Battle: Blue Crab

I gave my first tour today which was a HUGE accomplishment since I was just trained on the tour on Tuesday and only observed it once this morning before giving my own tour! Even the sullen girls at the start of the tour quickly turned around and were asking questions and telling me stories by the end. All in all, it was a great success!

After my last post, though, the number one question that I have been asked by several of you is whether I learned to pick up the crab. So here is the story:

Today there was one jimmy (male) blue crab in the shedding tank. Before the tour, some of the docents were giving me pointers on the tour as they knew it was my first time out, so I asked for tips on picking up the crab. They told me where to find tongs, that I should only pick him up from behind, and to be careful as middle schoolers like to touch the crab, but the crab likes to GRAB on to any fingers that are in its general area. One docent also warned to be careful, as one time she was grabbed as she was teaching and had a blue crab painfully hanging onto her finger as she tried to talk to the kids. Not ideal.

So I settled the kids inside the fisherman's shanty and went to the tank where I found the tongs. The jimmy was facing me though so as I tried to prod him and turn him around he just started snapping at the tongs. Basically, I spent about a minute facing off with the crab before I decided to just forget the whole thing and let the kids crowd around the tank to see him. When I went back in to tell them this, the teacher offered to try as she had worked in a bait shop for a number of years. I think her luck was about the same as mine, as she came out a minute later, giving me a quiet shake of the head. So we let the kids crowd around the tank to take a look, warning them to watch their hands!

So yes, I was unsuccessful at picking up the crab, but I did give it one heck of a try. And I did give an awesome tour in which no one guessed that it was my first time!