Crustacean taxidermist charges up to $400 to preserve pet crabs and lobsters

By Lauren Beavis

A crustacean taxidermist preserves people's pet shellfish — including crabs, shrimp and lobsters.

Jason Philip, 32, stuffs the remains of cherished arthropods such as crayfish for their owners.

Customers who have lost pet sea creatures like vampire crabs pay him between $180 and $390 to preserve them forever.

After teaching himself, Philip turned his hobby into a business and has now received orders from as far as Australia and the U.S.

Philip, from Edinburgh, said, "I really wouldn't have expected the crustacean taxidermy thing to take off as it has.

"I did not realize how popular pet crabs were!

"It's amazing as I didn't think it would go anywhere, but it's opened so many doors for me, particularly as someone who does not have a background in this fascinating field."

Philip, who runs his business under the name Amble Obscura, first stepped into the niche job when he moved to a small fishing village called Amble in Northumberland four years ago.

As he was unemployed at the time, Philip found himself walking on the beach for hours, when one day he came across a large dead crab nearly perfectly intact.

He said, "I've always been someone who collected rocks and unusual memorabilia.

"As a kid I would pick up dead animals and grandma would say put it down, you don't know where its been.

"But on that day I came across what I thought was a large dead crab — it was quite exciting for someone like me.

"My first thought was there must be a way to preserve it, so I put it in my coffee cup, took it home and started looking up how to preserve a crab tutorials online.

"There was nothing out there that went into detail — but Reddit was handy!"

When the time came for Philip to try and disassemble that particular crab, he realized the shell was empty — and soon learned that crabs molt their shells.

From that moment on, Philip said preserving the crustaceans was a matter of "trial and error."

He said, "Initially it was an experimentation — there were many, many failed attempts.

"I had to test materials and test all the different ways to dry the shells out.

"I soon realized that sunlight was a very bad idea after finding an entire batch of crabs I had left out bleached orange and cracked into thousands of tiny pieces!"

Some of the other challenges Philip faced was the particular stench he experienced while preserving the shells and the immense attention to detail required for the job.

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Philip, who has had works in progress for up to eight months, explained, "Honestly, the main struggle is the smell — even seasoned taxidermists don't enjoy that.

"It is also a very gradual process, so you have to be patient.

"When you are working with smaller crabs they are extremely delicate, so it's very time-consuming."

It was only when Philip perfected preserving his first crab that he thought it belonged on Etsy.

He said, "I thought it was something people would see and want, and I'd never felt that about my previous work as a painter.

"It was the first time I felt I had made something that was worth leaning into."

Philip will not kill animals to preserve them — he only uses crustaceans that are already dead or have left their shells.

Once Philip started sharing his work on social media, he was left stunned by the amount of people who got in touch with him asking to preserve their dead pet crustaceans.

He even received a particularly unique request to preserve the remains of a peacock mantis shrimp called Ludo — who had a social media account with millions of followers.

Philip's work on Ludo even saw him discover teeth which his owner did not know he had.

Philip said, "It turns out the whole internet knows about Ludo!

"To remove all the flesh you have to disassemble the body, while I was in the process of pinning the head portion and trying to arrange the appendages and sets of antennas of Ludo, I noticed his mandibles had these little teeth.

"Amy, Ludo's owner, had no idea that he had these — she couldn't believe it

"After she shared a photo of the work I'd done that's when it all blew up for me."

Some other odd requests Philip has received include preserving a blue crayfish, a horseshoe crab and a vampire crab.

Philip said, "The blue crayfish was very unusual for me — I had never seen one of those before!"

Despite the hours required to finish a single piece, Philip described his work as "immensely rewarding" — particularly when he is able to help preserve beloved pets for their owners.

Philip said, "I didn't realize how connected people were to these types of animals and pets in general.

"Particularly when I am out selling my work in markets, the number of really young kids who will drag their parents up to their stall and take a crab home with them.

"A few people have told me they dislike crabs and taxidermy is off-putting — but my work has helped them to understand not only the animals better, but also the value in preserving their incredible shells."

Philip's work includes open, glass dome and framed displays, as well as crab claw earrings and necklace pendants.