Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Animals
No, silverfish are not known to eat wood.
Silverfish do have tremendous appetites, and will eat a variety of different things. They prefer starchy materials such as paper and book bindings, wallpaper, glue, clothing, and some human foodstuffs.
If you are seeing wood that looks like that it is being eaten, you may want to investigate for a termite infestation.
Hermit crabs make fun, loving pets and are actually a lot more interesting than most people probably realize. These clever little creatures are invertebrates and have no backbone. They live in shells which they find on the ocean to cover and protect their soft bodies, which are twisted and remain hidden within their shells. Hermit crabs have ten legs with joints (only six of its legs actually show) and two very powerful claws in front.
If you are looking for a pet that will bring fun, excitement, and meaning into your life, than look no further than a hermit crab! These unconventional pets are great for anyone, especially individuals who are quirky and like standing apart from the crowd cause come on, who doesn’t want to walk up to their friends and proudly announce “I have crabs!” Everybody has a dog or a cat, but these little guys are even better! Here are 7 reasons why hermit crabs are more fun than your dog:
Contrary to popular belief, hermit crabs do not own their shells; they carry them around on their backs. This is because unlike true crabs, hermits have soft, vulnerable abdomens. Most crabs borrow abandoned sea snail shells that they find laying on the beach to cover up with for protection from predators. When a hermit crab finds a shell that is just the right fit, it pulls itself inside, leaving 6 of its legs, and head outside of the shell. A hermit crab carries this shell around wherever it goes until it outgrows the shell and switches to a larger one. In the wild this can be a huge problem for crabs, as there is often a shortage of available shells. You might find some crabs using pieces of coconut shells or bamboo, or in even more desperate cases, broken pieces of glass bottle tops to substitute for the shell they can’t seem to find on shore. This is rather unfortunate as many crabs who can’t find shells will be eaten by predators or die from suffocating in a shell that is too small for their body because they cannot find a bigger, more suitable shell.
Probably the best thing about owning a hermit crab is getting to decorate its tank, and no we’re not talking about the little plastic square containers they often sell them in at the pet stores, as these are disgusting and unsuitable for crabs. They are way too small. Rather, a 30 gallon fish tank of crab paradise. While it may sound silly at first, crabs love to be active. They are nocturnal animals that spend most of their night playing and climbing on things and eating. It is so much fun to not just build your pet crab a habitat, but a “crabitat”. You can include all kinds of neat features in this crabitat. Some owners have even found that purchasing items like bird ladders and setting them up on one wall of their tank has kept their crabs happy as can be. Watch them fight each other to try to get to the top first. Hermit crabs love to climb, and they love to bury themselves. The options are endless. You can build them tunnels out of old toilet paper rolls, PVC pipe, or plastic tubes, or even make them slides. Some crab owners have made steps or ladders out of legos or blocks. Pieces of netting make great hammocks for your crab to rest or swing on. Many pet stores also sell cute little “crab shacks” “crab pools” and coconut huts for your crab to hang out in. Be sure to include one dish with fresh water and one with salt water for your crab to drink from and bathe in. Each should contain a small piece of sponge that your crab can latch onto to keep from drowning. Your crab will also love pieces of cuttlebone, driftwood, logs, rocks, sea shells, wire walls, bridges, coconut fiber walls, coconut fiber substrate, dirt, sand, plants, and/or other aquarium décor. By the time you’re done decorating, your crab will have a nicer house than you!
Hermit crabs can be a whole spectrum of different colors. Most are typically a reddish color, or an orange or brown shade. Many also have purple spots or patterns. Some hermit crabs have very purple claws. Hermit crabs also go through a molting process, in which they shed their exoskeleton and move from one shell to another. During this time their skin may be paler and their eyes might appear to be cloudy. After a hermit crab re-emerges from burying himself after a molt, it will consume its old skin for extra nutrients. Yum!
Despite the name hermit crab, these creatures are anything but hermits. They love crowds and are very social creatures. Hermit crabs get very lonely on their own and prefer to live in groups with other crabs, sometimes even in the hundreds. Crabs are most active at night, but can also be seen crawling around a bit during the day. In fact, climbing is one of their favorite hobbies. If you have more than one crab, it is always fun to have a hermit crab race. Take them out of the tank and see which crab will win. They are fast little critters and will amaze you at how quickly they try to escape to the other side of the house. Be sure to keep an eye on them though, or they might just pull a Harry Houdini.
