Crabs can smell?

[Julsie]

Uhhhhhh so i’ve noticed that when it’s time for feeding time there might be 1-3 visible crabs out of the 10 I have. As soon as I place fresh food inside the bowls all of my crabs swarm out of hiding and all of them scurry into the bowls. They can smell? I had no idea. I don’t know how else they could sense there was fresh food. That’s cool haha. I usually leave food in the bowls for 24hours and then place fresh food in. Over the course of the 24hours the food I can’t even tell if they ate it all or if it got mixed in with all the substrate they all track into the bowl. Seriously. A whole mess. Created by little hermits! In 24hours!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[JoeHermits]

Yes, hermit crabs use their sense of smell to find food. I don’t have any numbers for other species but Ecuadorians are able to smell food up to five meters away.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Julsie]

Yes, hermit crabs use their sense of smell to find food. I don’t have any numbers for other species but Ecuadorians are able to smell food up to five meters away.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I don’t know why I didn’t take it into realization that they could smell haha. I guess it’s because when I picture an animal smelling i’m thinking of cats/dogs and other mammals. Didn’t even think about the reptiles haha.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Motörcrab]

Here is a pretty interesting story on how they smell. Yet another reason that proves proper humidity is crucial!

https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/th ... is-around/