Animal protein in crabby diets

[anann]

I have been reading and have realized I really need to provide my crabs with more animal protein. This is something I struggle with because I am vegetarian so I don't have any meat or fish in the house. I do feed egg and dried insects, and I occasionally buy a shrimp at the store for them, but I really want to give them more variety. Does anyone have suggestions for ways I can buy small amounts for them? Also, would it be ok to feed them a little bit of wet cat food (I get a kind that is organic and grain free for my cat). Thanks

[wodesorel]

Insects and seafood would provide enough for them if that is what you feel most comfortable with. Those are available as fish and reptile food at the pet store and there are multiple options available.

100% meat treats for dogs and cats would also work. Those are available in fish and various meats and come in small pouches.

I am always leary of using complete diets meant for other pets, since they are often loaded in vitamins and minerals specific to that animal. (Cat food for instance always has excess taurine because if they do not receive enough they will suffer from blindness.)

The only other thing at the meat counter that would be small enough would be like one piece of beef for stew. It would be an inch or so block. Might get a funny look, but it never bothered me to ask for odd things for my crabs. (Like a couple of smelts at Christmas.) If you feel brave, explain to the person behind the counter why you need it and see if they'll sell (or give) you scraps with some meat attached.

[Happyhermiehome]

I don't eat meat either but the rest of my family does. Some things I use besides just straight up meat from part of dinner I cook for everyone else are canned swimmer crab in water with seasalt I buy just for them and they love it, frozen clams are pretty cheap and I steam like 2 at a time and keep the rest in the freezer, organic peanut and almond butter they go nuts for, I use crushed walnut in my homemade dry food mix and I also use a %100 Organic vegan hemp protine powder (I buy this for myself and share) there is nothing in it but pure organic hemp. I sprinkle this in with their dry food and they seem to like it. And I also use freeze dried shrimp, canned chicken with sea salt, and wodesorel also Told me in another post that canned tuna is acceptable as well as long as it contains only water and salt so I will be adding this too. Oh and eggs of course

[PinchersAndShells]

Another option would be checking out online stores specifically made for hermit crabs. I know quite a few that sell dried protein in small quantities (even so, large quantities wouldn't be bad since dry can be stored longer), a good place to start looking would be in the HCA shopping resources. http://www.hermitcrabassociation.com/pa ... pping.html

[doth]

I'm in the same vegetarian boat! one thing that's been handy is frozen shrimp and scallops, I found some that come in a resealable bag so I can feed a little bit at a time as needed.

the "meat lovers" hermit crab diet from the Happy Hermit Supply on Etsy has been a godsend as well! it has bloodworms and a few types of fish if I'm remembering correctly, which is really helpful because it's good to offer multiple kinds of animal protein

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[soilentgringa]

We find a lot of dehydrated or freeze dried fish in the clearance section of the pet store.

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[jesseanneo]

Same situation here. We buy canned meat food for our cats and some treats. We do buy freeze dried all meat treats for them sometimes so I guess that can do double duty.

I need to find someone who eats eggs to give me their shells! I have to start asking our neighbors.

[LadyJinglyJones]

In the fish section of well-stocked aquarium places there is usually a little fridge.

In it you can find blister packs of krill, mysis shrimp, daphnia (teeeeeny crustaceans), bloodworms (crabs tryically love these, but humans can develop rash-ey alergies to them, so handle with care), clam, and tubefix worms (though these are notoriously prone to parasites & I don't recommend 'em).

Just check the lable for preservatives.

Freeze dried is also cool, but, again, read the lable.

[ROSIEonFIRE]

Seems like there are a lot of vegetarians here! Im dont eat meat or seafood either but i have like, 3 varieties of freeze dried bugs and there are so many more you can get; brine shrimp, waxworms, full sized shrimp of various kinds, bloodworms, crickets... those are just a few!

I also got scraps of salmon at the fish counter. Since i only get one piece bc i knew it wpuld last me like a month the guy just GAVE it to me, so (sort of) no participation in the industry of evil!

[Happyhermiehome]

I recently got a whole bag of salmon fillets individually vacuumed sealed from my mother in law cause they were getting close to the expiration date. SCORE! I've been giving it to them raw with the skin on. they love it! And I don't think they mind it being a little past date lol. Might be worth it to put the word out to your meat eating friends and family to give u a call next time they are cleaning out the freezer!
I have also taken some chicken breast that went past date and chopped it, boiled it, then froze it in individual amounts. I take out 2 or 3 cubes at a time and put em in the tank frozen and they thaw rather quickly with the heat and humidity in the tank. It's very convenient and they love it.

[Just Jay]

Veggie as well! I do not give any whole diet foods for other animals to the crabs. even the raw ones for my cats and dog. Like mentioned they have chemical and synthetic vitamins added. My hermit crabs diet is only made of foods/treats from my other pets or self.

Tonight the crabs got some wild flowers and hay that are a rabbit/guinea pig treat. Along with some raw dried salmon skin rolls that are a dog/cat chew I cut for the crabs. [They have other dishes that was just to replace one.] One of my crabs [RoxSand or Hermione ...they are similar size in similar shells] hand fed from the roll for awhile too.

[Hermiesguardian]

I know I can feed them cooked chicken, unseasoned. But can I give then a piece of chicken from "inside", under the skin, where there aren't any seasonings. I can rinse it off if that would help. Or does it just have to be boiled chicken?