HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Hi all! Do you cook your veggies or give them raw?

My crabbies don't seem to be a fan of a lot of fresh foods, except maybe protein like eggs (they love eggs!). So I started to dehydrate some veggies and make my own crabby mixes. The veggies I've dehydrated and made into powders so far are zucchini, eggplant, red bell peppers, and cucumbers. I also have reptile freeze dried veggies they like.

Try giving the veggies to them in different ways to see what your crabs prefer. They can be picky little things!

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You crush the dehydrated things into powders? Do you just put the powders in the food bowl and change daily? How do you know if or which crabs are eating other than the obvious disappearance of the food? Our hermit crabs are new and I almost never see them.

dalbani wrote:You crush the dehydrated things into powders? Do you just put the powders in the food bowl and change daily? How do you know if or which crabs are eating other than the obvious disappearance of the food? Our hermit crabs are new and I almost never see them.

I use a coffee bean grinder to grind the veggies into powders. Sometimes I'll feed the powders in little scoops by themselves, and sometimes I mix them with other things. I made my own mix with crushed mealworms, powdered eggplant, zucchini, and cucumbers. I change their dry foods about every three days, or sooner if it starts getting moldy. I replenish what they eat in between.
Since your guys are new, they may not feel comfortable coming out around you yet. I frequently see my guys visiting the food dish when I'm in my crab room, and I also have a Wyze camera that can record them at night. On Monday, I changed their food out. It took me about 5 mins after that to get my tortoise's food ready and feed her. I looked back at the tank a crab was already sitting in the food dish chowing down on the new goodies I put in. Just give your guys some time to adjust and they'll start coming out too.

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Thank you so much!! If I don't have a dehydrator, where can I buy those things?

dalbani wrote:Thank you so much!! If I don't have a dehydrator, where can I buy those things?

You're welcome!
I found my older dehydrator for free on my neighborhood webpage. You can also check Amazon, Bed Bath & Beyond, and other home good type stores for new dehydrators. But you can also use your oven to dehydrate fruits, veggies, greens, and leaves.
My tortoise won't eat fresh greens from the store. So I use my oven to dehydrate them (since there's more room in there than the smaller dehydrator), and sprinkle the dried crunched up greens on her pellets. She'll eat them that way, go figure.
You can pick something to dehydrate, say strawberries, and check the internet for the time and temp it will take to dehydrate in your oven. In general, you put your oven on low for fruits/veggies, say 200°F and under, and leave the food in for a few hours. Always use parchment paper to line your baking sheets so the food doesn't stick to the sheet. It only takes about 30 mins for my greens to cook though at about 250°F.

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Mine like fresh squash. So, I’ll usually give them the ends that I cut off, but they don’t usually start eating them until they’ve sat there a day.

Awesome! Thanks all!

Yw!

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So far apple's were the only raw food that they ate any of, and not very much at that. So to get them to eat their veggies (and fruit and protein!) I buy the powder tubes off etsy, the food dish has little round individual spots, so I pour them in there as well as toss it and combine with oatmeal. They seem to devour anything and everything that way. I just recently tried powdered Kale and broccoli, both alone and on the oatmeal they eat it all up.

Do you cook the oatmeal? With water? Where exactly do you order from?

CrabbyLover77 wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 08, 2020 12:36 am

You're welcome!
I found my older dehydrator for free on my neighborhood webpage. You can also check Amazon, Bed Bath & Beyond, and other home good type stores for new dehydrators. But you can also use your oven to dehydrate fruits, veggies, greens, and leaves.
My tortoise won't eat fresh greens from the store. So I use my oven to dehydrate them (since there's more room in there than the smaller dehydrator), and sprinkle the dried crunched up greens on her pellets. She'll eat them that way, go figure.
You can pick something to dehydrate, say strawberries, and check the internet for the time and temp it will take to dehydrate in your oven. In general, you put your oven on low for fruits/veggies, say 200°F and under, and leave the food in for a few hours. Always use parchment paper to line your baking sheets so the food doesn't stick to the sheet. It only takes about 30 mins for my greens to cook though at about 250°F.

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Hi, I am from Australia. I go for an online shop very little, but as you know married women always in need of something like in-home goods. I recently purchased a bed sheet via an online store. is this suitable to shop for cooking or baking products online?

dalbani wrote: ↑

Fri Oct 09, 2020 2:25 pm

Do you cook the oatmeal? With water? Where exactly do you order from?

I could be wrong, but I believe beckanai was referring to the Etsy store BioactiveFX1. They sell lots of powdered foods in tubes there. (Forgive me if I am wrong, beckanai!).

You do not need to cook the oatmeal. My crabs love plain, raw oats. I have tried cooking it before and it didn't seem to be as big of a hit - but you can try it both ways!

My sweet girl, Hermione, loves her raw Quaker Oats! She has some today mixed with a touch of honey .


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rechial12 wrote: Hi, I am from Australia. I go for an online shop very little, but as you know married women always in need of something like in-home goods. I recently purchased a bed sheet via an online store. is this suitable to shop for cooking or baking products online?

Hi!

Sometimes those type of stores will also have baking and cooking supplies too. Not sure if you have Bed Bath & Beyond in Australia, but that store has everything from towels to vacuums, to blenders lol.

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