HCA: Hermit Crab Association

I plan on making my very own mixes soon for the crabbies! However, I have yet to find a food dehydrator that works and is cheap so I'm going to be using my oven. I'll need to dry fruits and veggies to add in the mix. Tonight I plan on drying carrots and tomatoes, as well as banana and kiwi to test run this mix. I may try drying celery tops. My crabs seem to enjoy the dried foods I provide them. In the future I may even sell the mixes.
Tonights mix idea:
-FD plankton
-Dried carrot
-Dried tomato
-Dried banana
-Dried kiwi
-Dried burning bush leaves
-Chia

You can add seaweeds too - dulse already comes in flakes.

I found decent dehydrator at my local Goodwill store for 7.00 it is an older model but it works just fine for me and was well taken care of. I did celery tops banana and hot peppers and all worked well. Oh and tomatoes too.

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Id check Safe Foods list on hot peppers.

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I found a great dehydrator on Amazon for $30 about a month and a half ago. I had to buy the mesh screens for small stuff though. We have cilantro in our garden. It had free shipping too. You never know! Keep looking. You can always check letgo, Craigslist, OfferUp & bookoo if you are okay with a used one.


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LadyJinglyJones wrote:You can add seaweeds too - dulse already comes in flakes.

I do have seaweed (however it's in sheets so I'm going to have to take crumbling it into my own hands, literally)

However, I'm just tossing around ideas right now. I'm liking how drying things in the oven is working out so far, I took a vegetable peeler and peeled a carrot until it was just a nub. Then took a silpat and individually laid out the peels. I put this in the oven at the lowest temperature with the door cracked and in a little over 30-35 minutes they were all curled up and dry like I hoped they'd be. (I plan on showing what they look like now when I get home.) So far I've tried leaves and carrots, I'm trying to think of other fruits and veggies to try next. I really want to try kiwi.

Harry moved faster than I have ever seen him move when he got hold of a piece of dried pineapple. So I'd recommend that!

LadyJinglyJones wrote:Harry moved faster than I have ever seen him move when he got hold of a piece of dried pineapple. So I'd recommend that!

Oh i bet! Drying pineapple draws out natural sugars lol. Oranges would be good as well but honestly any and everything depending on your crabs tastes.

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LadyJinglyJones wrote:Harry moved faster than I have ever seen him move when he got hold of a piece of dried pineapple. So I'd recommend that!

That made me laugh out loud

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