HCA: Hermit Crab Association

so there's PLENTY of tips on what to feed the crabs, how to feed them, and even some common favorites, but I've never seen anything about how much they eat and the right amount to put out for them.
I'm trying to figure out what foods are my crabs' favorites, but I'm having a hard time telling if they like it or not. everyone talks about how their crabs devour certain foods and they're completely gone the next day, but the only way I can tell if mine have been eating is when a little bit is scattered around the tank.
I only have 3, so I'm sure they don't put down as much as the tanks with 50 crabs, but does anyone know how much a small-medium crab usually eats in one day??

they don't eat that much from what i've noticed. I've got around 20 or so in my tank, I think about maybe 10 are up, i only see like 5-6 though. And I'll put in some dried foods like shrimp mealworms, some other dry crabs mixes, some dried fruits etc. and I maybe put a pinch of 2-3 different kinds, and in a few days its rarely gone, usually plenty left over. even if i put in a fresh apple slice, like one you'd give to a baby, that can easily last 2 days, then it starts going bad way before it'd be fully gone.

For me, i just started putting more small pieces of food so its easier to tell how much they've eaten, and they don't try to drag it all over the cage. so long story short. they don't take much food to fill them up, plus they should have like some cuttlebone to munch on, shoot mine even eat the Eco earth cholla wood and pretty much anything else in there. So they aren't going to starve or anything like that if you're worried

Ditto what Klowns said. I have 4 PPs (1 small, 2 medium, 1 large) and usually have only 1 or 2 of the 4 up at any given time. A bowl with about a teaspoon of dry mix is available 24/7 as is the leaf bowl. The dry mix will last for several days and is changed out when there's more substrate than food in the bowl

Each day I'll offer a tiny bit of fresh food in an eggshell half. The "tiny bit" can be a 1/2" of raw ground turkey, a fingernail-size piece of scrambled egg or a banana/apple slice or berry garnished with dried coconut, powdered seaweed, flower petals, etc. As I always keep a small supply of turkey, shrimp, scrambled egg in the freezer, all I have to do is break off a bit and "nuke" it for about 15 seconds to thaw it before serving. I'll usually leave the fresh food for 24 hours (raw fish comes out after 12 hours simply due to the smell) and there's always still some food left.

thank you both so much! I was a little worried.. what I thought was a small portion is apparently a lot for them now I know it's normal and I'm not doing something wrong. I knew they eat in "small amounts" but no one really specifies. THANK YOU!

I'm glad you ask this! I was also wondering the same exact thing! THANK YOU!


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