Good foods to offer w/o going online

[Crabby Abby]

quote:I cant give my crabs the food they need,like worm castings and meal worms and those good things at HCA Grandma doesant understand.... I cut the snippet above off a post of Morriah's and thought it would be a good thread to start for others in the same boat. I'm sure between us all we can make quite a few suggestions for crabbers who want to offer healthy foods but can only shop locally. If listing a safe petstore food that you know doesn't contain ethoxyquin or copper sulfate, please include the brand name.Petstore, fish or reptile aisle:San Francisco Bay Brine ShrimpZoo Med Turtle TreatTetra ReptoTreatFluker's freeze dried CricketsFluker's freeze dried MealwormsTetra freeze dried bloodwormsPetstore freezer:SilversidesKrillBrine ShrimpBlood Worms (be careful how you handle this product. The juices are highly irritating to skin. I scoop from the zip loc with a spoon and use a papertowel to zip the seal again.)Petstore, other:cuttlebone (birds)oyster shells (birds)Vitakraft Mini-Pop (small animals)Kaytee Healthy Toppings: (scroll down)- Apple bits (bird aisle)- Banana (small animals)- Carrot and Sweet Potato (small animals)- Carrots and Greens (bird aisle)- Coconut& Raspberry (bird aisle)- Mixed Fruit (small animal)- Mixed Nuts (bird aisle)- Pumpkin Seeds & Almonds (small animals)Papaya Bits contain added articifial colorsPharmacy/health food store:Spirulina capsulesFish oil capsulesMarket:Raw/organic honeyOrganic (or at least unsalted) nuts, pbBaby foods (check ingredients for salt)

[Margaret]

Great list, CA! You can also get millet sprays in the bird seed aisle. Also, IF you don't treat your lawn or any of the flowers/trees/shrubs/gardens with chemicals (fertilizers or pesticides), you can bring in maple/oak leaves, dandelions, hibiscus and rose petals, vegetables from the garden, etc.

[Willow]

I haven't bought any hermie food online for a long time now.....just haven't gotten around to it, I guess. Here are some good foods I use frequently:Organic spring mix salad---my hermies have been eating a lot of this lately. It seems like the only thing they'll eat right now. They ignore everything else. I always have this around, for the tortoises and rabbits.Baby food---organic is better, but not totally necessary. Gerber, especiialy, takes great pains to make sure their baby food doesn't contain pesticide residue. I prefer to buy organic just for the environmental concerns, but non-organic baby food shouldn't hurt your hermies. My hermies' favorite is organic "chicken, corn and squash". Sweet potato, carrot, and banana are other favorites. Almost any flavor should be fine, but avoid added sugar, salt, and onion/garlic powder. (Oops, saw you already listed this one)Maple leaves---I have an abundance of these, LOL. Oak leaves are great, too (my neighbor has an oak tree). ZooMed's Can O' Crickets (or mealworms, waxworms ("Can O'Pillars"), river shrimp, snails, grasshoppers, etc.). I haven't found one they don't like. These are usually in the reptile section at a pet store.Any fresh/frozen (no additives or seasonings) fruits and veggies you have around. Wash them really well first.Fish from the freezer at the grocery store. They have vacuum-packed individual servings of tilapia, salmon, etc. for 99¢ each.Baby carrots---every time I have some, I throw a few into the crabitat. The hermies love them.

[lpshiner]

Hard boiled eggs- mostly whites, but I feed a little bit of yolk too.Dried oatmeal(not instant)Those lava stone things for birds to peck at- looks like a bunch of small granules formed into a cube- not the flavored or colored ones- mine picked at that like crazy for the first few weeks it was in there- they ignore it now, so I think they got what they needed from it (minerals?) Watch out for the wire embedded in the back- I think meant to tie the thing onto the bird's cage...... I just hide it under the lava stone.Pecan bits (I have to ration these or it's all they eat )Celery leaves (I use organic)- I offer there but so far they don't really like them.Organic bell pepper, grapes, blueberries