Thought y'all would appreciate this...

[madasafish]

So, I was awoken last night by an intruder! As I listened carefully, I could hear floorboards creaking every 10-15 seconds. I couldn't tell whether the culprit was in my apartment, or whether there was somebody upstairs, but I listened quite intently for about 10 minutes, and eventually turned over to peer out accross my room.

I'm blind as a black ghost knife (everything from lamps to pianos look like humans to me), so I had to reach for my glasses. When I reached them and put them on, I looked (surreptitiously) around the room to check on a few object that might be the intruder. Wrong on all accounts. All I could see was the light that I'd left on for some of my "between-tank" plants.

But then, creeping from the shadows, I did see the intruder. Short, about 4.5", blue, with two nasty claws held ahead of him, and one heck of a dust bunny attached to his posterior legs (see pic).

Curiouser and curiouser... Yep. It was one of my blue crayfish. He'd jumped out of his temporary housing (another "between-tanks"-er) via an air hose in the night and had crawled about 20 feet from the rubbermaid container. When I checked the container, I found that another one had also escaped. Found him a few minutes later.

Hehe. What I'm really glad of is that they didn't crawl up the duvet and into my bed! Since I've got two of my tanks and the temporary tank next to my bed, it certainly could have happened. Imagine waking up with a crayfish hanging from your nose! LOL

(Floor is dirty, I know... Forgive me.)

 

[Sinuhe]

I sometimes think of one of my shrimp climbing out of their tank and bumping into me in the morning. They are cute in the tanks, but I'd rather not make any closer contact .

 

[madasafish]

Hehe. I can always count on the AA members in other countries to respond to my 7 AM posts...

Yeah, I know what you mean. and mine have huge claws now. Their claws used to be about 1/2" long. They're now easily 2" from tip to joint and sturdy. Could be painful!

 

[Madame_X]

Madasafish, is that one of the same blue crayfish you posted a picture of about a month ago?

If it is... Holy cow! Those guys grew FAST!!

 

[lmw80]

OMG!! That is so funny! He looks like a man on a mission!

 

[Fruitbat]

What scares me is the fact that your crayfish are big enough to make your floorboards creak!!!

 

[justDIY]

LOL - I thought the same thing

you got darned good ears to hear that sucker crawling around from another room

maybe he was tap tap tapping on your oaken floor?

 

[tkos]

I picked up a little crab while scuba diving that was only a bit bigger and I could feel his piching through my neoprene glove. I don't think I would want a crayfish wandering my floors at night, only to have them grab my toes. (I sleep in a futon).

 

[myriam]

madasafish, that is one hysterical tale, LOL! it would have been ghastly to be awoken by a pinching crayfish. just glad you didn't actually have an intruder!

 

[Allivymar]

Oh G LOL Awesome reference!

Heh, what a thing to wake up to! Glad it wasn't a prowler....although...guard crayfish could be the next big thing in home security now that I think about it

 

[Sinuhe]

What scares me is the fact that your crayfish are big enough to make your floorboards creak!!!

Yeah, that thought crossed my mind, as well . The attack of the mutant crayfish .

 

[An t-iasg]

OMG -- The Criminal Crayfish!!!!

From the looks of that guy, he needs his own show on the Sci-Fi channel!!

I'm glad everything turned out ok!!

 

[mgkaelen]

HAHAHAHAHHA !!!!


can't believe it... are they much hardier than fish that he would have walked around for a while without drying out/dying? ha hahaha. how scary

 

[madasafish]

Hehe. Thanks for all the responses! Yes, I wondered about the sound thing, too. My floorboards are very sensitive and very creaky, and though the guy can't weight too much, he definitely made a noise. I also heard him tap tap tapping (reminds me, I must buy that bust of Pallas to put above my door...) against the boards.

Oh yeah, he's grown a LOT since the last pix I posted in my gallery. In fact, I'd wager that they're 4x the volume they werewhen I got them, and prob 8 times the weight. They were only about 1.5 inches when I got them and they're about 3 inches with claws in now. Or something. Hard to tell. They've molted a LOT.

And crayfish can be out of water for several days as long as they have a water source around... They're not like tidal crabs and are very diff. from fish. Don't know about lobsters... Was thinking that I should try to construct some sort of large exposed area with a small tank for them so they could crawl around a bit more... Would be neat. A project for the future...

 

[stoneydee]

Well, that certainly gives me something to think about. . . I was considering getting one of those. What a hoot. . .

 

[TankGirl]

That is a trip! I have heard about this happening before, but the most recent story I heard the dog got hold of the critter and there was an incredible ruckus when that happened! I guess you must not have a cat or a dog, or this story would have turned out differently.... 8O

 

[madasafish]

I did have a cat... we put her down recently If she had been around, she almost certainly would have fled the scene. She was a real "scaredy cat," so to speak.

 

[cowfish7]

That is so funny . Thanks!

cowfish7

 

[snapcrackler]

I would not like to have a crustacean cruising around my bedroom, ack! I am glad you both survived

I worked with a guy that used to have an apartment in Florida, he said every night he heard noises like something running around on the floor. He finally discovered that he had a lizard living under his sink.

LOL

 

[madasafish]

Yeah, I had a gecko in my kitchen once. It came over from my neighbor's apt and hunted cockroaches in my place. I was soooooo psyched to have him in my apt. and when I found out he was my neighbor's I was REALLY bummed! I had to return him