HCA: Hermit Crab Association

What do you use for food dishes? I've been using different kinds of flat sea shells or a oyster shell but I wonder how sanitary they are. Would plastic be better?

I use sea shells. Mine are not flat, but I don't think that matters. I wash them well and let them air dry. I have several.


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I only have two, the oyster and one that I think is a scallop. Every time I wash them, they feel slimy and I only leave them in the tank for 24 hours. I guess the crabs don't mind, they seem to really like the oyster shell, maybe I should get some more.

In the wild these guys are foragers and scavengers. They eat lots of stuff that washes up on the beach, bits of trees and plants, etc. They eat dead animals. Mold doesn't bother them. Rinsing their food dish with tapwater (it contains chlorine which I think gives a mild sanitizing effect, it breaks up the biofilm anyway) is probably fine. Then rinse again with dechlorinated water and dry.

I use all types of shells, flat, curved, deep, shallow, small and large. I have some small deep ones I use to hold 1/16th of a teaspoon of honey at a time so it won't spill. I have some large flatter ones I like to lay nuts and leaves in. I mix up where I put them to make the crabs think a bit, and have a collection of ~40 shells I rotate out. I toss what they don't eat every day, and do "crab dishes" about once a week, to rinse all remnants out and let them dry before re-use.

Only reason I have so many food shells is because I was trying to buy them turbos to wear, and the ones I needed came three to a craft bag with about fifty other shells. My crabs had literally nothing, so I bought several bags. Way more shells than any one person needs unless you've got a beach theme going. Sometimes I accidentally drop a shell in the trash can when I'm emptying it out, and I don't go after it.

Gail wrote:I only have two, the oyster and one that I think is a scallop. Every time I wash them, they feel slimy and I only leave them in the tank for 24 hours. I guess the crabs don't mind, they seem to really like the oyster shell, maybe I should get some more.

Crabs eat oyster shells - it's a good source of calcium for them. Might they be eating the edges of the shell as well as the food on it? That would be pretty cool I think. Wish I had an oyster shell...

I've got a shell or two, but also have a hidey cave that has two dish spots on top! Was quite a Petsmart find in the reptile section. Sometimes I also will put a tiny bit of food inside an egg shell...they go nuts over that!


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Hermias_mom wrote:

Gail wrote:I only have two, the oyster and one that I think is a scallop. Every time I wash them, they feel slimy and I only leave them in the tank for 24 hours. I guess the crabs don't mind, they seem to really like the oyster shell, maybe I should get some more.

Crabs eat oyster shells - it's a good source of calcium for them. Might they be eating the edges of the shell as well as the food on it? That would be pretty cool I think. Wish I had an oyster shell...

Could very well be nibbling on the edges, thats one reason I've continued to use it. I buy a couple large live oyster from the seafood counter for the shells, tried feeding the oysters to the crabs but they weren't impressed.

i found the dollar store had a great bag of shells that was 60% scallops and turbos, whale/shark eye along with some magpie shells. from medium too a few extra large and small. less pyramid shells and odd aizes than Michelle.

Shells have the advantage of being boilable, so if they get funky they are very easy to sanitize.