HCA: Hermit Crab Association

How much should I be feeding my hermit crabs?
Is there a such thing as over-feeding and under-feeding hermit crabs?(like over-feeding a fish, the fish will just eat and eat and eat.. )

They won't over eat. I feed mine plenty and throw a lot away. I have yet to figure out the right amount.

I feed a lot and waste a lot, too. Crabs pick what they eat and control their intake of nutrients, so they need a wide variety and plentiful offerings. Some things i keep overflowing, like leaf litter, popcorn, dried cabbage. Other things i keep scant in order to control molding and spoiling like shrimp tails, egg, nuts and seeds. Dry mixes and powdered food i leave a plenty, so crabs wont ever have to fight over food.


Crabbers unite!!!

I do not know if you find something like this out of it.

I literally use to feed a pinch of food at the start as I heard the "stories" of them not eating a lot. However, recently - around the end of last year - I decided to offer them larger portions and noticed that they been going at them a bit more. Don't be afraid to try new methods, you might stumble across something that could help future crabbers.

I offer small amounts of a variety of foods usually. Sometimes I just add a little more of something, like protein or greens, to the dish when it's getting low but not needing complete changing. I don't toss until food left in the dish looks nasty or moldy but I realize many crabbers prefer to completely change the dish out daily. I just find that some things are enjoyed more by the crabs when they're less fresh.

I usually have to adjust on the fly how much I give them. I tend to be conservative so things don't go to waste, and then they'll surprise me and all pile in the dish at the same time and clean the dish completely in a hour. Yet if I were to give them all that much food to start with then it would just sit there getting moldy.

They've been surprising me with the canned fish lately. Usually I give them a little bit and a few crabs will pick at it over the course of a few days. Yesterday I gave them a full dish of it, and they licked the dish clean in two hours. And I do mean clean, it looked like there had never been anything inside it!

wodesorel wrote:I usually have to adjust on the fly how much I give them. I tend to be conservative so things don't go to waste, and then they'll surprise me and all pile in the dish at the same time and clean the dish completely in a hour. Yet if I were to give them all that much food to start with then it would just sit there getting moldy.

They've been surprising me with the canned fish lately. Usually I give them a little bit and a few crabs will pick at it over the course of a few days. Yesterday I gave them a full dish of it, and they licked the dish clean in two hours. And I do mean clean, it looked like there had never been anything inside it!

I guess you didn't have to clean the fish dish! I love when I look in the morning and the food in the food dish is gone.

CallaLily wrote:I offer small amounts of a variety of foods usually. Sometimes I just add a little more of something, like protein or greens, to the dish when it's getting low but not needing complete changing. I don't toss until food left in the dish looks nasty or moldy but I realize many crabbers prefer to completely change the dish out daily. I just find that some things are enjoyed more by the crabs when they're less fresh.

Should I give them different kinds of foods everytime I clean out the food dish?

aussieJJDude wrote:I literally use to feed a pinch of food at the start as I heard the "stories" of them not eating a lot. However, recently - around the end of last year - I decided to offer them larger portions and noticed that they been going at them a bit more. Don't be afraid to try new methods, you might stumble across something that could help future crabbers.

I guess I should offer them a bit more food! I know this is a stupid question but..Do hermit crabs have a digestive system?

KellyCrabbieLove wrote:They won't over eat. I feed mine plenty and throw a lot away. I have yet to figure out the right amount.

Thanks!

CCCSilva wrote:Should I give them different kinds of foods everytime I clean out the food dish?

Variety is key so changing it up often is good.

I have found that once a week on the dry base diet and twice a week on the treat/variety plate is the sweet spot. For the former, I just barely cover the bottom of the small dish. If gone, I add more, but there is usually still some there at the end of the week when I toss it.

For the treat dish (popcorn varieties, worm castings, and a rotation of mixes, dried shrimp/bloodworms etc.) it is hit and miss as to what they choose at any give time. It gets slightly mold-ish on the day before I change it. It is true that some things have to become "ripe" before they like it.

Fresh stuff stays in 2-3 days.

Also I like to put different kinds of food on opposite ends of the tank, in case there is a shy one that gets run off the food by a bully during the night when I am not watching, the little one can still eat.