Question about food preferences

[cap7]

I'm offering a wide variety of fresh and dried foods. I thought the fresh foods would be preferred. But I'm finding they will eat the purchased dried foods. Do you mash or soften any solid foods for them? They even ignore fresh fruits.
Last nights fresh menu was organic mushrooms, cantaloupe, chicken, spinach and greens. Also a plate with various dried mixes. I shred the chicken but should I smash or shred the other stuff?



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[Crabinski]

It is so hit or miss with fresh foods: you just have to keep trying because a food snubbed one week may be deemed tasty the next week. I usually offer just a small piece of each fresh food, basically finger-nail sized. If it's a "hard" food like carrots, I'll either shred it or chop it fine. For fruits like grapes or blueberries, I just split the item in half, making it easier for them to scoop out the flesh.

re: purchased dry foods. Most commercially prepared hermit crab foods do not provide the nutrients the crabs need. One of the few good foods designated for "hermit crabs" is Wardley's Dried Shrimp (under $3 at Walmart). Good dried foods are those sold for aquatic turtles, especially the Fluker's line of mealworms, crickets, grasshoppers, etc. You can make your own dry mix by crushing up the dried insects/shrimp and adding items such as chia seeds (they love them!), rolled oats, powdered cuttlebone (also good to have one in the tank for them to munch on), crushed eggshells. As long as it's stored in a tightly sealed container, homemade dry mix will last for months.

[cap7]

My purchased food is from Crabotanicals and Hermie's kitchen. Only used the omnivore mix, and dried shrimp from the pet store. Thanks for the tips!


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[isadoraisacat]

Hermit crab patch basic diet / turkey pot pie and tropical fruit smoothy are big hits with all. Of my crabs i sprinkle a little bit of oyster shell over it and they honestly finish the entire thing by the next morning.

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[Hollym2247]

It just depends on the crabs. I have 4. 2 love fresh apples and scrambled egg. One likes homey, they all love powdered oyster shell, dried mixes with insects and shrimp. Two (one of the first two and one other) like seaweed. Two (neither of the first two) like walnuts and coconut. None have touched: mango, avocado, banana. Some liked strawberries and blueberries, but not as much as I expected. Only one eats fresh carrots. All like eggshells with albumin. I don't think any of them have touched peanut butter.

One crab would live off apples, calcium and mineral blend if I fed it every day (she has, and poops grey, so I stopped filling the calcium/mineral dish every day).

I put small scallop shells in the bigger food dish and offer dried mix from HCP, fresh fruits and veggies, and my own ground dried foods (seaweed, nuts, seeds, coconut) daily. I alternate honey, oyster and mineral mix in another. Less mess, good variety.

[PinchersAndShells]

It just depends on the crabs. I have 4. 2 love fresh apples and scrambled egg. One likes homey, they all love powdered oyster shell, dried mixes with insects and shrimp. Two (one of the first two and one other) like seaweed. Two (neither of the first two) like walnuts and coconut. None have touched: mango, avocado, banana. Some liked strawberries and blueberries, but not as much as I expected. Only one eats fresh carrots. All like eggshells with albumin. I don't think any of them have touched peanut butter.

One crab would live off apples, calcium and mineral blend if I fed it every day (she has, and poops grey, so I stopped filling the calcium/mineral dish every day).

I put small scallop shells in the bigger food dish and offer dried mix from HCP, fresh fruits and veggies, and my own ground dried foods (seaweed, nuts, seeds, coconut) daily. I alternate honey, oyster and mineral mix in another. Less mess, good variety.

Question - what is albumin? Is it a part of the egg? Do they eat it raw?

[cap7]

Yes albumin is the raw egg white.
And @Hollym2247, I am surprised that they do not like fruit as much as I thought they would. They love puffed millet though.


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[Hollym2247]

Yes albumin is the raw egg white.
And @Hollym2247, I am surprised that they do not like fruit as much as I thought they would. They love puffed millet though.


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I was especially surprised when they wouldn't eat mango. I thought that would be a pretty natural food for them.

[hprmom]

I was especially surprised when they wouldn't eat mango. I thought that would be a pretty natural food for them.

Right?! Mine don't seem to care for mango, banana or avocado. I'm half Puerto Rican and always have these foods on hand, I gotta ask what kind of sorry Caribbeans are my crabs?? LOL!!

But I keep trying. Just like with my human child. There were foods I hated as a kid that are my favorites now.


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[mool]

All of mine strongly prefer the dried mixes from various stores (HCP; etc.). They also prefer the dried mixes to wet foods. Newbies will eat honey like crazy for a while, then abandon it.

Having said all that, one of my tanks is going nuts for some canned organic chicken baby food...

[LadyJinglyJones]

Harry loves avocado, but Luis won't touch it. Luis likes to drag seaweed bits all over the tank (I can't tell if he eats them, though). Neither seemed into honeysuckle flowers. Both love prickly pear. Neither seems interested in the very expensive honey I got them... but I'm going to keep putting it in the dish til they get the idea. Luis really likes organic squash baby food. Banana was a hit. And someone ate the peanut butter, but I can't say who. Snails go untouched, as do raw beef bits.

[cap7]

I'm going to try the baby food but yes mine seem to prefer dry food over wet. Has anyone tried a dehydrator? I'm thinking of trying that


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[mool]

I have a sugar glider who eats a very similar diet except that his food is 99% fresh fruits and vegetables except for canned baby foods, Greek yogurt, and cooked eggs or chicken. What ever I make for the gliger goes into the hermit tank too.

I should add, although my crabs strongly prefer dried over fresh, frozen, or canned they go nuts for finely chopped organic salad greens.

[Crabinski]

I'm going to try the baby food but yes mine seem to prefer dry food over wet. Has anyone tried a dehydrator? I'm thinking of trying that

Quite a few HCAers dehydrate their own fruits and veggies for their crabs. Hopefully, a few of them will chime in.

[hprmom]

I'm going to try the baby food but yes mine seem to prefer dry food over wet. Has anyone tried a dehydrator? I'm thinking of trying that

Quite a few HCAers dehydrate their own fruits and veggies for their crabs. Hopefully, a few of them will chime in.

I picked up a dehydrator at a garage sale a couple of years ago, thinking I was going to make healthy fruit roll-ups for my kid. I never did, LOL. It took hermit crabs to motivate me to pull the box out of storage and give it a try. I love it! Once I started, I found all kinds of things to dry that I normally would have thrown away (or frozen; I have a tupperware of frozen bits I save for the crabs). My favorite is the time I scraped organic carrots. I was just about to throw the scrapings away when I realized they were organic, so I dried them instead. They got all curly and twisty in the dehydrator and the crabs LOVE them (or at least they love dragging them around!). From the same bunch of carrots I dehydrated the green tops. I've dehydrated dandelion greens, sweet potato, kiwi, pepper rings, salad greens that were too wilted for us to eat but dried beautifully, mostly fruits and veggies that were either scraps from my cutting board or just about to go bad. While experimenting I discovered I like some dried foods as crunchy snacks for myself--okra was a big surprise! And the dehydrator is a foolproof way to make kale chips; I usually forgot mine in the oven and burned them before. In a very short time I had a big supply of dried foods, essentially for free since I would have thrown those things out anyway, and I get to feel good about "recycling" them. I store my dried foods in 2 oz and 4 oz plastic souffle cups (the kind a restaurant puts condiments in for carry-out); they live in a tupperware container in a cabinet under the tank.

Here's a "before and after" of some peppers and okra!