HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Anyone else have crabs that eat the fake plants? I noticed a few months ago one of my crabs nibbling on a plastic plant, so I took that one out, and just left the cloth ones in there. This morning I see them both sitting next to a frayed "nibbled on" cloth leaf in the moss pit. Its not like they don't have a ton of other things to eat. Every day they have worm castings, minerals & oyster shells, a protein, fruit and veg, and sometimes a carb like rice or potatoes. Plus they frequently eat the moss in the pit where they spend most of their time.

Should I be worried about this?

I never noticed mine doing that before. Now all I keep though, is a vine with fake leaves/flowers on it. Everything else in my tat is real.

I would suggest taking out any plastic they seem to be eating. That can't be good for them. Mine also enjoy nibbling on the moss in their moss pit and that's just fine.

Sometimes they just get destructive and like to "pick" at things. I haven't noticed it happening since I added all the wood into the tank as now they pick at that, but in my old set-ups they used to destroy the fake plants!

I have to think that if they are actually eating them it would not be good for them. I would also think they would know the difference between plastic and something that is edible. Most people say crabs won't eat things that are bad for them. I will find leaves cut off and on the surface, but mine stick to eating the cork bark and not the fake plants.

I would say to remove the fake plant and go with a different company. I had that problem in the past with a fake vine and replaced that vine with one from another company and the problem was fixed. Good luck with that though. It's all trial and error on that topic just like everything else dealing with these creatures. *sigh*

crabbyd23