HCA: Hermit Crab Association

I usually buy just one or two large raw unpeeled shrimp at Sprouts (a natural foods supermarket), dice them up, freeze 'em and then dole out small amounts for the guys. Two large shrimp last quite a while. Well, I was at Sprouts today and the shrimp they had at the Butcher department were raw, unpeeled and a bit smaller. I asked the new fellow at the counter for just 2 shrimp and he looked at me like I was crazy. After I explained who they were for, he tried to weigh them but got virtually no reading so he found his boss who told him to add 2 more shrimp to the bag and gave me all 4 shrimp for free! Woo-hoo!! The down side is that I really don't feel like I can buy shrimp from Sprouts anymore as they'll probably think I'm just some crazy old lady who wants just a few shrimp to eat herself and can't afford to buy at least a 1/2 pound .

Question time re coconut. I do not like coconut and have never bought a fresh one. After reading everyone's wonderful recipes, I felt awful having never given my guys any coconut so last night at Petco I bought a bag of T-Rex's Crab Island Dried Shredded Coconut for Hermit Crabs (believe me, just the cartoon picture on the label made me nervous). It's dried coconut slices, artificial food grade coloring (white, I'm guessing) and sodium metabisulfiate as a preservative. How bad is this stuff? The only other non-whole coconut I've come across is the shredded-unsweetened-for-baking type. Is that a viable alternative to this Crab Island stuff? I've added a few pieces to the kale and Sprouts "free" shrimp in tonight's dinner bowl but the only guy up right now, Harry, hasn't made his way over to investigate it yet.

I'm really unsure about the ingredients too, so I'm not comfortable answering one way or the other. Hopefully someone else will be along with a better idea but I personally wouldn't use it. What are the ingredients in the unsweetened kind you're finding in the baking section? I always pick up a whole coconut, drain the water (for me but sometimes I share ), then break it up into smaller pieces to freeze (husk and all) for easy servings for the crabs. When picking up a coconut I shake them by my ear and pick the one that sounds like there's a good amount of water inside.

I was intimidated at first by fresh coconuts, but I went for it and am glad I did, cause they love it so much! And they are easy the open. There are 3 small depressions at the top. I hammered a screwdriver into each one, which split it open so I could drain the milk, then hammered some chunks off of it. Stick it in the fridge and it has lasted more than a month.

Neither Harry nor Big Enzo ate anything last night so maybe they were put off by the dried coconut pieces in the bowl. Guess I'll pick up a small fresh coconut at Sprouts next shopping day.

Here's a good video on opening coconuts: http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DrBbGbIURFI.
And one on selecting coconuts: http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jjsMydOg0EM.

I buy shredded coconut in the health food section of our grocery store that is all natural. It can be frozen or just kept in the fridge. Even after months of having it I can still rub it between my fingers and have oil on them, so highly recommend it. Had to look at a few grocery stores before I found it, but found it at a high end (Publix) store here in Florida.

dinky wrote:I buy shredded coconut in the health food section of our grocery store that is all natural. It can be frozen or just kept in the fridge. Even after months of having it I can still rub it between my fingers and have oil on them, so highly recommend it. Had to look at a few grocery stores before I found it, but found it at a high end (Publix) store here in Florida.

Thanks, Dinky! I'll ask at Sprouts when I'm in there on Wednesday.

Thanks, Dinky! I'll ask at Sprouts when I'm in there on Wednesday.[/quote]

I really like mine this way, it's so easy to sprinkle over fruits my crabs don't care for and now my crabs eat just about every fruit I offer. (:

I have the shredded coconut

I have the shredded coconut treats (the picture really is creepy) and I put some in a dish along with fresh coconut. I have no idea if they are eating it or not but I do have the label so everyone can decide what they think. I'm going to link the pictures.

LOL its a snail with a claw!


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YYWW wrote:LOL its a snail with a claw!


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hahahhaha that caught my eye too! How hilarious... And somewhat sad lol!


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Mine has no food coloring, it's just coconut. The ones they put out for hermit crabs usually have stuff added.

Farahlovescheer wrote:I have the shredded coconut treats (the picture really is creepy) and I put some in a dish along with fresh coconut. I have no idea if they are eating it or not but I do have the label so everyone can decide what they think. I'm going to link the pictures.

I know! That cartoon really bothered me,too. None of my guys went anywhere near their food dish while that coconut was in there so I just tossed it and am going to try to find the shredded natural coconut Dinky mentioned.