HCA: Hermit Crab Association

after combing through the list of approved crab foods, i've tried all sorts of veggies and fruits along with my crabs's freeze-dried protein and calcium powder. peanut butter and honey and unsweetened applesauce...i've tried anything to keep their diet interesting and with the intention of trying to see what their faves are. i see them occasionally stop by and get a claw full of whatever as they pass the food dish BUT TODAY clem did the funniest thing! this morning i put crushed pecans in along with a mix of all the usual options and after a quick saltwater sip, he went over and grabbed the largest chunk of pecan he could find. he nibbled a bit and then carried his chunk over shells, moss, logs, and other crabs to his "spot" and has now been sitting on the pecan for several hours and snacking every once in awhile.

so cute!!!

has anyone else noticed this propensity to grab a choice morsel and take it back to their crab's personal territory?

kate

Big Enzo tends to do that. He sneaked a piece of hard-boiled egg into the back of the cocohut (he likes to dig out a "back door" in the substrate under the cocohut) and grabbed the entire eggshell half in which I'd placed a bit of ground turkey, dragging it into the coco hut and blocking the door .

Oh yeah...my crabs are all food hoarders. The other night I caught Napoleon in the food dish, and he snagged a piece of shrimp and ran off as fast as he could with it. Every time I clean the tanks I find food stashed all over the place. That's probably why I can't get rid of the fruit flies in the 55.

Alduin, before he passed, would frequently drag eggshell halves into his hide and hoard them. They're a bunch of pigs.

I hope my hermit crabs don't start doing that.

Mine steal banana chips when they get them as a rare treat. I saw someone chasing one that was stealing food before. I love them so much. They make me smile.

they are so super cute! after clem had been sitting on his pecan for a few hours, jebediah, who was on the log above, noticed that clem was snacking so he came down from the log and the two of them stood face-to-face with their feelers flying back and forth at each other. finally jebediah went to the food dish himself to check out the pecans. there is nothing as adorable as two crabs having a tiny feeler exchange!