HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Thats the real question for me. I would have assumed everything to be raw as would ve found in the wild. As super helpful as the safe foods list is, and im starting to know it well, im unclear on what should be cooked or left raw.

So does anyone have any personal experience with cooking certain things as opposed to leaving raw? Like a crabbys interest, or disinterest to raw vs cooked?

Like corn/cob. Raw or no? Umm.. or purees of any kind?

I personally do all raw. Nobody cooks for them in the wild. The only things I cook for them, or that they like cooked is eggs and occasionally a little chicken. Some things have more nutritional value cooked vs raw, but my crabs don't like stuff that way. They are individuals like us!

Corn I have done raw and cooked. It went over better raw.

I don't feed purees.


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My crabs love raw shrimp. However, I recently learned that there are a lot of crustacean diseases, fungus, and parasites that might be transferred between crustaceans (crabs, shrimp, etc), and I don't know if freezing kills them - for instance in the USA it is required by law that shrimp and snow crab be cooked when served as sushi/sashimi, I believe because of parasite/disease/virus concerns that could transfer to people. So in future my crabs will get cooked shrimp. I know LadyJJ says hers love dried duck wing.

You can tell from the exoskeleton of shrimp and lobsters if they've had parasite/fungus attack. Black spots or discoloration often means they have a disease of some kind. But it's really specific - you have to really know what you're looking at to tell, and I can't think of a good link for pictures. Also, pathology of crustaceans is not my specialty, just an interest, so I may be missing something.

Cooked is best for seafood that could give them diseases/parasites/fungus in the natural environment. Personally, I don't think they'll pick up anything from, say, chicken. But if I do feed raw chicken I'd be sure to remove it super quick, that stuff smells horrid when bad, and bacteria from bad chicken could get people super sick.

I don't have isopods yet, so I have to mind their food pretty closely.

Thanks for the info folks. I appreciate your responses. I can't do the isopods.. nope. Lol. Just NO. Haha. But i see theyre quite handy! Im having a hard time with them eating this week. Just picked up some sesame oil so maybe i can give em a nice boost with that and some very fresh farm chicken. Protein has been difficult for me with these guys, but more so the learning curve on my end. I think i have some very picky lil guys. Lots of trial. Lots of error. My husband thinks im crazy. "You said they were easy" lol.

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I dehydrate almost everything & usually blend it until it's powder. My crabs never had interest in raw food except coconut


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Feeling you guys' pain. It was extremely stressful and frustrating for me too, finding out things for them to eat. It's a lot of trial and error and hoping for the best. Just hang in there!

I usually cool stuff like meat to decrease the chance of salmonella... which on one has ever noticed salmonella affecting crabs but can make me sick....

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aussieJJDude wrote:I usually cool stuff like meat to decrease the chance of salmonella... which on one has ever noticed salmonella affecting crabs but can make me sick....

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Did a cooked AND raw version of beef this evening. Figured, might as well knock em both out at once and tally in the a.m.. lol

I freeze everything and thaw it for my crabs. As far as crab, when you purchase from seafood Dept most crab has already been cooked. I do boil lobster tail. I don't cook the shrimp. But, I keep frozen at 0 degrees and thaw daily what I feed them. Beef has never interested any of my crabs.


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I found mine prefer fried meat to raw

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Dragonfreak wrote:I found mine prefer fried meat to raw

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Fried? That's a first...I wouldn't think that would be very healthy for them...

They definitely preferred the raw beef. I saw they had tracked a slice to the hut and 1 toward a duggout hole (lol). But there was no significant damage to them tho, so im not super sure exactly what to think.

Trying again with the original farm chicken i was gonna start with and check tomorrow.

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There won't be significant damage...they eat very tiny pinches at a time


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GotButterflies wrote:

Dragonfreak wrote:I found mine prefer fried meat to raw

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Fried? That's a first...I wouldn't think that would be very healthy for them...

Pan fried I don't use oil or anything


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I tried feeding whitefish with the option of cooked (fried in coconut oil) or raw on two occasions. I placed the cooked and uncooked on opposite sides of a flat dish in the middle of the tank. I laid out scraps of each in a distinctive way & took pictures, thinking I'd compare how much each had been disturbed if they both seemed to have been eaten.

The plate was never touched before removal of fish (due to gross stinkiness). Not even sand on the plate. The only conclusion I could draw was that crabs love to thwart human experimentation.

Edit - like GB, I don't think my guys have ever shown an interest in beef.