Food advice needed

[FireflyStars]

I'm a new owner of two PPs and looking for advice on basic food. I've read the hermit crab nutrition guide (among various other things), but I would like to know if there's any basic food that would be good to get first. I am able to go out later today to look for organic produce, and could go to Petsmart soon, hopefully.
Any suggestions?

[Da_Stos208]

Honestly, you can just look at the safe foods list and find things around your house. Thats what I do most of the time.

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[FireflyStars]

If you just get things from around your house, are pesticides ever an issue?

[Vic Future]

Hi, the only thing i like to get from petstores is freeze dried bugs ( crickets/worms) etc and cuttlebones. Most crabbers have noticed the hermit crab food sold at pet shops is full of chems and fillers and is actually bad for hermies. Personally I think they get away with it bc they dont expect the poor things to live long enough to die from bad food.
I learned that fact and many more from this site. I don't know what id do without HCA.

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[Hermiearth]

Crabs do have a nutrition pyramid. You need to provide protein at all times. Also food mixes are great to provide variety- there are lots on etsy or you can make your own and congrats on becoming a crab owner!


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[FireflyStars]

@Vic Future
Crickets and worms sound good, I'll look into those. Thanks!

@Hermiearth
Thank you! I'd be interested in making my own mixes, so if you know any good recipes that would be amazing.

[Hermiearth]

I made my own- it's actually quite fun. What I did was went to the Whole Foods bulk section, and bought tons of organic seeds, rice, nuts, and dried fruit. Cut them into smaller pieces, and than added in dried insects, krill, seaweed, and calcium powder.


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[FireflyStars]

Sounds good. Thanks!

[GotButterflies]

All you do is find things that are on the safe food list. Do your best to make sure that they are organic as much as possible (hermits are sensitive to pesticides and fertilizers). Then, you can grind things by using a food processor/coffee grinder or a mortar and pestle welcome to the HCA!


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[LadyJinglyJones]

I have a special "gross stuff" coffee grinder (cheapest I could get) that I use to powderize nuts, grains, rice, dried bugs... you know, things a roommate won't allow in the regular coffee grinder.

You can chop fruit small and dry it in your oven at 350 with the door cracked open. Heat til they look dry and are barely sticky to the touch.

Frozen bloodworms, krill, mysis shrimp, brine shrimp & daphnia can all be aquired in convenient blister packs in the fish section of a (good) petstore - they'll have 'em in a fridge.

Talk to the reptile peeps at your store & see if they'll let you have some snake sheds. This one guy at my store gives me some, and the crabs are grateful to him, whether they know it or not. :roll:

Dulse, kombu, arame & norri are sea veggies (ie. Kelp, seaweed) - available at healthfood stores, east asian grocery stores (lots of those where I am, but maaaaaybe not super common in most of the states. ...) and anywhere rich people live &buy groceries. Dulse (a red seaweed) is great for colouring, and can often be found in flakes you can scater on the sub to promote foraging.

Timothy hay & alfalfa from the pet store rodent section will be appreciated. Millet sprays & crushed oyster bits can be found in the bird section.

Literally every section of the petstore is more useful to crabbers than the crab section.

Dry oak or maple or (if you live where it's warmer) palm leaves make great leaf litter - a significant part of their diet in the wild.

Birch bark too. In the spring I find birch catkins, maple buds & the flowers of safe-list trees to add (I feel like spring should be special.... even if it's not the same spring that the crabs had back home).

Rose hips, petals and leaves are good later in the season. Mine really lIke honeysuckle blossoms. .. i think its because they smell so good. Burning bush leaves are another popular item & don't forget dandilion - flowers, leaves, roots - all good... just make sure you aren't collecting from fertilized/pesticided/non-legal-to-collect places.

Check out the frozen section of your local grocery store - if you find shrimp, octopus legs, clam, oyster, or crab claw WITHOUT PRESERVATIVES ADDED, grab 'em. (My crebs really like octopus legs. They aren't so hot on calamari rings, so I've stopped getting g those.)

Oh! And at a super froofy "we sell free-range organic dog food" pet store I found, they had dried salmon, whiting, fish tails, and duck wings. The dried duck wing, bone and all, has been the single most fought over & dragged about food in both my crabitats.... even beating out octopus legs!
Check out dog places to see if desiccated fowl is available... but ask about and avoid smoked products.

[LadyJinglyJones]

Also - don't forget worm castings and any herbivore/insectivore poop you can lay hands on!!!

[FireflyStars]

Thank you so much! I'll definitely take your advice, you were a big help.

[HeyItsEggs]

Hi! Just so you know I am typing up a document on microsoft word that is a cookbook for hermit crabs! With all safe for hermit crab mixes for you to make, along with nutrition info like the food pyramid, useful and crucial nutrition categories and the safe food list! If you PM me your email address I can email it to you when it is finished.

[aussieJJDude]

Really the only thing I get from the shop made for animals
- freeze dried shrimp
-frozen inverts for fish
-cuttlefish bone for birds
-bird seed mixes, mine like to eat seed

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