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Opinions, crabs have good sense of smell or not?
Posted: Thu Feb 18, 2016 10:27 pm
by CrabbahN.E.
Through research I realized that feeding fresh foodstuffs is healthier for the crabs. I put an assortment of fresh foods out all in separate tiny shells. Fresh cooked corn and carrot in one,honey, peanut butter,raw scallops,raw haddock,raw clam, Apple.all in separate small shells. The peanut butter was eaten a little but everything else was ignored.should the seafood be cooked,? Is it different taste crab to crab. I work for a s a food wholesaler so from a protein perspective I'm hoping they like the seafood,is it possible because they have been getting the mass produced stuff they are not going for the fresh. The lack of interest surprises me. Please help I'm still learning.
Re: Opinions, crabs have good sense of smell or not?
Posted: Fri Feb 19, 2016 12:41 am
by aussieJJDude
It might be the case of you feeding too much and most of the stuff they do eat however for us it looks untouched.

Try to limit the amount of food and see if you can note a different, but in all... who cares? They been living fine without us, so they certainly know what they want/need to eat and how much!
Every crab seems to like something different, I have some that love their meats (especially cooked) and others that enjoy their veggies (such as corn on the cob). Experiment and try new things, you eventually find something they will like chowing on.
Re: Opinions, crabs have good sense of smell or not?
Posted: Fri Feb 19, 2016 11:49 pm
by Jackolope
Crabs can't really smell like you or me or a dog, they can taste. They rub their antennae on the food and them put it in their mouth to identify it. They like potent smells. You gave them a lot of food all at once, just one of those at a time is fine. Crabs only eat about a pea-sized amount of food. Feed them what you eat. That's what they want, table scraps. So if you had ribs, give them the leftover meat on the bone. If you have some pizza, yes I'm serious though no one on the site likes it, they love pizza (wipe off any grease). They will usually strip the cheese off in one night. Instead of peanut butter because of the salt, try grinding up unsalted peanuts and giving it to them. Mine like my mom's meatloaf. They LOVE sweet potatoes (cooked) and blue chips w/ sea salt.
Re: Opinions, crabs have good sense of smell or not?
Posted: Sun Feb 21, 2016 12:03 pm
by soilentgringa
I try to feed my crabs what they would find in the wild with a few things they might not, like boiled eggs and raw honey.
We recommend unseasoned and unprocessed foods. Raw veggies, raw or cooked meat (no ham or brined/processed meat like lunchmeats), nuts, dried plants/flowers/leaf litter, etc. The safe food list has a TON of options.