All About My Hermit Crabs

Ok... Why haven't I talked about my crabs yet?




Holley: The largest in the tank, the second least active. She has a very pretty shell. (And it's not painted! :D Just brown with swirls of yellowish-tan and bits of green and black) Holley likes peanut butter but I would know more about her if she were more active. But crabs are nocturnal...

Sebastian: In contrast to Holley, he is the smallest in the tank and the leactive. He too likes peanut butter and has a cool shell (greenish tan with black spot/stripes here and there). Sebastian often hides in the corner of the tank by the heater (guess he just wants extra warmth, my tank is almost always in the correct temp for crabs) and is very active at night.

Pelly: THE most active in the tank. And a peanut butter lover. Pelly comes out not just at night but if you pick her up she almost always comes out to say hi. Pelly enjoys baths, especially when I make a big bowl of salt water every now and then and dunk them all for a few seconds and let them dry off by running around a shoebox lined with paper towels.

Finn: A crab with a giraffe-print shell (not painted either, just white with orange spots) and a big claw. He is the second most active in the tank. And he also enjoys peanut butter!


Note: Don't buy painted shells. They are itchy, smell bad, and chip, which the crab will then eat the chipped-off flakes and die. Get natural shells and always microwave them for 5 minutes before using to kill germs.

Food

What's in my food mix?

Everyone knows living creatures need food. Hermit crabs are one of those things, so you should feed them if you want them to live. I give my crabs variety; pellets just aren't enough. Here is a breakdown of what's in my mix:
All Living Things hermit crab food (pellets)
Omega One Freeze-dried shrimp (Great source of carotene)
All Living Things Calcium Supplement (White powder that crabs won't even know it's there, but they'll get all the calcium they need)
1-2 fresh foods every week


Why these items are important

Crabs need calcium and carotene. It helps keep them healthy and builds their exoskeleton. Buy some freeze-dried shrimp made for marine fish (usually tetras) and feed 2-3 a day for a good carotene supplement. You can wash out an eggshell (get rid of yolk and other bits) and then crush it up into really little bits and put some in the tank. This makes a good calcium supplement, or you can just feed calcium powder like I do. Just put 1-2 pinches in the food dish per day and add shrimp and pellets. Good pellet brands are: All Living Things Hermit Crab Food Medley, Zoo Med Hermit Crab Food, and HBH Hermit Crab Variety Bites. Hermit crabs can't consume a lot, so only feed what's necessary. (10 pellets or less for ALT, 7 pellets or less for ZM, and 7 pellets or less for HBH) If you are worried that your crabs aren't getting enough to eat, I can only give you four words: Cut back on portions. Count out your portions and pick the right amount so there's a bit left over but not a whole lot.

Fresh Foods:

You can feed these to your crabs, all must be cut up!

Fruits:
Mango, banana, apple, papaya, coconut, pineapple, strawberry, melon, raisins or grapes NOTE: Avoid citrus!

Veggies:
Romaine lettuce, tomato, zucchini, celery, broccoli and cauliflower, and other leafy greens.

Other:
Popcorn (without butter, salt, or seasoning), cuttlebone, seaweeds, freeze dried shrimp or mealworms, and unsalted nuts. The reason why I say no salt is because of iodine, which can kill them. You can use sea salt but I don't recommend it. My crabs really like Jif crunchy peanut butter with sea salt, and you can feed that, but don't purposely put sea salt on something.

Thanks for reading this post!


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