HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Hi everyone!

Quick questions for those with more experience in this area than I.. in terms of foraging, what are some staples that you always keep around the tank? I’ve learned many people have different suggestions, curious to see what you folks have on here!

When you leave these foraging items out and about - do you clean them up regularly to avoid mold and things? If so, how often?

What do you recommend to leave out for foraging that would be mold resistant and a source of protein? I always want to make sure my crabs get enough protein but it seems whenever I put shrimp or chicken into the tank, that they never really seem to munch on it much.

One more quick question - does anyone know if Cosmos flowers and Resshank/Lady’s thumb flowers are edible for crabs? They are edible for humans but I can seem to find any research about crab edibility.

Thanks!

Tbanning wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 02, 2023 8:25 am

Hi everyone!

Quick questions for those with more experience in this area than I.. in terms of foraging, what are some staples that you always keep around the tank? I’ve learned many people have different suggestions, curious to see what you folks have on here!

When you leave these foraging items out and about - do you clean them up regularly to avoid mold and things? If so, how often?

What do you recommend to leave out for foraging that would be mold resistant and a source of protein? I always want to make sure my crabs get enough protein but it seems whenever I put shrimp or chicken into the tank, that they never really seem to munch on it much.

One more quick question - does anyone know if Cosmos flowers and Resshank/Lady’s thumb flowers are edible for crabs? They are edible for humans but I can seem to find any research about crab edibility.

Thanks!

I don't know if this counts, but I put some dried bloodworms in a curiosity cube, they roll it around and get a little out at a time and it's empty every few days, they eat all of the bloodworms! I feel that this is good for enrichment, and an easy way for them to get extra protein! I also have a slit dish of worm casting and blood meal in my tank at all times for munching on. They are also provided with two food dishes (one small, one medium I would say), with different food mixes in them, and they eat those up! I also have a sandbox of greensand in my tank which they seem to enjoy! My crabs have tons of food options and they eat what they please, and I feel that this helps with enrichment because they always have new food mixes, and a new thing in their cube to try! I put different proteins in their cube and they seem to enjoy that, different flavors of popcorn, etc! They have 4 different sized cubes and so switching out the cube size seems to make them more interested to! They seem to eat well considering their sizes, and my worm casting, blood meal, and greensand haven't molded yet and it's been weeks!