book “Crabnapped: A land hermit crab story” plus some second hand books and some other items. Come down and visit me!

Address: 1/187 Middle Street
Cleveland

(On the corner of Middle St
and Channel St)

If you want to buy a stall email [email protected] or phone Cafe Arabica

Ph: 3286 5122
www.cafearabica.com.au

20/09/2024

What inspired you to write ‘Crabnapped’?

I wanted to write a book about the origin story of land hermit crabs that are kidnapped or Crabnapped from the wild and sent to pet stores to be sold to people who aren’t given the correct care information to be able to keep them alive for long.

Most don’t realise that you need at least 15cm of sand so that your hermit crab can bury down when they need to moult - a growth stage where they shed their exoskeleton and grow another one which is a dangerous time for a land hermit crab and often results in death.

I also wanted to raise awareness of captive breeding and the non profit Hermit House organisation that helps hermit crab owners raise eggs from captive breeding.

The eggs are fertilised and released into the water or sand inside a crabitat and then removed and placed into an aquatic based tank with aeration and regular feeding. It’s not easy with thousands of eggs released but a small percentage often make it to land. They go through multiple growth stages from hatched egg to megalops to air breathing land hermit crab.

Mary Akers is one breeder who has had hundreds of captive bred babies come to land.

In my book Crabnapped a hermit crab releases its eggs into the water dish and they are raised in am aquatic kriesel tank and a few make it to land. The book ends with the baby hermit crabs being adopted through the Land Hermit Crab Owners Society with message ‘Adopt don’t shop’

You can learn more about captive breeding at the links below

https://www.facebook.com/hermithouseorg/

Healthy hermit crabs will molt and grow in captivity. They will even mate and produce eggs, however, raising those eggs to be land dwelling hermit crabs is incredibly challenging. Despite what pet store employees tell you, no one who is currently selling hermit crabs is breeding and raising their ow...

19/09/2024

BOOK SIGNING

Join us for the launch for “Crabnapped: A land hermit crab story”, a children’s book written by Vanessa Pike-Russell and Geoff Pike. Illustrated by Anastasia Obrucicova.

When: Sunday 22 September 2024 🕙 10am-1pm
Where: BLOOM CHA CLEVELAND

Shop 2 96 Bloomfield St
Cleveland QLD 4163

Located next to Bloomfield Street Park near the Woolworths loading dock

For more information about the book visit
vanessascrabitat.com.au

Register for the event on Facebook
https://m.facebook.com/events/1183594342704128/

19/09/2024

Do you love land hermit crabs? Me too! Help me raise awareness of these amazing little creatures. I wrote a children’s book about land hermit crabs that are kidnapped from a beach in Broome, Western. Australia. You can buy it directly through Amazon or buy via my website with up to two week turnaround on delivery.

https://www.vanessascrabitat.com.au/crabnapped-a-land-hermit-crab-story/

BOOK EXCERPT:

“Rocky and Crusty are two land hermit crabs from Broome, Western Australia who are kidnapped from the beach at sunset by a hermit crab supplier who puts them into a box and sends them via courier to a Sydney pet store. They are very scared and huddle together, not knowing what will happen next.

The pet store owner opens the box and takes out Rocky and Crusty and places them in the glass tank. They dig down as deep as they can and hide. They are huddled together.

After a while, they look around their new home. It is cold and overcrowded and there is nowhere to hide. They are cold-blooded animals and if they are not kept warm they will become inactive to conserve body warmth and eventually die from the stress of the cold.

They meet Ruff’n’Tumble who comes from the Northern Territory and has a much darker exoskeleton – outer skin – than Rocky and Crusty. He loves to show off and climb up the driftwood tree and sometimes makes a ‘PLONK’ noise when he falls. He just gets up again and climbs once more.

There’s Dennis the Menace, always into trouble! They also meet Barry who is deep red and comes from Northern Queensland. He looks like he has sunburn – he is so red! A few days later a family appears at the hermit crab tank and buys all five hermit crabs.

“Sean loves hermit crabs but they keep dying on him,” says mum Megan. “Hopefully these hermit crabs last longer.”
They are taken home to Sean’s home and the very small plastic tank is their new home. They can’t breathe properly because there isn’t enough humidity for them. It gets cold at night and they snuggle up together to get warm. Brr!
One morning Megan looks into the hermit crab tank and finds Barry the hermit crab has left his seashell. 

After some research and learns that they require more care and expense than what the pet store advised. She visits the Crabstreet Journal Magazine and finds a home for Sean’s hermit crabs using the Land Hermit Crab Owners Society Adoption Centre.

At Sharon’s, they are taken to the 6ft crabitat. The first thing they notice is that the sand is twenty-five centimetres high! Plenty to dig down in! There are plastic plants, coconut huts and half logs to hide in. The air is lovely and humid and they can breathe properly. It is nice and warm and they are reminded of their homes.”

Read more about their adventures in the book. 📕

https://www.vanessascrabitat.com.au/crabnapped-a-land-hermit-crab-story