Hermit Crab Care

The best diet for a land hermit crab is basically what you feed yourself (with the exclusion of highly-processed foods and sugary snacks, of course).You also need to be sure the foods are organic (not exposed to insecticides and chemicals - as these substances can harm your hermit crab over time). Land hermit crabs are omnivorous and therefore eat just about anything. You can feed them meat, fish, vegetables and fruit (yes even citrus fruit! however no more than once or twice a month.). Crabs also like tannin-rich foods, such as oak leaves and tree bark. Before giving your crabs these things as food, make sure they are thoroughly cleaned by washing in dechlorinated water (no soap) and allowed to dry -- crabs like their leaves crunchy. Hermit crabs love try different foods. In fact a study found that they prefer to have a different food each time they eat. Of course, this isn't always possible, but you should offer your crab a variety of foods. Some other foods your crab should enjoy are:

• Fruit, especially tropical fruits such as the crabs would find in their native habitat: mangoes, coconuts and papayas. Just be careful they don't get a hold of any fruit "pits."

• Vegetables of all kinds

• Meat. Make sure it is well-cooked and that there is no sauce, butter, or seasoning of any kind on the meat as it will most likely cause problems. You can also feed raw meat if you want. In particular, hermit crabs like to pick meat off of bones. They also enjoy steamed shrimp tails and any sort of dead crustacean. Yes, they are cannibals, it is a studied and proven fact. It is recommended that meat be put into the crabitat at night and removed in the morning to discourage flies and other, unwanted scavengers from visiting the crabitat.

• Nuts, applesauce, raisins, trail mix(make sure it does not contain salt as it will poison them), peanut butter(again no salt), honey, cooked egg, cereal, crackers, washed grass(only feed pestacide free), and popcorn(no salt or butter. You can use EVOO or extra virgin olive oil as butter and sprinkle with salt with aquarium salt such as Instant Ocean or Oceanic if you would like) are some of the miscellaneous favorites people have reported their crabs enjoying. If you feed eggs place them in the crabitat at night and remove in the morning as they will start to smell if left in longer. Eggshell can be left in for a couple of days though especially if it is mixed with oatmeal or another food.

• Dairy foods may be given to the crabs in small amounts and not too often.