HCA: Hermit Crab Association

I've had my crabs for about 3 weeks now. And ive never seen them eat. I've never seen any missing food. Never little bites out of it. I had been feeding them carrots, grapes, and just pellet hermit crab food. They haven't eaten any of that.

Yesterday I put in some rat food, solid blocks, and noticed that there were little bite marks in it.

Are crabs really picky eaters. How often should they eat? How long before they starve to death?


*The petstore that I got my crabs from didn't have a food dish. They fed them LIVE CRICKETS! SO im sure my crabs hadent' ever eaten in the petstore.

Personally, I wouldn't feed them pellets intended for rats. To be honest, I don't even feed mine pellets intended for crabs. Many of us feed an all natural diet.

That said, I wouldn't be concerned about your crabs eating or not. It's a common mistake that people make. Grapes are a good example of something I'm willing to bet your crabs have munched on without you noticing. They are very plump and crabs eat very little. So any of the flesh they have taken out could easily be missed.

Also, crabs can go months underground without food. So don't worry too much. Your crabs are still well within the destressing period. Just give them time.

And if you're desperate to see them eat, I have a couple suggestions. Fresh cooked shrimp is a big hit in my tank. Leave the tail on and they'll even munch on that. Fresh coconut is always gobbled up. and then there's the big one... The BIGGEST hit in my tank BY FAR is to cook a chicken drumstick without seasoning, remove a great deal of meat to expose the bone (but leave a little meat on) and then crack the bone in a few places to expose the marrow. My crabs LOVE bone marrow.