What's on today's menu & recipe sharing ~2013~

[rmanuel73]

on Spongebob's menu: moss and dirt. possibly some peanut butter but only if it's covered in moss and dirt. :roll:

LOL! That is too funny, Sandra! Sounds like my Jumbo PP, Larry. I've been trying a lot of different things with her lately, just discovered Larry is a girl, and she just digs around a little bit and goes back to her worm casings and peanut butter. I'm not giving up, though!!

[rmanuel73]

I always have a dry dish with meal worms, mysis shrimp and varitey bites. I add oats once or twice a week.

I have been trying a different variety of fresh foods to see what my guys like....wish me luck!

In their fresh food dish I have:

(On right):
Fresh Spinach leaves
Minces Tomatoes
Tuna

(On left):
Applesauce
Minced Strawberries, with leaves
Pecan pieces

There has to be something in there they like!

[Cassafrass1999]

I always have a dry dish with meal worms, mysis shrimp and varitey bites. I add oats once or twice a week.

I have been trying a different variety of fresh foods to see what my guys like....wish me luck!

In their fresh food dish I have:

(On right):
Fresh Spinach leaves
Minces Tomatoes
Tuna

(On left):
Applesauce
Minced Strawberries, with leaves
Pecan pieces

There has to be something in there they like!

This all sounds great, but I just have to say that I would maybe think about stopping giving them the HBH Variety Bites because it contains many ingredients with the word "meal" in them, which may mean that it contains ethoxyquin. But other then that, everything else sounds wonderful for them!

[rmanuel73]

Thanks, Cass! I have learned so much on nutrition the last few months. I have just a small amount left of the variety bites and I don't plan on buying anymore. The Hermit Crab Patch has a wonderful selection of foods and Tammy's crabs really seem to thrive, so I plan on trying some of her mixes with my next order.

[Cassafrass1999]

Thanks, Cass! I have learned so much on nutrition the last few months. I have just a small amount left of the variety bites and I don't plan on buying anymore. The Hermit Crab Patch has a wonderful selection of foods and Tammy's crabs really seem to thrive, so I plan on trying some of her mixes with my next order.

Your welcome, and that sounds like a great plan!

[Mister_Eff]

Yesterday I mixed my JurassiDiet pellets, my HBH Crab Variety Bites, a drop of clover honey, and a spritz of olive oil. I stirred the mix together into a paste, and then added freeze-dried meal worms. The resulting concoction is not appetizing to me (to say the least), but I think the crabs will go nuts for it, once they give it a taste.

I'm not sure the crabs have touched it yet, but I figured since there's no fresh fruits or veggies in this, It'll keep for a couple of days, so it's staying in the tank tonight.

[Cassafrass1999]

Yesterday I mixed my JurassiDiet pellets, my HBH Crab Variety Bites, a drop of clover honey, and a spritz of olive oil. I stirred the mix together into a paste, and then added freeze-dried meal worms. The resulting concoction is not appetizing to me (to say the least), but I think the crabs will go nuts for it, once they give it a taste.

I'm not sure the crabs have touched it yet, but I figured since there's no fresh fruits or veggies in this, It'll keep for a couple of days, so it's staying in the tank tonight.

Cool! But I have to say that the commercial foods (especially the JurassiDiet if I remember correctly) may or do have harmful preservatives for the crabs in them. I myself would stop feeding it to them. Have you been giving them fruit and veggies every day as well? The freeze-dried meal worms are great for them however.

Here is a hermit crab nutrition guide if you haven't already seen/read it. ---> http://www.hermitcrabassociation.com/ph ... 25&t=62686

[Mister_Eff]

Yeah, I'm aware of the preservative concerns. I'm finishing out the containers of each and then looking for an alternative. Most of the food I serve them gets thrown out anyway.

[Cassafrass1999]

Yeah, I'm aware of the preservative concerns. I'm finishing out the containers of each and then looking for an alternative. Most of the food I serve them gets thrown out anyway.

