HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Hi everyone!

I'm the owner of two beautiful PPs known as Old Bay (terrible, I know) and Kelp. I've had them for two/three years now, and as far as I know they are healthy and happy. Kelp is a large crab, while Old Bay is a medium/large. Anyway, back to the review.

For all those years I've had them so far, I've fed them "real" food only, as in, whole apple slices and peanut butter, etc. (not mixes). A couple weeks ago I decided to start using mixes after hearing that they're more convenient, while retaining their nutrition. I quickly searched the forums for sellers online, but alas many of them had very expensive shipping to Canada. I ran across a smaller sight through my search called "Desert Crabby Mixes N More". The shipping wasn't that bad ($9 if I remember correctly) and they had a huge variety of mixes "n more". I decided to purchase my food through their store, both for the decent shipping and large selection. Looking through the categories, I came across something called the "20 sample pack" which was only $10 and gave you 20 samples of your choosing, which I quickly pounced upon. I picked many different mixes, and a list of them were:

• Mango Tango (more of a dessert, I think).

• Squidoo (a combination of squid and seaweed).

• Matosquid (Tomato and squid)

• Hermit Crab Oriental Seaweed Soup

• Hermit Crab Color Boost

• Pebble Beach Puree

• Wannabe Mix

• Luau Feast

• Beach Side Picnic

• Bugs n Stuff (made of bugs... n stuff).

• Veggie Kelp

• Popcorn Fruit Splash

• DCMM HC Healing Powder (has some great stuff like bee pollen, calcium, etc.)

• Banana Coconut (another dessert - needs to be refrigerated)

• Sedona Dessert

• Leilani's Mix n More

• Maile Lei

• Hermit Crab Calcium Boost (nice for sprinkling on other food)

• Pepper Shrimp

• Flax Chia Blend

The items were shipped only a couple days later, as the owner had to get hand surgery. It took about 2 weeks to arrive, and it came in the cutest package. I tore it open and was pleasantly surprised to find she had included some free bonuses as well! There was an apple stick, feeding spoon, and a cute plastic palm tree. And then, of course, there was the bag with the food. All samples arrive in what I think are 1.5 inch ziploc bags, which is small but a decent amount especially for someone like me with only 2 hermit crabs. The names are written on the front, for easy identification. I chose 2 samples for their first meal -- The Luau Feast and the Popcorn Fruit Splash. My hermit crabs sensed something was up and almost immediately went to the bowl. Old Bay, the smaller one, started scooping up clumps of the powder and eating it, and not long after Kelp joined in. They loved both of them, and are still their favourite after trying some of the others. All the dessert blends are hugely popular, and I make sure to include a little every so often.

The only quarrel I have with them is that for many of the mixes they don't list what ingredients are in them. For some they do, but for others like "Squidoo" it's hard to tell until you actually get it. Judging by the ingredients that are shown in other mixes I can't imagine that any of the "unknown" ones are bad, but it is a downside that for some they don't tell you. You can probably message the owner at her Facebook page (just search Desert Crabby Mixes N More) however since I haven't tried yet I'm not sure how fast she'll answer. If anyone orders from there one of the more "chunkier" mixes I have most of them so you can ask and I might be able to identify what's in them, or send a better pic so someone else can. Besides this, I had a good experience with them and I will definitely order again.

If anyone has any questions about what I ordered or other things, I can try my best to answer. All in all I recommend this store for their large selection, good prices, and tasty food. Here's a pic I took of the samples once I got them out of the package (taken with a phone, so the quality isn't great, sorry!)



Thanks for reading!

Wow! All that food looks yummy! I will have to order some

I think some ingredients are not listed because they can be copied by other food competitors.The Crab Patch Mineral Blend does not specify and we all know how great it is.

I am in love with this store and have a cart full waiting to be placed. They were amazing with an error that occurred (they had forgotten to put a cholla wood piece as USA only), and even after refunding me they added a whole bunch of extras. One of which was their worm castings, which Finnick destroyed all by himself! I highly recommend them!

IBlab crab wrote:I think some ingredients are not listed because they can be copied by other food competitors.The Crab Patch Mineral Blend does not specify and we all know how great it is.

That's a good point! I've heard of how great the Mineral Blend is from there, might have to get some the next time I need crab food

Just yesterday I received my order of hibiscus flowers, seaweed and moss. I got some neato freebies, also.
Even after filling the bowl I caught Matty and Baby running to the new moss pit. Earlier, at about 1am, there was Toby, Baby, Sid and maybe a small one or two stuffed and stuffing their faces in the food bowl! All I fed them was DCMM, bee pollen from Alaska Hermit and my own stuff. Thanks so much!! ️️️️️


Mommy of 12 PP babies - Baby, Toby, Sid, Matty, Junior, Kaylee, Aries, Adrian, Turbo, Flower, Boo and Freckles.
RIP Octavius

Is there a website posted somewhere for this? I'd love to order from them!

I got my giant order a few days ago. I put in the moss and they love it since it is fluffy. I keep having to put it back in since there is so much traffic up there now. She sent me free hibiscus flowers and I put them in for the first time tonight. So far they aren't too interested. I haven't had a chance to try much more since I ordered so much but I will check in once I get more feedings in. The only complaints I really have is the bag size on certain things seem to be too small for the price. Aside from that I had a package that wasn't quite sealed all the way and I lost half of a rather expensive product. That was the worst part. Everything does appear to be great and they are sure to love it.

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