HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Hello! My fiance and I recently went on a trip to Gatlinburg TN for a mini vacation. (famous tourist trap) We ended up buying 3 hermit crabs. (we saw in research that that was the best bare minimum) What we thought would be low cost, low maintenance pets before researching turned out to be 400$ worth of items on the way atm to set up a mega tank after. They have a 2 gallon atm with all the bare needed items and good temps/humidity.

My main question is about food. In the cage they were kept in, they had only cheap FMA crab food. Not fresh either. They wont eat the pellets, only the powder. Since they've been here, I have been giving them the powder, but have tried introducing other foods. I've tried oatmeal, strawberry chips, peanut butter, and banana with no success.

They will investigate the other foods but are only eating the FMA food. I love these little guys, so I want them to have a good diet. So, how do I convince them to branch out?

Just keep trying different things. Crabs can be so picky! The good news is that they can go a couple weeks without food. Just don’t give them the other food and they will eventually have no choice but to eat the good stuff you are giving them.

So many people on here talk about how their crabs will only eat certain things in certain ways, lol. Mine won’t hardly touch fresh fruit, but they love dried foods. They’re more picky than my 8 year old! Lol

Good luck!


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I don't give my crabs a chance to be picky. I put a variety of foods in there for them, and they can eat it or not, LOL. Sometimes a food has to be offered multiple times before a crab will even try it. I don't even keep track of what they eat or don't eat. As long as you put in a variety of healthy foods, they will take what they need.

Crabs don't always go for new unfamiliar foods right away. It may take several attempts for them to try new things. Bananas, pears, and apples have been pretty popular with our crabs right away. If you cut the apples and pears in clean slices you should be able to see little pinch marks in them.

If you are looking for some better foods a quick search on Etsy will bring up a lot of results! We also have a handy guide to a bunch of shop links as well. The HCA does not recommend any shops over another. They are just a personal preference.
https://hermitcrabassociation.com/phpBB ... s#p1072530