HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Should hermit crab like egg shells , or will hermit crab know it is food if I serve it egg shell, because I did crunch some egg shells and put it on a separate plate but I don't think they eat it coz they probably dont know it is food or edible. It can never spoil, right ? and can stay forever in the tank, in case they need it

Is egg shell enough for their need for chitin ? Or should I give dried shrimp (most dried shrimps are stripped of the skin so its kinda hard to find)

Thats awesome! Egg shells are a great source of calcium, and they will know it is food. They would eat things like that in the wild. I would keep an eye on them to make sure they don't mold or attract bugs but I don't think you need to take them out more than every week otherwise.
Whole freeze dried river shrimp are sold at pet stores for turtles if you wanted to go that route too

If the eggshells have been cooked (like if you took them off a boiled or otherwise cooked egg), they can stay in there forever. If they were raw, they might have had some raw egg residue on the inside, and then they might get kind of gross or attract bugs.

If they were not cooked with the egg you can pop them in an oven or microwave oven for a few minutes to cook any remaining egg

Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk

Crab-Bee wrote: ↑

Fri Nov 24, 2023 9:32 pm

If they were not cooked with the egg you can pop them in an oven or microwave oven for a few minutes to cook any remaining egg

Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk

Ooo, good idea!

I dry the eggshell by putting it in front of a fan for long though, it should be dry enough coz I'm afraid the softer skin after the shell can rot. But cooking it first if it's not boiled is a really good idea. Should do that first.

Anyway I found dried shrimps with the skin, so I can just add it into the crab's diet together with egg shell.

About dried shrimp, how long estimated can it stay inside crabitat before going bad ?

I have left dried shrimp for a week before it went moldy.