Kilimanjaro's Guide to Hermit Crab Nutrition

[Kilimanjaro]

I'm not so sure about your oxalic acid warning.

#1 Cooking those greens actually brings out the oxalic acid (see amaranth)

#2 Hermit crabs don't metabolize it the same way reptiles and mammals do.

Foods high in oxalic acid are an important part of a crabs' diet but should be fed sparingly and often when the plant is younger rather than more mature.

Edited to be more accurate. Thanks Lola.

[limeslide]

This is....... SPARTA! err..... FANTASTIC!

This guide is very helpful. :3

[Kilimanjaro]

I thought I'd mention that I've published this guide on my hermit crab care site.

Here is the link.

[blaze88]

is there any word on this being stickied, I would hate for the guide to rot away in the archives.

[Guest]

bump

This was very helpful!

[MacandHunter]

is there any word on this being stickied, I would hate for the guide to rot away in the archives.

Things don't rot in the archives blaze. That's quite an insult for those of us who have spent many hours moving topics to the archives. The archives are a very useful resource, and all members should use them. They hold a wealth of information.

No one has contacted any mods or directors about this topic. If you feel a topic should be stickied, please PM a board member or a mod. I happened to miss this useful guide till now. Posting to sticky something isn't how you should go about doing so. Please PM a mod or director and then we will talk about it to see if it's a good idea, and then sticky it if it's worthy of one.

I'll bring this up with the rest of the board to see if we can sticky it. However, in the future, please PM a board of director to make a request, instead of asking in the topic because we might miss it.

[Guest]

I really like the lists of types of foods and what they do but I'm honestly not sure about the pyramid. I'd like to see the science behind it. I think that when putting something out there like that we need to really be sure that it is grounded in evidence because it will be taken by many as 100% truth and that is an issue that has gotten people into trouble before.

I totally agree that variety is important, but I'm not sure a food pyramid and daily schedule is the best way to go about that.

[blaze88]

Here is the pyramid science.

According to crustacean nutrition hermit crabs need <15% fat about 40% protein and the rest carbs, with up to 35% fiber.

Optional foods are the "random foods." Vinegar, honey, molasses, they are good treats or even PPS reducers, but not nutritionally needed or significant.

Fats are mainly fatty seeds, nuts and oils. The percent of fat in this group of the food is 70% to 100%. (more on what this means later)

Calcium is the next group. Obviously hermits need calcium, however basing off of what has worked and reptile nutrition (also calcium heavy). Considering the rarity of such pure calcium sources in the wild 4 days a week is a conservative view. (for example vegetarian reptile requirements are generally considered a dusting once a week for calcium supplement.) The calcium section is to mainly make sure that the crabs are getting what they need for their exo.

Fruits and veggies/sea veggies and harvestables is broken up this way to basically remind people that harvestables and sea veggies are also a good nutritional option. There are specific vitamin differences in each group but variety would make up for this. The carb amount is the macro nutrient that is the main contender in this group the percentage of carbohydrates ranging 50% to 95% and fiber 10% to 50%. (again more on this later)

Protein level is the last level. Animal protein is the main component of this pyramid because hermit crabs need the meat amino acids (protein building blocks). Also lean meat protein has a higher protein content for the hermit crabs, which they need.

the animal protein percent range is 70%-90%
the plant protein range is 12% to 40%


phew, so what does it all mean?

recap:

fats fat% 70%-100%
fruits/veggies/harvest/sea veggies carb 50% to 90% fiber 10% to 50%
animal protein protein 70% to 90%
plant protein protein 12% to 40%

now adding the days fed proteins, fats and veggies etc you get 16.

3/16 =19%
6/16= 38%
7/16=44%

This makes the diet, excluding calcium (because its not a carb, fat or protein), 19% fats, 38% veggies etc and 44% proteins.

