Feeding
Land Hermit Crabs
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In the wild, hermit crabs are
scavengers. Because of this, they are "hard wired"
to search out the widest variety of foods possible. Their
natural diet includes plants, meat, fish, seaweeds, and
even fecal matter.
Because they search out such a variety of foods, hobbyists
now believe that land hermit crabs will simply choose not
to eat anything rather than filling up on food that they've
already eaten once in the past several hours, so it's important
to offer a variety of foods, if not at once, at least day
to day.
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Commercial Foods
Pet stores offer a variety of commercial foods to feed your hermit
crabs. I highly recommend picking up one or two of these to rotate
in your food dish day after day. However, when choosing a hermit
crab food, it is important to be aware of the ingredients. There
are some ingredients that are frequently found in commercial hermit
crab foods that many believe are harmful to the hermit crabs in
the long term. Two of the biggest "offenders" are ethoxyquin
and copper sulfate, both of which are found in pesticides. While
land hermit crabs are not insects, their crustacean physiology
is similar enough that many do not feel comfortable feeding foods
with these ingredients. While I do not completely avoid foods
that contain these ingredients, I do try to feed them less often.
Each individual crab owner needs to take a look at the possible
dangers and make a judgement call about how often, if at all,
they feel comfortable feeding their crabs food that may contain
these substances. For more information about the harmful substances
sometimes found in commercial pet foods, click
here.
The best commercial foods currently available are probably Crab
Island® Hermit Crab Food (their Fruit and Flower Food does
contain ethoxyquin), Gardner's Tree Crab food, and Epicurean Hermit
Crab Cuisine. These can be somewhat difficult to track down, depending
where you shop, but it is worth it to provide higher quality food
for your pet hermit crabs.
I especially want to recommend Julia
Crab's Epicurean Hermit Crab Cuisine .
While it's a little more expensive and must be ordered online,
Julia Crab has done and is doing extensive research on the diet
of the land hermit crab, and has concocted the most completely
nutritious dry hermit crab food currently available from organic
and chemical free human grade foods.
One other caveat about commercial foods is that many of them
come in a large, hard pellet form. This style of food can be difficult
for crabs to get their claws around, especially if you have smaller
crabs or crabs missing their big pincher. If the food you decide
to buy is this style, remember to crush it before serving.
Much ado is made in the online hermit crab community about how
feeding commercial pet foods to your hermit crabs is completely
bad because so many commercial foods contain questionable ingredients.
While I recognize that it is hard to find a good, complete hermit
crab diet commercially, that doesn't mean the pet store should
be completely discounted. There is a lot there that can be used
to suppliment your hermit crabs' diets beautifully, especially
if what seems most difficult about feeding your crabs a fresh
or even dry homemade diet is finding your hermit crabs a good
protein source.
The aquatic freezer:
Most large pet stores have a small freezer near their aquarium
section where you can buy frozen fish foods. Almost all of these
are acceptable for your hermit crabs to eat - frozen blood worms,
shrimp, krill, silversides, even plankton. This is also where
you'll find blister packs of frozen Marine Cuisine, which are
hermit crab friendly and can be popped out of the freezer into
a food dish and once it thaws out it's a nice stinky treat for
your hermit crabs.
Freeze dried foods:
Also found in the fish and reptile areas are lots of different
kinds of freeze dried foods that have no other preservatives or
additives, which make a great addition to a dry homemade food.
Almost everything you can find frozen in the aquatic section you
can also find freeze dried, along with things like mealworms and
crickets from the reptile section of the store. They may not look
yummy to you, but your hermit crabs will love them!
The avian section:
While birds and hermit crabs don't have a lot in common, a few
birding necessities are great for hermit crabs. Cuttlebone is
probably the best example of an item found commonly in both a
bird cage and a hermit crab tank. Cuttlebone is the calcium rich
bone of a cuttlefish, and once crushed into manageable chunks,
it makes a great calcium suppliment.
Another really wonderful thing I've found in the avian section
of the pet store are KayTee Healthy Toppings. They are little
pouches of dried fruits, nuts, and vegetables, which hermit crabs
love. Bulk bird seed is another idea for a dietary suppliment.
You can buy just an ounce of bird seed, and often they will have
a hermit crab friendly mix of seeds and grains available.
There are also other options if you don't like the idea of serving
your crab any of the available commercial foods, or if you just
run out and can't get to the store for more right away.
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Homemade Dry Crab Food
Most commercial foods are "dry" powders or pellets.
You can make something similar at home as well. The basic building
block of a crustacean's diet are lipids, protiens, and carbohydrates.
Protiens: For a dry food, unsalted ground nuts are probably the
easist to procure, though ground dried fish would be even better,
from the crab's perspective. Occasionally, you can find acceptable
dried fish in the cat and dog treats section of the pet store.
Lipids: Basically fats, foods that contain this include coconut
(which can be found in dried, unsweetened form for your crabs)
and oily seeds like the sunflower seed (unsalted).
