HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Mine only eat dried bananas for some reason. They are having an easy dinner tonight. Chicken, dried banana chips, dried cranberries, and my Crabby Christmas cookies they overlooked last night!

I actually read through here and got some ideas. I decided to mix the egg (yolk and white) with spinach, sun dried baby shrimp, grapes, crushed almonds, squash and a little un seasoned hamburger.

I'm wracking my brain on how to get more protein into his diet, he won't eat meat. Even put a chunk of fish in for him the other night and I don't think he touched it. I think I'm going to cave and get some freeze dried mealworms
He doesn't seem too interested in most veggies either he just wants fruit and nuts

Dried crickets or dried shrimp will probably go over better then dried mealworms.

Think so? I did see dried shrimp I think, what about the turtle mixes, are they safe? Seems like a mix of different dried fishes, shrimp and bugs. Yum :p i will double check ingredients for junk first
We did give him fresh (well, frozen) shrimp before and he showed very little interest, and that was back when he was my mother in law's and he was getting no fresh foods at all, I thought he would jump on it. I convinced her we needed to vary his diet more, she got a big bag of frozen shrimp since the family eats it anyway, and gave him one thawed out. Meh.
Maybe dried ones are smellier though

Ah also.. I see lentils on the safe food list, I have some dried, do they need to be soaked or cooked or can I just throw them in dry? I wondered about brown rice on the list too, it doesn't specify cooked or not, but wouldn't uncooked rice be harmful like most critters?

sandra03 wrote:Twhat about the turtle mixes, are they safe? Seems like a mix of different dried fishes, shrimp and bugs. Yum :p

The only thing in the tank my guys eat on a daily basis. Turtle Treat Medley - crickets, mealworms (these have to taste different since they won't eat the plain ones I bought them), and shrimp.

Cool thanks, I'll pick some up next time I'm at the pet store

Ah, so...
We're making Indian tonight so crabby is getting a nice mix of veggies. Carrot, potato, cauliflower, broccoli, celery leaves, cucumber, and he's also got some tofu, apple, almond, and a bit of fish left from the other night
So spoiled, he gets mahi-mahi and doesn't even eat it. Yeesh


Ah I forgot, hubby is picking up some chickpeas for my curry so I'll toss one of those in too, plus he's got eggshell, and cuttlebone sprinkled over everything

Today was a make up day since their last two dinners weren't all that grand. Salmon, mango, egg, banana, flower petals, and some egg shell. I know I put in two other things but I can't remember what >_<

sounds like a lot of food for my one lonely crab lol but i might not get around to changing it up tomorrow so it'll last him til saturday. hubby has to bring something to a potluck lunch at work tomorrow, he's making a trifle so there's lots of fruit in the house right now. the weekend's meals will probably be mostly strawberry tops, grapes and kiwi. none of which he's had so will be interesting to see which he goes for

Sometimes I have to leave a day where it's nearly meats or seafood only because mine are sweet tooth's and LOVE fruit. I'm attempting to breed mealworms (so far so good) because mine seemed to like them and well the pet store here doesn't carry any. I got my hands on some from my cousin who has lizards and stuff who like crickets better. She may give me the rest of her "order" which is like upwards of 1000 lol. She was going to give me dead crickets from a feeder order that got frozen to death, but they ended up rotting because they got left out. She said her 8 crabs fight over the freshly dead crickets.

For dinner tonight, my crabbies are getting clams, oyster, piece of pear, and soy beans with sea salt. None of it will be gone, out of 16 hermies only 1 is up......

He'll have a feast all to himself then

coconut and rice

Does it need to be a certain kind of rice or would basmati be ok (cooked unseasoned) since I have a ton leftover?
Sorry I always have so many questions ^_^ still trying to find out what he likes and doesn't like and give enough variety

All rice is okay, but I wouldn't feed too much. It can be high in arsenic (rice naturally absorbs it while growing), and basmati is one of the worst. American grown rice can have extremely high levels, too. (Strangely enough, Chinese rice is the safest - the government there has the strictest guidelines about arsenic amounts since it's such a heavy part of the diet there.) A little bit of rice now and then is safe, but I do worry about long-term affects if it's fed regularly.