No joke, these little guys are a force to be reckoned with. Don’t let their vulnerable little bodies, and cute little beady eyes fool you, they are tougher than they look. Hermit crabs are very strong creatures, and you will find out just how strong they really are if they accidentally latch onto your finger every now and then. Their force is strong enough to draw blood and even make you cry, kick and scream like a little baby. Believe it or not, these crabs are able to break open coconuts and lift up to nine pounds. That’s the size of a small house cat!
One of the greatest things about keeping a hermit crab as a pet is that they are easy to feed and take care of, and cost very little to provide for. Hermit crabs are not picky eaters by any means. Hermit crabs can be very inexpensive to feed as they share a diet very similar to humans: meat, fish, fresh fruits and vegetables. A lot of their favorite snack foods can even be bought in bulk at places like the dollar store. For instance, the smaller portioned seed and nut variety snack or trail mix bags that are sold for $1 make a perfect meal for hermit crabs and last them months if you add other items to their diet. Hermit crabs love tuna, peanut butter, crackers, grapes, raisins, popcorn, bananas, strawberries, blueberries, star fruit, coconut, freeze dried shrimp, worms, krill, plankton, bloodworms, crickets, mangoes, papayas, nuts, trail mix, apple sauce, cereal, plant based iguana food, fish food flakes, brine shrimp, fish vegetable flakes, carrots, algae, hermit crab pellets, seaweed, grapes, melons, spinach, watercress, broccoli, calcium vitamin supplements, cuttlebone, ground up cyster shells, ground up egg shells, seeds, berries, etc. It can be a lot of fun to experiment with different foods and see which ones your crab likes the most, and if you are sick of trying to break open that raw coconut you brought home for hermie, just hand it on over to him and watch him work his magic. Your tired machete and/or hammer will be glad that you did.
As mentioned above, your crab’s skin and pincer color and brightness can vary greatly depending on the types of foods you feed it. Most of the time, the darker the crab, the more carotene or zeaxanthin it gets, as these two nutrients are known to enhance color.
In addition, hermit crabs have been known to live for up to 15-20 years in captivity. If you take good enough care of them, they have been known to live for about 6-8 years when kept as pets. When you adopt a hermit crab, you are adopting a friend for life!
Silverfish, also known as fishmoths, are frightening little insects that just love to live in the dark, damp areas of people’s homes. While most people would prefer to get rid of them, is there really any danger?
Do silverfish carry diseases?
No, they do not. In fact, silverfish don’t even bite humans and are not aggressive in any way. They will most likely run away if they are disturbed, and pose no threat to either you or your pets.
Silverfish, also known as fishmoths, are in fact not fish at all. They are insects of the order Thysanura.
So why are they called silverfish?
There are two reasons:
1. The silvery grey or blue color of the silverfish is similar to the scales of an actual fish.
2. As silverfish move, they often exhibit a movement which is similar to that of a fish swimming through the water.
Many household pests are feared because they can inflict painful or even dangerous bites to humans, however not all insects are capable of biting humans.
What about silverfish? Do they bite humans?
No, silverfish are not known to bite people. In fact, they are rather skittish and will typically flee if disturbed.
Another thing to consider is that silverfish are often mistake for centipedes, which can actually inflict rather painful bites to humans and animals.
Bees are very sensitive to the way people behave so if you act calmly rather than running around and slapping your hand around you are less likely to be stung or frighten a bee. However, the statement that bees can “smell fear” has been used in many cases and when taken literally is kind of silly. While smell does play a role in hive defense, the odor that the bees sense is not necessarily the “smell of fear” but the smell of something foreign that could possibly become a threat to the hive or the workers. Fear is defined as an emotion, an internal response that is generated by a being’s nervous system when it encounters a situation it perceives to be dangerous. The word smell however has been broadly defined in some cases as being a distinctive quality characterizing something.
