What Do Hermit Crabs Eat

Countless people out there pick hermit crabs as pets and then feel that they really should try to feed these crabs primarily the food that they can discover at the pet store. While feeding a hermit crab store bought foods is not unhealthy to them, there are countless other things that you can feed your cool new pet and still have them live a long and healthy and balanced life. This site will cover what hermit crabs enjoy in the wild, the very best diet for a crab, along with the wide variety of everyday foods they can be provided with. Read on if you’ve ever asked yourself what do hermit crabs eat.

We are still not sure precisely what a hermit crabs nutritional needs are in order to stay healthy, but throughout the years we’ve learned a lot about what to feed them. Hermit crabs have to have lots of calcium in their diet because of the fact that they have an exoskeleton, meaning that they lose their hard shell when they have grown. To be able regrow a strong shell, hermit crabs need lots of calcium as it is what they use to calcify their exterior. Hermit crabs get this calcium in the wild by consuming small bits of rock or bones they find on the coastline.

It’s also vital that your pet crab has an abundance of carotene and antioxidants. These will help make sure that your crab maintains a healthy orangeish-red color. If you discover that your hermit crab has molted and does not seem to be getting his color back, he may have a deficiency. You can give your crab stuff like corn, carrots, or even pesticide free marigold petals to help them get these vital substances.

Besides just making sure your crab gets the correct amount of vitamins, it’s also quite important that you feed them the types of foods that they would eat in the wild. Hermit crabs are scavengers, which signifies they eat whatever they can get a hold of laying around in their tide pool, on the shore, or the edges of the tree line. This can involve things like dead fish, nuts, seeds, coconuts, grass, meat, fresh fruit and greens. A great general guideline for feeding your hermit crab is to only feed it healthy things that you mum would have fed you, or the doctor would tell you to eat more of.

Hermit crabs want crunchy food so make sure that you are offering them fresh fruits and vegetables, not outdated food that has dried out or canned food. It’s also very important to make sure that the food you give to your crabby is free of any nasty chemicals or pesticides or herbicides as these can make your pet very sick. Many individuals will buy only organic fruits and vegetables to feed their crab, or they will give them fish that they have caught themselves earlier that day.

You are able to give your hermit crabs goodies when they have been good, or when you are just attempting to give them an everyday treat. If you are hoping to treat your hermit crab they love bits of dried coconut, as this is a elusive treat on their island homes. You can also allow them things like brine shrimp (sea monkeys), sea weed, escargot (snails), pretzels, pineapple, and fish flakes.

If you keep to the above stipulations when making a choice on food for your pet hermit crab you’ll allow them to live as long as possible. Numerous people do not realize that when raised appropriately, hermit crabs can live to be as old as 20 years and mature to be very big!