Have you ever seen what happens to a crab if it has the misfortune to get sucked into a pool cleaner? Not a pretty sight. And if it’s been there a few days, not a pretty smell either. It gets wedged in so tightly that you have to throw the rubber thingamy away and buy a new one.
It’s happened to us a couple of times. Living near the river guarantees you crabs in your swimming pool now and then. My advice is to fish them out with a net as soon as possible and take them back down to the river. Of course, fishing them out can be quite fun, too: you can end up spending endless frustrating minutes chasing a recalcitrant crab as it scoots sideways around the bottom of the deep end.
It really is amazing how quickly these creatures can move. Once we found one in the kitchen and decided it shouldn’t remain there. Finally cornered, it raised its pincers in defence and I backed off. Even though my mind tells me a pincer on a five-centimetre-wide crab probably won’t inflict much pain I’d rather not find out.
Siegie came to the rescue with his tried-and-tested shrew-catching technique. He grabbed an empty plastic icecream tub, placed it over the crab and slipped a newspaper underneath. It works every time, so I can’t understand why I never think of doing it. Could it be a male thing?
My solutions are always far more complicated and have a high failure rate. Sometimes, though, I think it’s deliberate because I like to feel things. When I have managed to catch a crab and held it firmly around the carapace I’m amazed at how strong its legs are as they push at my fingers. I also get to look at it properly on my way down to the river, admiring its weird dark blobby eyes on their stalks and checking out those dangerous pincers.
Now here’s a thought: maybe we’re doing the crabs a disservice as they’re actually trying to escape the river. Frequent evidence of discarded crab shells on the banks show that they’re hunted mercilessly down there. I’ve always blamed the giant kingfisher, that great koi killer, but there are other predators patrolling the riverbed. A couple of times I’ve found big pellets on the ground composed largely of crab shells.
Then one summer a couple of years ago, I noticed a spotted eagle owl had taken to spending the day on a large rock. I refrained from disturbing him and we often spent time communing from our respective perches. Finally, I got to investigate his rock and found it covered in crab shells.
My owl book tells me that spotted eagle owls have a wide-ranging diet, including crustaceans. So that explains why there are now few crabs on our stretch of river and I haven’t seen an owl for a while. But they’ll be back – and I’ll be here to watch the cycle start again.