It is very likely that the statement that animals or insects such as bees can “smell fear” developed from the idea that animals are able to sense if a nearby creature is acting strangely. As a result of an alarm response to this action, the bee uses pheromones to alert its members of the family group to the presence of an intruder or potential threat. In this manner, the “fear scent” produced by a honeybee worker does not provoke aggression by a predator; instead it functions to protect the hive and its other workers. The detection of a foreign odor by a honeybee worker may in fact be something that is enough to elicit an alarm secretion.
When this pheromone is released and the alarm excites other working bees in or near the hive, it attracts them to the source and thus, to the intruder. The secretion itself does not necessarily cause an attack however. The attack producing stimuli come from the intruder, whose behavior usually is what then guides the attack. It could be said then, that if an individual were to approach a bee hive, and his body odor since it is a foreign smell to the hive may sufficiently excite the bees, if the person than becomes afraid and begins to move about a lot, he is more likely to be attacked by bees.
Spiders cannot necessarily “hear” as they do not actually have ears. They do however have sensory nerves (tiny hairs) that are located in the ends of their legs. These tiny hairs are also known as thrichobotria; which they use to search for vibrations or squeaks from mates. Certain spiders are even known to emit a squeak that is inaudible to the human ear.
Spiders are very interesting creatures that feel vibrations that act in a way that sound does and allow the spider to locate where the sound is coming from as well as its approximate distance from the spider. Put in simpler terms, the spider is able to interpret the movement of air that is produced by a sound something makes in order to determine its exact location. Along with hairs on their legs, spiders are also equipped with tiny slits all over their legs for feeling vibrations. So spiders may not be able to “hear” you, but the senses they are equipped with still make it a possibility for them to know when you or potential danger is nearby.
Certain species of jellyfish can in fact be deadly to humans. However most are harmless but may be known to sting a little. There are a few jellyfish that can kill a human being in only a matter of minutes. Among them is the box jellyfish that can kill an adult human in a mere 4 or 5 minutes.
Jellyfish are usually passive drifters who use their tentacles to catch small prey, however they can pack on quite a nasty nip that will result in excruciating pain depending on the species. The box jellyfish (mentioned above) is actually one of the most venomous marine creatures in the world and can string and kill a man within minutes. Most fatalities occur just following a brush with a toxic jellyfish like this.
If an individual is going to be swimming in an area where there are known jellies, it is recommended that they wear a sting suit. However, if you do happen to get stung somehow it is important to get out of the water immediately and apply vinegar to any stings remaining embedded in the flesh. This should be done in order to remove the venom and then it should be brushed off or lifted off using a stick, or something of the like.
The best word of advice is to stay as far away from jellyfish as possible! This is the best way to ensure your safety.
It should come as no surprise that crabs do in fact have blood. However a crab’s blood is much different from mammalian blood because their physiology is quite different.
All arthropods like crustaceans such as the crab and even arachnids such as the spider have a watery fluid called hemolymph which fills the inside of their shell. Their internal organs float freely in this fluid which resembles something of half blood and half sweat. Like sweat, it is a mixture of water and various electrolytes such as salt. Like blood, it has oxygen carrying proteins however they are not bundled into cells such as they are in humans and the crab’s blood is also blue, not red.
These oxygen carrying proteins are known as hemocyanin and they help carry oxygen to the blood as they float freely within the hemolymph and use copper. Oxidized copper is blue, thus resulting in the blue color of the crab’s blood. This fluid is kept circulating by the contractions of the arthropod’s legs and a long tubular heart that is open ended and also runs along the creature’s back. It sucks fluid in at the tail end to pass it to the head end, sort of similar to the way an aquarium pump works.
If you are a crab owner of a crustacean such as land hermit crab it is very rare that you will ever see blood on your hermit crab because any time a wound is bad enough that it does not quickly clot, the crab tends to drop that wounded limb to avoid bleeding to death. This rare occurrence of discovering blood on crabs and their physiological differences that make that blood so much different from mammals could be the reason many think to ask this question.
Snails for the most part are able to usually reside with goldfish in the same tank. They are actually one of the only things that are able to live peacefully among goldfish. In fact, having a snail around also helps keep your tank clean since snails are natural decomposers, they are more likely to eat all of the food and algae that collects at the bottom of the tank. There is always the possibility that a hungry goldfish may eat the snail though, so it really is up to the owner of the aquarium on whether or not they want to take this risk, however generally speaking goldfish do not normally feast upon snails as long as they are fed regularly.