Ah, ok. That sounds like a plan, although (and this is just my opinion), I would get rid of the food now JUST to make sure that the crabs don't have further problems in the future from having eaten the commercial foods (even if they only ate some a couple of times).

[fluffy]

http://www.healthyandliving.org/feature ... ealth.html here is a article I found, I know it's going after why they are bad for humans but I think the health risks can be roughly transferred for hermit crabs. Even for bearded dragons, preservatives can cause illness if used too often. Of course giving them one piece of food with an artificial preservative will not do harm. It's just that long time use and especially since hermit crab have lived off a nearly all natural diet until they were scooped up and brought to where we bought them, so the preservatives can be upsetting (I suppose) to their system. Like some members on here would also bring up "why give them something that can be potentially dangerous". I also believe it's one of those things (like instant ocean) that people noticed they live longer when given fresh and artificial preservative free food.

[Mister_Eff]

I left that concoction of mine in the tank for a few days (I figured the honey would keep the mold at bay). The first day or so, they seemed to ignore the food bowl. Last night, around 2AM, I woke up and checked on my crabbies, and got to watch Loki pigging out on the mix for at least a half hour. He was loving it! I couldn't see what exactly he was going for (it was too dark), but this morning, a lot of the meal worms were all chopped up and squishy from soaking in all that honey and oil.

[Cassafrass1999]

Sorry, but I have no clue besides what Fluffy said. It's pretty much a "better safe than sorry" thing. :/

[fluffy]

No, I'm not talking about articles that make vague assertions about preservatives, and I'm not talking about articles that show, say, a link between high doses of a particular preservative and a negative outcome in, say, rats. I want to know if anybody has data that shows that these foods cause problems. As in, Jurassi diet, for example. Or if anybody has shown that the levels of the preservatives commonly found in hermit crab food are harmful to invertebrates. Or are we just extrapolating on a "better safe than sorry" basis.

Either answer is fine, of course. I just want to know.

Okay, I think I see what you are asking It's a little hard since I do think that pet food brands of cleaned up in the years, some brands were using road kill as a meat source (yuck) but that was back in 2005. Now if there is a by-product, it's chicken by-product or beef or whatever. It depends on the animal though as I've come to, Rats if given too much corn product can cause cancer. Or birds, red millet and oats are consider fillers that most birds won't even eat. I know that one wasn't much of a health risk but what I'm trying to say is since there are still a lot of unanswered questions and things we are not sure about. Since artificial preservatives already get a bad rap, it's that "better safe then sorry" and at the time something I think we can assume that is not healthy for hermit crabs. Maybe they have a high tolerance of these foods since they are scavengers, and they won't get sick, but I mean that does not mean it isn't good for them. Also there are preservatives found in hermit crab like a common one, copper sulfate. We know that some copper is needed in there blood like Iron for us but we don't know how much and since too much copper could mean illness for hermit crabs it's best to just trust they are getting it from fresh/dried foods we are giving them. Sorry I can't give you a straight answer. I did some research looking for a food that people were having problems with but I got all the wrong stuff.

[Skymall007]

[quote="Cassafrass1999"][quote="rmanuel73"]

I always have a dry dish with meal worms, mysis shrimp and varitey bites. I add oats once or twice a week.

I have been trying a different variety of fresh foods to see what my guys like....wish me luck!

In their fresh food dish I have:

(On right):
Fresh Spinach leaves
Minces Tomatoes
Tuna

(On left):
Applesauce
Minced Strawberries, with leaves
Pecan pieces

That looks like a gourmet meal! It is very professionally done. You should open a hermit resteruant

[speeddemonbk]

As in, Jurassi diet, for example.

While I can't say for others crabs, my first set of crabs when I was a kid were fed solely Jurassi for 5-6 years straight (back before there was much info on hermit crabs). None of them died from it and it never seemed to affect them- they actually fought over it lol. Knowing some of the nutrition aspects now, it does not really contain things that I would think make a steady, healthy, all-around crab diet alone. If you read the ingredients it's almost identical to fish food pellets.


~Tonight mine get tilapia, shrimp, bananas and honey, carrots, and a slice of red pepper.