Thank You. Yes, before meeting this couple, I was feeding essentially a bland diet. I feel meeting them has taken this passion and my level of care to the next level.GotButterflies wrote:I COULDLN'T AGREE MORE WITH THIS STATEMENT!!! One of the reasons why I am so conservative is most people don't have the time, or resources to feed a variety diet. Seriously - if you saw what my hermits ate every day you would be amazed. My husband says the hermits eat better that our family does (which isn't - but is true) They get such a variety! I know the couple that you (@CrabberCuber), are referring to - they can do it because they are 1000% dedicated to their hermit crabs - NO JOKE!! They are incredible! Both husband and wife are an amazing duo that live for hermit crabs in general!!! I admire them!!CrabberCuber wrote: From what I've seen, read and researched, a lot of the factors to keeping more is making sure they are always fully satisfied in their diet. variety is huge in the area i feel. If they aren't lacking a staple in their diet, they are generally docile and non-aggressive.
Previously, I would set it up the same every time. I had a small acrylic reptile food dish and i'd put a small bed of crushed egg shell. Then on top I would put a pinch of trail mix that was mostly fruit and coconut on top and then sprinkle dried red shrimp on that. At the time I just new that the hermit food from the pet stores was bad and i did know what normal hermit eating habits were and sometimes I would see them eating and was happy with that. Then I went on vacation and met with the guy I'd been getting a ton of advice from on reddit. I wanted to see his tanks in person because they looked so amazing online (more so in person) and I had to try and convince my wife that they needed a much bigger tank than a 15 gallon. Long story short, it worked - proof in the pictures! lol. While there he also gave me a TON of good info and supplies, including the cholla wood that's in my new tank. A major part of the stuff he gave me was food. so much variety that I was a bit overwhelmed, but I got it, it clicked, I now understand what is meant by variety. Here are some pictures I took recently after installing my organizer for the food.
https://imgur.com/2yEMLut
https://imgur.com/PEgpPNS
This is the Product; used for keeping your nuts and bolt sorted. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003P ... UTF8&psc=1
So right now i no longer have the reptile dish, and instead, I have a large clam shell and an abalone shell that act as my food dishes. Every 2-3 days i will pull them out, clean them and then pick like 5 or so random drawers and put a variety out. So across the dishes the hermits have 10-14 different random food items to choose from that's always changing. I only do a pinch of each. I have banana leaves and catalpa leaves scattered on the top of the substrate and two types of moss in their pit. The substrate is also a mix of edibles, oyster shell, assorted crushed beach shells and green sand mixed into the sand coconut fiber mix.
i will tell you, every night around 10pm i can almost guarantee that you see someone eating. seems like they either are eating or hanging out in the shell shop. during the day they sleep in the moss pit. so much more to look forward too now! hence the reason i want to slowly increase the numbers till i have a small colony. I want them to thrive. And I want an active tank of very healthy hermits.