HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Alrighty, so I had my dad pick up some whole coconut for me from the store and we are getting ready to split it. My question is, when giving the crabs a half a coconut, do you clean off the fibers on the outside of it? Or do you leave it on for the crabs to snack on? Also, do you save the milk and drizzle it on their food? Any suggestions would rock.

I leave the fibers for them to snack on, as it apparently is well enjoyed and perhaps beneficial to molts.

Usually I would dump the milk, but it would do no harm if you would add it over other dried food.

I always keep the extra fibers and store them for later use. I like to feed them the fibers every once in a while. I definitely keep the milk frozen for a few months and rehydrate food with it. Seaweed rehydrated in coconut milk is a great way to offer a lot of vitamins.

You can attempt to make a hidey out of the coconut. I managed to do this, but it took careful cutting to make sure the opening was good and the coconut shell didn't crack in half.

Coconuts are really versatile and the crabs love them!

Thanks for the suggestions! I plan on making a hut out of a half, but I figured I'd let them clean it off for me first. Haha. So I'll rinse the coconut and throw a half in there and see what happens. Thanks!

By the way, since the crabs eat so little at a time, I recently started "shattering" my coconut as opposed to serving it just half at a time, since I don't have really that many crabs. Then I would freeze the rest and serve proper smaller portions at a time!

Next time, I'll probably save the juice when I crack mine.

I just bought a coconut at the store tonight and now I'm dumbfounded---


How in the heck do I crack this coconut????

LCrane wrote:I just bought a coconut at the store tonight and now I'm dumbfounded---


How in the heck do I crack this coconut????

Hope this helps!

http://www.wikihow.com/Cut-Open-a-Coconut

Then, maybe you can make them wear it!

Thanks, Joel! What a great resource for coconut-crushing newbs like myself lol

I ended up putting the coconut into a ziploc baggie and basically just smashing against my countertop. the coconut burst open and ripped the bag and the juice spilled out all over hahah oh well. but i put a little piece of the nut into the crabitat so I hope it pleases my crabbies (although they're both down right now - maybe they'll come out for the treat)

I always go with a hammer If they are prescored coconuts all you need to do is use a hammer to beat it open with along the scored line...or you can do it caveman style (yes it works fabulous as I have done this) and beat it on the edge of a concrete step. Not exactly a way to save the juice but it gets the job done

I personally, like to make cocohammocks and cocoswings out of them..just drill some holes and you can string the coconut halves together and then another set of holes on the outside edges to string and hang on suction cups! (They kind of look like the coconut bikini tops lol!)

NaRnAR wrote: (They kind of look like the coconut bikini tops lol!)

If you have a drill, use it to drill out two of the "eyes" on top of the nut. Then you can drain the juice into a cup.

Then, go to your nearest stone wall or concrete stairs, and bash the coconut into the edge. Works great!

Thanks.
I put a piece of the coconut in the 'tat last night and they haven't touched it.

MamaZelly wrote:If you have a drill, use it to drill out two of the "eyes" on top of the nut. Then you can drain the juice into a cup.

Then, go to your nearest stone wall or concrete stairs, and bash the coconut into the edge. Works great!

I tend to use this method. When I lived downtown, it made for lots of fun when the neighbors would gather to watch me. lol :roll: Some how it was amusing. lol

I've got an article on things you can do with a coconut on my website if you are interested.

http://naturallycrabby.com/?p=20