New crabs eating only dirt
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Topic author
New crabs eating only dirt
When I rescued 5 small PPs from cold and dry conditions at a pet store and put them in my crabitat, they seemed to eat lots of dirt. I suppose they could have been only digging and sifting through the dirt, but they looked like they were eating. They showed no interest in the food dish, with fresh fruit and food from The Happy Hermit, although their arrival got my older solitary PP very lively and interested in the food bowl. The dirt is decomposed coir that's been in there a few months. They had been kept in a large open glass-sided pen with about an inch of some kind of plastic-feeling sand, had a fairly large flat water dish they could soak in, and were fed pellets. Some are in shells that are way too small; they have access to an appropriate range of shells if they want to switch shells. They have access to salt and fresh water, too, and the temp is about 80 at the side mounted heater end; the other end is about 72. I don't know the humidity because I haven't yet found a gauge, but the soil is damp. It has been 4 days, and I have found a few near the food bowls occasionally, but mostly I find them hoovering the dirt when they are out. Any idea why they are so interested in the dirt and not the food?
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Yup. If this "dirt" is the coir/Eco-earth stuff, then they would be eating that. And that's not so bad, it may be also indicative that they are prepping up for a molt as it has cellulose which, I've heard, helps building up their shells/chitin.Kilimanjaro wrote:Well, I believe coir is made of coconut husks, so it has some nutrients. They may be eating during the night - that is when they do it most.
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I have all PP's currently, and I've found that almost of all the crabs I've taken out of tanks that were all sand with poor nutrition came in & stuffed themselves silly with the Coir substrate. Some then go on to molt, some don't. I'm not sure whether they're after nutrients, cellulose, or something else, but it is something I have noticed with a lot of them when they first arrive.
3 Dogs, 48 Hermies, 2 Finches, 1 Canary and little old me.
7 Jumbos, 11 Large, 11 Medium, 5 Small : All PP's.
3 Micro, 2 Teeny, 2 Medium, 2 Big Medium/Almost Large, 1 Large: Ruggies
1 Micro, 2 Medium:Violas
3 Medium Straws
7 Jumbos, 11 Large, 11 Medium, 5 Small : All PP's.
3 Micro, 2 Teeny, 2 Medium, 2 Big Medium/Almost Large, 1 Large: Ruggies
1 Micro, 2 Medium:Violas
3 Medium Straws