Eating shells?

[aslansgirl89]

So, as I mentioned last week, my medium size crab Shallan just came up from a molt and she has been out wandering around and I have been noticing that she seems to be eating one of the bigger shells that I have in the tank and I am wondering why she would do that? Does she need more calcium? Are cuttle bones OK for calcium or is it the same as it is with birds where the cuttle bone depletes the calcium instead of providing it? I put vitamin and calcium powder in their food every other time I feed them.

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[Motörcrab]

I would offer more calciums choices to start. Egg shells are easy to get. Organic is always best. I offer several different calciums all the time like crab and lobster exo, calcium carbonate, crushed cattle bone, powdered fish bone and a few others. Some people even offer chicken and other bones. Be sure that the meats we're not seasoned.

Cuttlebone if ok for crabs. I usually stick a whole one in the substrate so it looks like a tombstone!

[curlysister]

Tombstone. AKA surf board. LOL!

[Kydra]

I was actually going to make a post here RE cuttlebone. I added it in when I had 'adopted' my new tiny E. I ended up interrupting a molter that was just about finished (bacterial bloom issues a few ago). Anyway, the one interrupted immediately went for the cuttlebone and did for hours every night for about a week.

The little guy just came up from a relatively quick first molt and he's now doing the same. I was going to ask about this behavior post-molt as well as recommend to anyone to buy some cuttlebone! I even crushed some up for the little one and put in a shell which he's enjoyed thoroughly. I would know none of this without my Wyze cam if wondering how I'm monitoring them lol.

I saw you wrote that cuttlebone actually depletes birds of calcium? I had a cocktail for over a decade and something I have never heard. As for the crabs; there's also crushed oyster shells, egg shells, but post-molt they are going for the cuttlebone like crazy over the other calcium choices.

[wodesorel]

Sometimes there are simply shells that taste so good they can resist them. Usually it's the rarest or most expensive.