HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Today's meal is canned river shrimp, pomegranate seeds, dried calendula petals, rolled oats and honey. They can't get enough of the calendula petals and scarf it down like there's no tomorrow

Last night was flax peanut butter, almonds, honey, dried mango, and Himalayan pink salt.

Where do u get some of your crab food, ie, dried vegetables and fruit....

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Reggie2269 wrote:Where do u get some of your crab food, ie, dried vegetables and fruit....

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Just the good ol' grocery store! I buy bags of dried fruits like mango for myself and then share some with the crabs

CrabbyEmerson wrote: Just the good ol' grocery store! I buy bags of dried fruits like mango for myself and then share some with the crabs

Do ya look for organic or anything in the ingredient labels?
I was going to start buying things like that but wasnt sure about preservatives or other things that might not be good for them

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Tonight's meal:
A special dried flower dish with calendula, rosehips, marigolds, hibiscus, and dandelions. topped with a little extra virgin olive oil.
On the side - canned river shrimp, crushed cashews, rolled oats, and honey.
For "dessert" a very special treat - organic strawberry banana juice!
The crabs will be feasting tonight

Apple, cashew, raisin, almond, shrimp, carrot, & tomatoes

Tonight my guys are getting spoiled with some lobster and lobster Exo leftover from Valentine's Day they're also getting some apple, bell pepper, and green beans. cuttlebone too.


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Blue Sioux was enjoying tea today. Emptied out a tea bag into a dish and she was eating it for over a half an hour!

Dried Fuji Apples, Hemp Seed, Freeze-Dried Mealworms and Fish Flakes.

I just made new batches of all my mixes that sometimes the crabs love and sometimes they ignore. Most comes from Mountain Rose Herbs.

Leaf mix: strawberry, blackberry, raspberry, alfalfa, dandelion, nettle, and shepherd's purse.

Flower Power: red rose petals, lavendar, chamomile, jasmine, calenduela and few more that I can't think of!

Bark mix: white oak, birch, roobios, and pecan

Super power powder mix: spirulina, spinach, hibiscus, and beets.

Other: rose hips and bee pollen.

Very pleased I just put all of this in the night before last because all except one crab reappeared the past two days & they've been destroying the food dishes properly again. I love it!

Left dish is supplements - bone meal powder, mineral supplement, and earthworm castings.

Right dish is main food dish - brine shrimp (completely gone after last night), dried jicama, dried apple (saw Shelob chowing down on that, she really seems to love fruit best), whitefish, and sheep poop.

Left shell has carrots, peas, and strawberry.

Right shell has boiled chicken, a few frozen crickets, and red bell pepper.

The crickets are long gone (frozen or freeze-dried, they always seem to be a favorite), the chicken was pretty well eaten up, and I think they ate some of the bell pepper too. The carrots, peas, and strawberries are strewn around more, but looks like some of each got eaten, at least. They wrecked the supplement dish too, as usual. And someone (or several someones) went to work on the eggshell & there's small pieces of that everywhere around it.

fantasybookworm wrote:

Very pleased I just put all of this in the night before last because all except one crab reappeared the past two days & they've been destroying the food dishes properly again. I love it!

Left dish is supplements - bone meal powder, mineral supplement, and earthworm castings.

Right dish is main food dish - brine shrimp (completely gone after last night), dried jicama, dried apple (saw Shelob chowing down on that, she really seems to love fruit best), whitefish, and sheep poop.

Left shell has carrots, peas, and strawberry.

Right shell has boiled chicken, a few frozen crickets, and red bell pepper.

The crickets are long gone (frozen or freeze-dried, they always seem to be a favorite), the chicken was pretty well eaten up, and I think they ate some of the bell pepper too. The carrots, peas, and strawberries are strewn around more, but looks like some of each got eaten, at least. They wrecked the supplement dish too, as usual.And someone (or several someones) went to work on the eggshell & there's small pieces of that everywhere around it.

What do you usually look for when grocery shopping for you and your crabs? I'm still fairly new to the point where getting the right foods that would be a big hit with them is still difficult for me.

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Last night, mine had-
Beef liver (cooked)
Bug mix (crickets, meal worms, and silkworm larvae swimming in blood worms (all freeze dried))
Nut mix (almonds, peanuts and shells, walnut, and pumpkin seeds)
Dry mix (Pineapple, cantaloupe, watermelon, strawberry, mango, banana, coconut, mushroom, carrot top, collard greens, and spinach)
Alfalfa sprouts
Then the calcium powder, sea urchin, and a dish of tiny shells and coral pieces.

The liver was completely new and they poked at it, so as much as the smell kills me, I'll be having my spouse prepare more for them to see whether they actually like it or not...

Left dish is supplements - bone meal powder, mineral supplement, and earthworm castings

@fantasybookworm, if you don't mind sharing, what brand of bone meal and what kind of mineral supplement do you get for your crabs and how often do you tend to feed it to them? I'm still trying to decide what supplement I should use for my guys and I never even thought of actual bone meal for them.

Sorry for the delayed replies!! Hopefully you'll both see this even though it's late!

DarthKrab - Honestly, I just grab a little of everything. If it's something I'll eat too, I just grab a package or whatever & just chop some up for the crabs & freeze. A little goes a long way! If it's something I know I won't touch, I just get one of whatever it is, or a small package, and it all gets frozen for them. As far as what's a hit, it really is kind of a hit-or-miss process. Everyone's crabs seem to be different. As far as my crew goes, they tend to like most proteins (pork, chicken, insects [I've given dubia roaches, mealworms, crickets, mealworm beetles, and grasshopper], shrimp, mussels, squid/octopus [not sure which, from a frozen seafood mix]), but fruits & veggies are always a toss-up. My big girl Shelob is a huge fruit fan and is usually the one I find eating whatever fruit I included. I think they tend to like tropical-type fruits more, like mango, pineapple, papaya, etc. Though I did find Shelob working on a dried apple ring once, and the dried berries I've given got attacked. The dried apples & berries I bought at the store, an organic brand. Double check the ingredients - you don't want any added sugar or artificial preservatives. I think the kind I got uses citric acid or something for a preservative, I can check if you want.

Lokalai - This is the bone meal brand I got - http://www.thebetterhealthstore.com/Kal ... ottle-8-oz I had the tablets & crushed them with a mortar/pestle for the crabs. I mostly used them because I'd had them for my dog's raw diet & stopped using them with her & figured I could offer it to the crabs instead of tossing. They seem to go more for eggshell over the bonemeal powder though, and I'm wondering if it's because they'd rather have the pure calcium than the calcium+phosphorus+minerals in the bonemeal. They do still eat it though, so I keep offering. I just got calcium powder for my hedgehog's raw diet, one jar with D3 & one without. I want to try offering all three things sometime & see what they seem to go for most, or if they like all of them at different points. And the mineral supplement I'm currently using I bought from The Hermit Crab Patch, but I'm pretty sure it's montmorillonite clay powder. I have some of that as well (also from the dog), and plan on using it once the stuff from HCP runs out. They really like it! Oh, and I keep the supplement dish in the tank at all times, and keep it topped up with the three things mentioned above. There's someone in the dish every night, I have to top it up 1-2x a week.