HCA: Hermit Crab Association

years ago at halloween i was playing with my crabs on the floor next to a bag of halloween candy. well one of the crabs got away from me for a few minutes. i looked all over the floor for him then decided to look in the candy bag. there he was alright but i couldn't believe my eyes, he had peeled open a hershy kiss and was eating the top off ! i quickly took him away and monitored him for a few days and he seemed perfectly fine. since then i give my crabs chocolate as a treat on rare occasions. does anyone know if this is harmful for them or have any info about it? i would also love to hear any stories you all have about the crazy things your scavanger crabs find and eat.

Chocolate is on the unsafe food list, so it would be better to avoid feeding it. Most things won't kill your crabs in very small amounts, but in general it's better to be safe than sorry.

As for the crazy things my crabs eat...my crabs eat just about everything I put in their tank! On occasion, I'll hold one of my little E's and he'll attempt to eat the skin off my thumb. Apparently I'm tasty.

I'm really not sure about hermit crabs but large amounts of chocolate can be harmful to many pets and I think can even be harmful to humans in very large amounts. It contains something called theobromine. Dark chocolate contains more than say milk chocolate. From what I understand, it's more toxic to pets like dogs and cats because they metabolize it much more slowly than humans. I would definitely skip the chocolate treat for the hermit crabs. It doesn't take a whole lot of chocolate to effect a dog, I imagine it would take much, much less for a little hermit crab (if it indeed proved toxic to them).

Cats and dogs have completely different physiology than a crab, though. There are many plants that are toxic to one creature, but harmless to another. Like grapes - no problems to a human, but one grape can kill a cat. Or raw soybeans - humans can't eat them, but they're perfectly healthy for cattle.

The question would be if the crabs are adapted to eating cacao since it would be a native plant to Ecuadorian hermit crabs and possibly PPs (depending on where they were from).

wodesorel wrote:Cats and dogs have completely different physiology than a crab, though. There are many plants that are toxic to one creature, but harmless to another. Like grapes - no problems to a human, but one grape can kill a cat. Or raw soybeans - humans can't eat them, but they're perfectly healthy for cattle.

The question would be if the crabs are adapted to eating cacao since it would be a native plant to Ecuadorian hermit crabs and possibly PPs (depending on where they were from).

Right. That's why I said I'm not sure about hermit crabs.

It's just not something I would risk without more information.

thanks everyone for your thoughts and opinions. so far i've been giving them chocolate rarely for about 10 years and have seen no effects. like wodesorel wrote about how they have different physiologies then say cats and dogs. i think since cats and so on were made to eat meat only their bodies can't handle it. but hermit crabs are scavangers so thier bodies can process all kinds of crazy things. all i know is they love it and go crazy for it, peeling wrappers open and such so i will continue to give in small amounts rarely and moniter them for any problems.

fiestycrab7 wrote:thanks everyone for your thoughts and opinions. so far i've been giving them chocolate rarely for about 10 years and have seen no effects.

Hhmm very interesting. About how often is rarely? No deaths or other problems? I think I'll still skip the chocolate until we have more info....for the crabs of course...I <3 chocolate!

I think chocolate is one of those foods that has never been tested because of the fear of theobromine. No one wants to lose their hermits in the process.

I do, however, think trying out an organic cacao bean with a colony would yield interesting results. I'd be interested in knowing whether they can have chocolate.

And finally, while the cacao bean may be safe, this does not mean milk chocolate is safe, which is COMPLETELY different than the cacao bean. Milk chocolate has had cocoa butter, milk, sugar, and numerous other ingredients to become what it is... resembling nothing like the natural plant. I do not advise feeding this high-sugared food.

Kilimanjaro wrote: And finally, while the cacao bean may be safe, this does not mean milk chocolate is safe, which is COMPLETELY different than the cacao bean. Milk chocolate has had cocoa butter, milk, sugar, and numerous other ingredients to become what it is... resembling nothing like the natural plant. I do not advise feeding this high-sugared food.

A very good point Kili.

Kilimanjaro wrote: And finally, while the cacao bean may be safe, this does not mean milk chocolate is safe, which is COMPLETELY different than the cacao bean. Milk chocolate has had cocoa butter, milk, sugar, and numerous other ingredients to become what it is... resembling nothing like the natural plant. I do not advise feeding this high-sugared food.

this is exactly what i was thiking. cocoa is so much different then chocolate

good point about the cocoa, does anyone know a good brand of pure cocoa? that would be way better then processed chocolate. i feed it to them about twice a year. they love it so much. they usually drag it away super fast and i find it the next day covered with sand somewhere. i know how much i love chocolate and i would love to find a safer more natural kind i could feed them more frequently. let me know if anyone knows of a good organic brand.