Do Indos need more cellulose in their diets?

wolfnipplechips · Post by **wolfnipplechips** » Sat Jan 22, 2011 10:41 pm

I have read on here that they are the most terrestrial of all the land hermit crabs. I have noticed that my indos eat A LOT more bark and wood than any of my other crab species, and I thought there may be a connection. Has anybody else noticed this in their indos?

Maybe it's not the cellulose they're even after. Thoughts?

Maple bark seems to be a favorite. They will walk right past the food dishes to nom on some maple bark for an hour or two. Something my other crabs would never even think about doing.

Hermitcrablover12 · Post by **Hermitcrablover12** » Sun Jan 23, 2011 10:33 am

My little micro indo is adorable but doesn't climb much. He does enjoy eating barks too. Maybe it's the most natural food to them because of their climbing habits. He also has a lot of trouble molting. (losing his legs and such.)

wingedmonster · Post by **wingedmonster** » Sun Jan 23, 2011 1:05 pm

Could it be that they need more tannin because of their sometimes brown-ish coloring?

Beautiful picture by the way

Post by **wodesorel** » Mon Jan 24, 2011 12:50 pm

Now that I'm actually adding it in for them, my PPs are going nuts over bark and wood. They like the new cherry wood that's still green and soft, and they like it kept very moist. (I have it in the rock/moss/water/mopani section of the display case.) Within a week they had pulled the bark off four nice-sized sticks and as far as I could tell have eaten it. They're still scraping at the wood every day! I've got about dozen crabs that sit there all day, just chowing down on it.

They've also done this with the mopani though - sitting there almost 24 hours a day for days on end, just slowly picking and eating it.

suebee · Post by **suebee** » Mon Jan 24, 2011 3:21 pm

most terrestrial of all the land hermit crabs- has to be one of the funniest things ive read yet..I think i saw that on another site.. They are all land hermit crabs..They love bark for the tannins.. It makes a big difference in the coloring of the crabs.. maple and oak seem to be high up there but mine love mulberry and sassafras. leaves also have tannins.. Acorns too. i wouldnt say any one is more terrestrial then another though.. i dont see any of them with fins..lol..

kgbenson · Post by **kgbenson** » Mon Jan 24, 2011 5:29 pm

suebee wrote:most terrestrial of all the land hermit crabs- has to be one of the funniest things ive read yet..I think i saw that on another site..

They are described as such in several publications. I cannot recall exactly where at the moment and it is a minor point anyhoo.

They are all land hermit crabs.

Yep - but some are more closely tied to the ocean in terms of how far afield they will venture inland, how long they can go without access to salt water and how concentrated their shell water is. I think this is what they mean when they call them the most terrestrial.

I understand your point though, it's like saying hummingbirds are the most birdish bird of all the birds.

.They love bark for the tannins.. It makes a big difference in the coloring of the crabs.

What effects does it have? I know tannins can and do sequester some divalent cations in the gut reducing absorption of things like iron. But I cannot find out how they effect coloration on land hermits anywhere. If you have papers you need to share!

Keith

suebee · Post by **suebee** » Mon Jan 24, 2011 8:56 pm

Keith what i do have is info showing that the increase of adding tannins to compressus seemed to have young crabs show the red coloring of the adult crabs sooner. Tannins added to the diet of clypeatus seemed to bring out dark colors of reds and deep burgundy. Clypeatus found in areas with more coir had deeper coloring then ones found in more sandy area. Cypeatus given a diet of coco nut without the outer nut shell showed more purples when the nut shell was added to the diet over the next few years the deeper darker burgundy was seen and then the outer shell taken away and the crabs began to lose the deeper color again. The tannins used in the studies were tree barks and the outer shell of the coco nut sometimes crushed when given to the crabs.. In the studies they would
actually smash the whole coconut and pulverize it giving it to the crabs that way with the shell mixed. Hope that helps some.
As a side note when i think of a crab as less terrestrial i would think of one that would like to be under water. From all the info i have they stay clear of deep water and never go in far at all. The very edge of the water is as far as they are ever found unless they by accident get caught by a wave. Most of the time they would rather find the salt water by tide pool or inlet.

samurai_crab · Post by **samurai_crab** » Mon Jan 24, 2011 10:44 pm

So while most terrestrial does make sense, perhaps saying they are least dependent on salt water is a better more accurate description? I think I've read they really only return to salt water to release their eggs. Does this sound about right?

suebee · Post by **suebee** » Mon Jan 24, 2011 11:05 pm

Salt water is an important part of the pre molting process for All hermit crabs.. Indos are very much like PPs. They both need Salt water. Compressus and Straws are more likely then Indos and PPs to stay closer to the shore lines and not wonder as far away but i dont think that makes them less terrestrial. They still hang out on land. They all also like barks too!

samurai_crab · Post by **samurai_crab** » Tue Jan 25, 2011 12:23 am

Oh I wasn't saying it wasn't important but they do seem to be less dependent on it compared to some species like you said. I'd love to look at saltwater concentrations in shell water for all species of land hermit crabs in their natural environment, an animal behavior study on all their actions would also be a really cool thing to do too.

suebee · Post by **suebee** » Tue Jan 25, 2011 1:12 am

I didnt say that they were less dependent on salt water then other crabs. Please dont miss understand me. What i meant is that they travel away from it more.. there are tide pools of salt water away from the shore lines with salt water. They also travel back.. They are know to travel more then other types of crabs maybe but i do not know that they are less dependent on salt water. I would make sure that they all have equal access to it in your tanks.. Unless you have variabilis and for that we have other threads with other opinions. Ones that i will not go into in this thread they have been well covered in other threads.

scyllarus · Post by **scyllarus** » Wed Jan 26, 2011 12:02 am

this is really rather interesting to me. i've never tried to feed my crabs specific foods to increase their colors, but it seems like all my PPs end up an almost black color. they've got several varieties of wood to climb on (bad me, i don't really know what the heck they have. i think they have some oak bridges, but that's it) but i've never seen any nibbles on the wood. i feed them whatever is available in the fridge, so it's not exactly easy to pinpoint a specific food...

my Es vary a lot more, however. edgeworth, one of the smaller ones, is almost as red as a PP! it's ridiculous - especially since the other two small Es are that blue-green color still. the two larger Es are difficult to tell apart, being similar shades of red-brown...i get by because one is a male, and the other is a female. neither of them is as red as edgey.

suebee · Post by **suebee** » Wed Jan 26, 2011 2:35 pm

Ive never given cherry wood due to all the problems it can give to other animals as well as birds.. ive heard of birds, dogs, and horses having fatal reactions to cherry wood. I have heard the blossoms are safe as well as the fruit. The sap in the wood is said to contain cyanogenic glycosides which release cyanide if ingested. Ive also read this about other stone bearing fruit trees like apricot, nectarine, peach, or plum. I know working with herbs using cherry wood we always dry, debarked and any traces make sure any traces of sap are removed before using the wood. I would call it controversial. I myself do not think that the crabs will eat things that will hurt them. I have offered things to them that they just wont touch.. and i think that is due to it not being any good for them. I think if they are loveing it then it would be good for them and i would give it a try. Its not something that i thought of offering before because of the controversy with my birds.
Just something else to ponder..

wolfnipplechips · Post by **wolfnipplechips** » Wed Jan 26, 2011 3:24 pm

I once had a porcupine eat my cherry trees down to little stumps.

suebee · Post by **suebee** » Wed Jan 26, 2011 3:28 pm

something for sure must taste good in the wood..lol.. it sure does smell good i know that..