HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Although I tend to stay away from all commercial foods with preservatives that could potentially kill my crabs, I am concerned about the hermit crab crunchies at PetSmart. It has peanut meal in it which I suspect may have Ethoxyquin hidden in it. The thing is, the crabs often don't know if something had poison in it until they go down to molt and never resurface or it prevents them from molting and they die.

Check the ingredients list closely. Ethoxyquin is usually listed if it's in the food. These "Crunchies" do have a lot of preservatives, though, so I think plain peanuts or similar foods may still be a better choice.

I agree. I wasn't planning to buy it. I know most commercial foods are a big, big no no and I definitely do not want to feed these to my crabs. I just wanted to get other opinions on it.

crabby33 wrote:I agree. I wasn't planning to buy it. I know most commercial foods are a big, big no no and I definitely do not want to feed these to my crabs. I just wanted to get other opinions on it.

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Commercial foods being a big problem.... does this count for The Hermit Crab Patch mixes? I looked at them online and they have plenty of options, plus some calcium (which i'm not sure what it's used for if someone could explain? all the reviews said their crabs loved eating it, so it's just another food source?)
Are these commercial foods okay? I'm having trouble feeding fresh foods diet because my crabs don't seem to touch anything besides a boiled egg, and even that they barely touch..

ciaraalston wrote:Commercial foods being a big problem.... does this count for The Hermit Crab Patch mixes? I looked at them online and they have plenty of options, plus some calcium (which i'm not sure what it's used for if someone could explain? all the reviews said their crabs loved eating it, so it's just another food source?)
Are these commercial foods okay? I'm having trouble feeding fresh foods diet because my crabs don't seem to touch anything besides a boiled egg, and even that they barely touch..

Yes, most of the mixes from HCP are pretty nice. I don’t know about the FMR foods sold, but everything else is a-okay.

Yes, calcium is a necessary food source. HCP has a few different 'flavors', my crabs like them all! Other sources are cuttlebone, egg shells, etc.

HCP was the original small hermit crab store, and yes all of their own mixes and most of the other brands are completely safe and not commercial in nature. They scooped up a few other small hermit stores and products over the years.

Edit: Calcium is a huge requirement for hermits. Their shells are made from almost entirely calcium, they need it in their diets to stay healthy and have good molts.