Carbohydrates: Grains such as flax seed, oats (not instant),
and brown rice as well as fruits can be added for carbohydrates.
If you use these basic building blocks, you should come up with
a fairly complete crab food, especially if you suppliment it occasionally
with fresh/thawed fruit or fresh/thawed fish.
One thing you may wish to include directly in a dry food is a
calcium suppliment. Especially when crabs are pre- or post- molt,
calcium is incredibly important to their ability to harden their
new exoskeleton. Plain powdered calcium carbonate is a good calcium
source, as are powdered oyster shells and egg shells (though these
may spoil quickly if the membrane isn't completely removed), and
green leafy vegetables.
Powdered or crushed seaweed of some sort is also beneficial to
crabs because it is such an essential part of their diet in the
wild. This can be obtained either at grocery stores (check near
sushi ingredients) or they can be found in the fish section of
aquarium or pet stores. One algae that is very benificial to crabs
is spirulina, which is often sold as a suppliment at health food
stores. Color enhancing fish flakes also often contain at least
some spirulina, but most also contain less desireable ingredients
like ethoxyquin as well.
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Fresh Foods
Hermit crabs also enjoy fresh suppliments to their diet. They
can be fed a lot of things, though staying away from processed,
sugary, or salty foods is probably best for your crabs. More often
than not, they can be fed unseasoned foods from your own table,
such as fish or chicken, most fruits, most vegetables, eggs...
the list is pretty long. In our crabitat, fresh fish, shredded
carrots, raisins, and coconut (especially fresh coconut) seem
to be some of the biggest hits.
They can also be fed many kinds of flower blossoms and tree leaves,
assuming no pesticides have recently been used on them. Carotonids,
including beta carotene are an important part of their nutrition
and help them to brighten or darken their colors, as can shrimp
(unshelled), krill, and tannins from things like dried oak leaves
and bark. In order to improve color in hermit crabs, these foods
should be fed consistantly for some time before a molt.
Because hermit crabs are scavengers in the wild, many hermit
crab enthusiasts believe they like their food a little "old"
and broken down. Fruit that has gotten over ripe, fish that's
been left out just a little too long, and thawed frozen fruits/fish
seem to go over really well, probably due to the breakdown in
cellular structure that begins to happen when food gets a little
old (or when it freezes).
Often hermit crabs will eat better from a fresh dish once the
ingredients are a little old, so many people leave fresh food
in for more than one day. Pet hermit crabs are kept in an enclosed
environment where it is very easy for bacteria to run rampant
though, so how long they are comfortable leaving fresh foods in
the crabitat is something each crab owner should think about.
Remember when taking food out of your tank to check for signs
that bits of it may have been dragged off somewhere and clean
those up. Hermit crabs will sometimes take food back to their
favorite hiding spot, or bury it for later.
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Color-Enhancing Foods
The color of a land hermit crab is determined by its access to
proper nutrition, sunlight, and, of course, its species. Some
of the most important things that a crab can eat to improve its
color are tannins and carotonoids. Tannins can be found in things
like oak bark and oak leaves as well as grapes and raisins. Carotonoids
are a group of pigments that occur naturally in foods we eat every
day. When processed by land hermit crabs and other crustaceans,
they help both to improve their natural color and to regulate
their body systems. Read more about carotonoids and the foods
that contain them here
and here.
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Cooking for hermit crabs
Yes, hermit crabs eat cooked food too. You can bake, boil or
even fry foods for your hermit crabs provided you use hermit crab
safe foods. Common cooking oils that are acceptable for use in
hermit crab cuisine are olive oil and coconut oil. Be creative!
This isn't something I've experimented with very much, as I generally
have served our crabs raw fresh foods in the past. I barely cook
for the humans in this family!
One recipe I made when my crabs were molting is Coco-Shrimp Scampi.
I heated a tablespoon of coconut oil in a frying pan, and sauteed
a shrimp for a few minutes. When I was finished, I arranged it
on a shell with a generous sprinkling of dried, unsweetened coconut.
It was a definite hit. The tail exo bits, especially, were dragged
around the tank.
For more information about creating hermit crab cuisine, I recommend
visiting Julia Crab at the Epicurean
Hermit forum.
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Pre- and Post- Molt foods
Especially important pre- and post- molt are calcium rich foods.
If they are not made available any other time, when you notice
premolt symptoms or start seeing a crab that's been down for a
molt back up again, bring out the calcium. This can come in many
forms, but most popular among crabbers seem to be cuttlebone (they
sell this in the bird section of the pet store), crushed oyster
shells, sand dollars, and seafood (like shrimp) that has an exoskeleton
still attached. Pretty much the only time our crabs get shrimp
is when they come up from a molt, as I don't feel like I can justify
the expense except in special circumstances, but I think it's
pretty important for them to get regular calcium suppliments,
whether that comes from their commercial food, cuttlebone, or
a pinch of calcium carbonate mixed with their food.
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