HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Now this may sound awful but in the for a scoure of protein they will eat there dead friends rite or recently deceased. I hatte this but One of my hermies died from a bad molt. And now the other crabies are gtting there protein. He just died there no fishy smell i know he is dead. I loved this hermie to death but he has become food for his buddies to stay alive. This is kinda like shrimp or other crab like animals they eaat that to. So im not a horrible person to be doing this. I cant watch or i will feel so bad. i am upset but i think this very natural for them to do this or not? Im not sure if i posted this in the rite section or not. I am open to crytisim but use your words that wont make me upset. thanks.

jakeman wrote: Now this may sound awful but in the for a scoure of protein they will eat there dead friends rite or recently deceased. I hatte this but One of my hermies died from a bad molt. And now the other crabies are gtting there protein. He just died there no fishy smell i know he is dead. I loved this hermie to death but he has become food for his buddies to stay alive. This is kinda like shrimp or other crab like animals they eaat that to. So im not a horrible person to be doing this. I cant watch or i will feel so bad. i am upset but i think this very natural for them to do this or not? Im not sure if i posted this in the rite section or not. I am open to crytisim but use your words that wont make me upset. thanks.

I'm sorry your hermit died

The problem with allowing them to eat a crab that's died in there is that if the crab died of an infectious disease, they may get the infection by eating it.

i see He died roma molt i know that. Ill take it out. It was a good one to.

I'm sorry you lost your hermie. Your right; in the wild they would definitely have eaten him. However tnt is right; there are risks to letting them cannibalize and since we are able to provide them with alternative safer forms of protein it's probably a risk that's better to avoid.

thanks i took him out and il bury him today.

I think that they should eat the exoskeleton since it has the good stuff (vitamins). Thanx for the post i've wondered the same thing.

I just read another forum and apparently it's good if other crabs eat the exo skeleton. some people actually crush up the exo skeleton and mix it into their food.

To elaborate on what the others mentioned above:
I had a straw die shortly after getting it, and I allowed the others to eat the dead crab, since it has no smell. And about a week or two later alot of my crabs were dying. It was really upsetting, so I would make sure they weren't feasting on the dead crab.

And I'm sorry you lost your crab.