So to find out the percent of fat, carbs, fiber and protein in the diet, roughly, you must take the amount of food, .19, and multiply it by the percent of fat in the fatty foods and so forth with the other groups.

so in the diet there are roughly 13%-19% fat, 19%-34.2% carbs, 3.8% to 19% fiber and 30.8% to 39.6% protein if animal protein is fed and a lot less protein and more carbs when plant protein is fed.

These numbers are a tad in accurate because all proteins have some carbs and fats, all veggies etc have some protein and fats and all fats have some carbs and protein. However the rough numbers show the science behind the pyramid.

Also keeping in mind that hermit crabs are amazing at regulating what they need to eat these numbers are in the right area enough that as long as the diet is varied within the food groups and the crabs have a source of protein (the protein percent in the total amounts is low) every day the pyramid works.

Phew. I know that was long and complicated, if you have any questions feel free to ask. Nutrition is my hobby.

[Guest]

Is this the D'Ambro book?

Here are my concerns

I think that the pyramid is great in spelling out a basic guideline for what you should be feeding and in what proportions.

The "how many days" portion however has some practicality issues though.

1. It does not compensate for where a crab is in their molt cycle. Often you must do diet enhancement, alteration to aid pre and post molt crabs.

2. It doesn't deal with the issues of a crab not eating offered foods. What happens if your servings of Zx rich foods isn't eaten? Do you wait, to you start again the next day?

3. It does not allow for the crabs natural ability to seek out and ingest foods that provide the basic minerals and compounds it needs (which while it can be averaged out on a pyramid like this, really aren't as regular as your daily schedule).

4. May cause a novice owner to think something is wrong if his/her crabs aren't eating according to schedule. (Which is bound to happen because crabs are so darn stubborn!)

Again, I think the pyramid idea is a good one but the daily feeding schedule guidelines are problematic. I'm sure that there is a middle ground somewhere.

I would also suggest that you asterisk the title of the pyramid and then cite that the information is based on Crustacean Nutrition. That will keep you out of copyright trouble and add authority to your work.

Cheers!

LG

[blaze88]

"1. It does not compensate for where a crab is in their molt cycle. Often you must do diet enhancement, alteration to aid pre and post molt crabs."

There should probably be a note for this.

"2. It doesn't deal with the issues of a crab not eating offered foods. What happens if your servings of Zx rich foods isn't eaten? Do you wait, to you start again the next day?"

If the crab doesn't eat it that means they don't want it. The numbers are all minimums, so you could feed it again or just still follow the schedule.

3. It does not allow for the crabs natural ability to seek out and ingest foods that provide the basic minerals and compounds it needs (which while it can be averaged out on a pyramid like this, really aren't as regular as your daily schedule).

Again the pyramid is meant as a minimum, but in addition hermit crabs being cold blooded metabolize a lot slower so a daily feeding cycle is not all that spread out.

4. May cause a novice owner to think something is wrong if his/her crabs aren't eating according to schedule. (Which is bound to happen because crabs are so darn stubborn!)

The schedule is for feeding not eating, but again perhaps there should be a note restating that.

[Kilimanjaro]

The following edits have been made:

1) Note stating that the pyramid does not have to be taken directly and is just a guideline. Also states that if land hermit crabs don't follow the schedule, it is okay.

2) Section for pre- and post-molt crabs has been made.

3) Reference to the Crustacean Nutrition book was made.

[limeslide]

This needs to be a sticky.

[Guest]

Fair enough, it’s stickied, although I hope we keep up the good discussion on this thread. Notice that this sticky has replaced the less current Harmful Food Ingredients sticky.

[Kilimanjaro]

Thanks, Laura_B!

I agree, I hope we can keep a nice discussion about this thread, too, because it will help us all learn more about land hermit crab diet!

Please, do not be afraid to challenge the ideas and facts Blaze and I put into this guide.

We are more than happy to answer your questions!

-Kili

[Guest]

I think it would be helpful to have this turned into a caresheet.

Randy