What do your crabs enjoy?

[krbrown2000]

I have tried a good many different foods, and the only thing I've ever witnessed my crabs eating are chopped raw almonds (no salt, etc.) So of course I usually keep some almond slices in the tank.

But nothing else I've tried has seemed very popular. I've given them strawberries (including the green tops), small mandarin orange pieces, honey, small pieces of tropical fruit like papaya and mango, banana, egg shells (especially when I'm peeling a boiled egg, I'll leave a little of the actual egg in it too), dried worms from the pet store, lettuce, corn kernels...I know I've tried other stuff too, but that's all I can think of right now. It all winds up looking untouched by the next day, so I throw it away and try again.

Is there anything that most crabs like universally? I just feel like they're not getting enough to eat (though I'm sure they really probably are).

Also, how small should the pieces be? If a piece is too big will they just nibble off it? My guys seem to like toting their almond slices around, hiding them, etc.

Thanks!

[doth]

I've had the same struggle! the only food I've *known* mine to eat (or at least play with) is broccoli and mushrooms. They love raw honey though! They don't eat it every day but every so often the dish will just magically empty overnight. Still struggling to find a protein they'll consistently eat.

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[DaJimmer]

It seems that the crabbies can be quite the individuals with individual tastes and preferences. I think mine really like oats and raisins and bananas. I'm going to go get a whole coconut to try. I've been feeding a lot of fish protein but it seems widely untouched so I'm going to try a red meat.

[cannm]

I just bought my crabs food from the Happy Hermit Supply on Etsy. This morning I gave them Diet 1 and the Crabby Patties. They went crazy. I've never seen them go for food like this.

[LadyJinglyJones]

Crabs will crave different foods and different quantities at different points in their un-ending moult cycles. We can only guess at what the little boogers want. :roll:

Also, if your crabs are new-ish, they may be still adjusting to their new environment (?).

You may find that generally, dried and ground up/powdered stuff is very popular. I grind up home-made mixes & have found these to be more popular than chunky, un-powdererd mixes - not that crabs are at all incapable of tearing off what they want from bigger pieces - it just requires more effort I suppose.

Also, try adding dry oak/maple leaves (if you can find trees untreated by fertilizers or pesticides). Organic worm castings too. Leaf litter & poop are significant elements of their diet in the wild - they may be craving these foods right now.

I watched one crab of mine gradually skeletonize a few oak leaves over a week, appearing to eat no other foods offered. That was what he needed at the time.

Finally, crabs aren't always messy eaters. It's gratifying to watch them destroy a well prepared offering, but sometimes they're just gonna nibble at the edges & go about their weirdo ways.

Fickle is the heart of the hermit.

Edit - be glad your crabs are only dragging away almonds & not raw seafood or egg; the smell of a shrimp, hidden for two days at 82° in high humidity... well, it is a force to be reckoned with.

[crabby33]

My crabs LOVE walnuts & pecans and orange bell pepper.

[Da_Stos208]

Mine like soft fruits the best; so far, dried fig and apple slices are the biggest hits. As far as calcium goes, mine rarely even pick at the eggshells, but the cuttlebone i put in there was completly devoured, immediatly followed by a molt.

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[DaJimmer]

So just chuck a whole or half cuttle bone in? How do they eat it? Crunch it with the big one?

[LadyJinglyJones]

So just chuck a whole or half cuttle bone in? How do they eat it? Crunch it with the big one?

They'll pick at it. You can crunch it and put it in a suppliment dish if you like. I just stand mine up in the sand like a surfboard.

Oh, and I forgot to mention popcorn - some crabbers swear it's crab bait.

[aprilmay]

mine go crazy over corn. freshly boiled corn kernels was the only food i've seen them carting off to their sleeping place so far. Blueberry loved corn bread. Strawberry loves pop corn. Little watermelon doesn't seem to care for either. Strawberry also likes Silver pomfret (cooked) and raw shrimp. But the others don't seem to care. They also eat hemp seed and bee pollen. not crazy about them, but they will take a few bites.

They all eat moss from the moss pit. and picking oyster shells from the sub.
they all love HCP's Surf'n'Turf protein combo (Mysis shrimp, brine shrimp, plankton, krill, blood worms and meal worms.) all can spend up to an hour sitting there and nibble.

worm castings are another staple in my tank. i usually leave a shell full of it and they will take their time but eventually finish it off. it doesn't go bad, so i could leave it in for quite a while.

little watermelon is the only one in my tank likes fresh stuff, the big guys almost never touch the fresh dish. among the fresh veggie/fruits i've served so far. little watermelon has been really fond of apple, coconut and watermelon (ha!). I've seen Strawberry took a couple of nibbles on fresh cucumber, honeydew, and watermelon. I've also seen watermelon nibble on bok chooy once or twice.

i buy "just coconut chunk" from trader joe's
https://www.traderjoes.com/digin/post/j ... nut-chunks
$2.49 a bag, i usually serve one small chunk once or twice a week, little watermelon often spends half an hour picking on it.

Things i've served but they don't care for: pear, fresh fig, grape, tomato, bell pepper, carrot, scrambled egg, flaxseed (powder), HCP's mineral powder, raisin, dried cranberry, dried apple, dried mango, beet (fresh), blueberry(fresh), nori, strawberry(fresh), orange

[Sillysheep]

My Duck really likes coconut flour. MI Mi used to love snake skin, and she would hide and eat it. I gave them ground oyster shells, for the first time yesterday and they ate it all. I have found also, that my bunch will eat much more if it is either ground up or at least chopped. Also, oak leaves and sticks... probably their favorite, especially if I wait a few months to put it in. They devour them.

[ROSIEonFIRE]

So just chuck a whole or half cuttle bone in? How do they eat it? Crunch it with the big one?

They'll pick at it. You can crunch it and put it in a suppliment dish if you like. I just stand mine up in the sand like a surfboard.

Oh, and I forgot to mention popcorn - some crabbers swear it's crab bait.

Haha this is so cute. When I was little I had hermit crabs and lost one I had been playing in the grass with. I went inside and made a lost crab flyer with a picture of him i drew using paint and distributed it around the neighborhood. On my way home I stepped on him in the grass!! I wish I could find that flyer I bet it was adorns. He was fine btw.

[karlys]

Popcorn is definitely my crabs' #1, no doubt about it. I offer it almost everyday because it's always gone in the morning. Honey and coconut oil are also quite popular. They like the flowers I offer them (roses and pansies) more than the leaves (birch). Finally, as far as protein goes, it's gotta be raw (fish/chicken/ground beef) or it's gotta be a dehydrated, crushed into a powder, bug for my guys to go for it.

[GotButterflies]

Popcorn is definitely my crabs' #1, no doubt about it. I offer it almost everyday because it's always gone in the morning. Honey and coconut oil are also quite popular. They like the flowers I offer them (roses and pansies) more than the leaves (birch). Finally, as far as protein goes, it's gotta be raw (fish/chicken/ground beef) or it's gotta be a dehydrated, crushed into a powder, bug for my guys to go for it.

Is it popped popcorn, or the kernels ground up? I used to think mine loved popped popcorn too. Then one day while eating popcorn in the crab room I threw some pieces in the crabitats while none of the crabs were up. After an hour I realized that the humidity in the crabitats disintegrated it.... :roll:

[DaJimmer]

Raw Prime grade beef tenderloin is a new fave! spencive taste those cwabbies