HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Daily dried kibble
Silversides
Apples & bananas drizzled with honey

Banana slices fried in coconut shreds and coconut oil
Silversides
Wakame
dried red roses

Ok, I cant add to the menu but have questions instead. Do you cook the meat you give them? The shrimp? And the veggies are they raw, dried, or cooked? Or doesn't it really matter? And the rice, is it boiled, steamed or just left uncooked? I'm trying to find a recipe I can use to make up my own food base and then add fresh fruit to it. Also can you give them too much protien or calcium? Does anyone ever use calcium powder in place of cuttlebone? If you use a straight calcium powder, do you need the phosporus to go with it? Anyway sorry for all the questions.

Kelly

1. You dont have to cook the meats, cooking them lowers the bacteria that will be on them a day later when the crabbies are still crawling over them. If you dont cook the meat make sure you take it out within a day.
If you do cook the meat dont add seasoning.

2. Veggies and fruits can be dried, raw or cooked...even frozen then thawed...they love them all!

3. With rice, you can boil it (in dechlor water), steam it, or leave it uncooked. It might be easier for them to eat, if you leave it uncooked, if its ground up a bit. IMO brown rice is better for them that white rice.

4. I dont think there is such a thing as too much protein and calcium with hermies. I think those are probably the things that they dont get enough of when people are homefeeding rather than commercial feeding (I still believe homefeeding is best). So give em all they can take and they will regulate how much they want/need.

5. I use both cuttlebone and calcium powder (I leave the whole cuttle bone in the tank for them to munch on). I am using "TetraFauna ReptoCal" and it has phosphorus in it...now you have me thinking, Ill have to ask Kerie (at epicureanhermit.com) if that an ok substance. I havent seen any ill effects of my Calcium powder. If youwant to make your own calcium powder you can grind up or pulverize a cuttlebone

Hope that helps!

burium wrote:Ok, I cant add to the menu but have questions instead. Do you cook the meat you give them? The shrimp? And the veggies are they raw, dried, or cooked? Or doesn't it really matter? And the rice, is it boiled, steamed or just left uncooked? I'm trying to find a recipe I can use to make up my own food base and then add fresh fruit to it. Also can you give them too much protien or calcium? Does anyone ever use calcium powder in place of cuttlebone? If you use a straight calcium powder, do you need the phosporus to go with it? Anyway sorry for all the questions.

Kelly

*Yes, I cook the meats & poultry, though it really isn't necessary.
*I boil my shrimp, but again, you can serve it to them raw.
*Veggies are served raw or cooked.
*Brown rice is ground up dry & uncooked into my daily kibble.
*I do not use calcium powder. I only use cuttlebone, again ground into the daily kibble.

I have a couple of recipies for daily dry food. PM me if you are interested.

For tonight after being put back into a nice freshly cleaned cage, my hermies will be dinning on: shirmp tails, shrimp, cauliflower,romainlettuce,and grapes!

Today's Menu:

Chopped silversides
Crushed pecans
Romaine Lettuce
~~~And their very first taste of CHEESE! (Sharp cheddar to be exact!)

(I was sooooo happy to hear that dairy is now safe for hermie consumption! ~ I see crabby tacos in their future!, lettuce tomato, shredded cheddar, ground beef)

Today, my crabs got Sea L'eggs (my name for scrambled egg with dried brine shrimp and dried seaweed), and after a trip to my local organic/health food store, a side dish of organic sweet potato and apple baby food mixed with dried coconut and garnished with dried jasmine flowers! I'm so excited for them to try the new stuff--it's the first time I've fed baby food or flowers! I also bought organic anchovies, but I'll wait a bit before trying them.

tonight the crabs are having romaine lettuce, grape, oats, cuttlebone, and bloodworms.

I'm gonna try crabby tacos too! do you think tortilla shells are ok too?

Today they got crushed pecans, walnuts, oats, dried Coconut and a bit of Crab Island original formula in the dry dish.

In the fresh food dish they have raisins, cucumber, cauliflower, and apple.

Also have another dish with egg shells (soon to be replaced with calci sand) and cuttlebone.

tonight's dish:

house salad (romaine lettuce, cheddar cheese, & oven roasted turkey)
with a side of peanut butter

Organic oatmeal, with dried cranberries, dried apples and dried mago; with a side of shrimp pellets

Tonight it's the hermits' first time trying anchovies! They also got mashed banana with a bit of banana peel, grapes, and my "homemade" dry staple crab food (Fluker's Tree Crab food with my own additives).

Tonight the hermies are getting pureed chicken, shrimp, carrots, green beans, apple, chamomille, calcium powder, and cichliden(fish) pellets which contain spirulina.

Kelly