HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Alright, so I'm not gonna lie here, I suck at feeding my crabs. I usually just throw something in every couple days. I have a really hard time remembering and also figuring out what will work for them. Anyone got any tips in how to stay organized about feeding? Do you set timers? Feed them while you make dinner? I feel really bad and like I'm neglecting them lol. Do you just keep a handful of recipes? Anyone got any faves they like? I've seen some really cool stuff like snakeskin, leaf litter, and sphagnum moss. It's kind of a challenge when my parents don't always buy organic...

I find it helpful to use a couple dishes- one for dry foods that will last longer & the other for fresh foods. that way I can dump out the fresh stuff when it gets moldy and just throw another piece of fruit in there, lol.

at one point I had a schedule of what foods to give each day, but I stopped following it after awhile. but that can help with making sure you're hitting the main food groups.

Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk

w h a l e b o n e wrote:Alright, so I'm not gonna lie here, I suck at feeding my crabs. I usually just throw something in every couple days. I have a really hard time remembering and also figuring out what will work for them. Anyone got any tips in how to stay organized about feeding? Do you set timers? Feed them while you make dinner? I feel really bad and like I'm neglecting them lol. Do you just keep a handful of recipes? Anyone got any faves they like? I've seen some really cool stuff like snakeskin, leaf litter, and sphagnum moss. It's kind of a challenge when my parents don't always buy organic...

Hi!

I totally understand. Life can get in the way of things we need to get done.

I change my dry food about every 3 days. I usually do it in the evening, soon after I get home. If I eat dinner or relax first, I know I'll never get up to do it lol.

I give them fresh foods from whatever I'm having for dinner. For example, when I go to Salad Works, I always pick out the hard-boiled egg yolks for them. If I make scrambled eggs for me or my dog, they get some of those (they love eggs and eggshells!). When I make ground turkey/chicken/beef for my dog, I put some aside for the crabs. This way they get some fresh foods, but it doesn't feel like I'm going out of my way to do it. I try to buy organic, but I'll admit, not everything I get for them is organic. I just wash and cook everything well when/where I can.

For dry foods, I try to buy a little something different for the crabs whenever I have to put a big order in on Amazon, or when I'm grocery shopping. I was at Big Lots a while back and found a bag of quinoa for under $3. The crabs love it. They also love flaked coconut I got at the grocery store for under $4. Once I built up a nice staple of one ingredient foods like the quiona and coconut I mentioned, I started making my own mixes based on what they like the most.

If your yard is pesticide free, you can find goodies out there too. I picked a bunch of maple leaves, dried them in the oven, chopped them up, and the crabs really enjoy them. I'm going to do it with oak leaves next.

The best tip I can give is to keep an eye out for crabby foods whenever you're out shopping anywhere. This way you can stock up your crabby food pantry, but not feel like you're going out of your way to do it, because you're already out shopping for yourself.



Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk

Also, do you ever make "to do" lists or keep an engagement calendar? I find when I write a list of things I need to do, I'm more likely to do them. I guess I get satisfaction from checking off what I've completed lol. I always add "change hermit food" or "change hermit H2O" to my lists, to make sure I get it done.

Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk

Here is what I do. First of all, I feed my crabs at the same time every day. 4:00pm. They are just like my dogs and cats. They are used to it, and they know when it's that time too!

Secondly, I have 9 containers. Every 2 weeks I bring out all of my containers. I first fill up the containers with 3-4 different proteins. Then I fill them with 2-3 different veggies, 2-3 different fruits and 1 different seaweed. I then mix the containers up and that is my food for the next 14 days.

Every 2 to 3 days I mix up different types of leaf litter, flowers and seeds along with snake skin and offer that to them on their substrate.

Edit: Then on the side I offer olive oil, coconut oil, honey, etc.

CrabbyLover77 wrote: ↑

Mon Sep 21, 2020 3:36 pm

Also, do you ever make "to do" lists or keep an engagement calendar? I find when I write a list of things I need to do, I'm more likely to do them. I guess I get satisfaction from checking off what I've completed lol. I always add "change hermit food" or "change hermit H2O" to my lists, to make sure I get it done.

Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk

Thanks for all of the suggestions! I'll try to figure out a method that works best for me. And my parents tell me all the time that I should make a daily to-do list to help me with executive functioning. I do keep a general to do list on my whiteboard calendar in my room, but I hardly ever look at it. Working on that. I think I might try the planned ahead meal thing and a consistent time, and whatever else works. My crabs rarely come out when I'm awake, but maybe they will if I put them on a schedule. Also, I did do the container thing once because I was going on vacation and needed it to be easy for my dad to take care of them, and there was some still left over and I must say it made me procrastinate it less. Also, I kinda already did the dry/perishable separate dish thing, but I think I'll make it more sophisticated.

w h a l e b o n e wrote: Thanks for all of the suggestions! I'll try to figure out a method that works best for me. And my parents tell me all the time that I should make a daily to-do list to help me with executive functioning. I do keep a general to do list on my whiteboard calendar in my room, but I hardly ever look at it. Working on that. I think I might try the planned ahead meal thing and a consistent time, and whatever else works. My crabs rarely come out when I'm awake, but maybe they will if I put them on a schedule. Also, I did do the container thing once because I was going on vacation and needed it to be easy for my dad to take care of them, and there was some still left over and I must say it made me procrastinate it less. Also, I kinda already did the dry/perishable separate dish thing, but I think I'll make it more sophisticated.

Good luck! I hope you find something that works for ya!

Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk

Personally, I like to feed my crabs food from Etsy, preferably HermitGrub. My crabs LOVE IT, and it's pretty cheap.(by love it I mean, they literally have been eating for 3+ hours as I just got a new shipment of food.) They have bundles on the shop and individual packets of food to buy. I recommend green sand as it is a very important staple in a hermits diet. HermitGrub sells bundles, too, and any of the bundles would be good. It depends on what your crabs like.
I refill their food in the morning, around 8am-9am, somewhere in that time range, as I have crabs that surprisingly come out and about during the day.
I also feed my crabs fresh veggies and fruit.
I recently bought her Variety Sample Pack 2, and my crabs love it, however it is very fruit-oriented, and if you're like proteins more, there are different packs for that. Go check out HermitGrub on Etsy, you won't regret it!

My crabs love the foods I have ordered from The Hermit Crab Patch (THCP), along with the one recipe I threw together that I call Taggart's Burgoo. I have also made another recipe using green seaweed (Nori), bloodworms, THCP Oyster shell supplement, spirulina, river shrimp, mealworms, and quinoa that I am going to be calling Highwire's Seafood Buffet. I will be posting this recipe hopefully soon, as I am still tweaking it some.

THCP foods that I have bought that are hits are Farmers Field, Surf-N-Turf, Red White-N-Blueberries, and Basic Diet. I also have bought their Soil Supplement (Worm Castings)< Crushed Oyster Shell Supplement, and Mineral Supplement. The Oyster and Mineral supplements I typically mix a small amount into most the foods I give the crabs along with offering them in separate dishes.

My crabs at least the one I call Highwire also likes Indian Almond Leaf that I ordered from Hermies Kitchen.

Another thing that mine seem to love that also others have said their crabs love is greensand and worm castings. In fact all night Mimzi was perched over the small scallop shell that I put greensand in, not letting the others get to the greensand.