Hermit crabs may fight to the death in pursuit of a shell. And, as they grow, they must seek out new shells in which to live. To see them scuttling around, visit a Puget Sound tide pool at night during a low tide—be sure to bring a flashlight! You can also see hermit crabs at the Seattle Aquarium, in our Life on the Edge exhibit. Tide pools are found on rocky beaches in the strip of land between high and low tide, called the intertidal zone.
These sedentary creatures lock onto or into objects and animals and include more than 1, species. Asset 8. Hermit Crabs. Pelleted foods can be fed once a day, and should be crushed especially for smaller crabs. They can also be moistened if desired.
While the commercial diets are convenient and most are quite well balanced, they should be supplemented with fresh foods.
Hermit crabs seem particularly fond of having a varied diet. A wide variety of foods from the list below should be offered on a rotating basis a few each day, then a handful of others the next, and so on. Fresh foods and treats you can try include. This list is not exhaustive as other similar foods can be fed as well.
Pretty much any fruit fresh or dried can be offered, although some experts recommend avoiding highly acidic or citrus foods e. Try a variety of vegetables but avoid starchy vegetables such as potatoes and stay away from iceberg lettuce as it is of very low nutritional value.
Crabs may really like salty, fatty, or sugary snacks such as pretzels, chips, and sweetened cereal but these should be avoided. Also, avoid feeding dairy products. Hermit crabs need a lot of calcium to support the health of their exoskeleton, and this is especially true during molting. Ways to provide ample calcium to your crabs include the following:. All species of hermit crabs should have access to both fresh and salt water.
Fresh water is needed for drinking, and most hermit crabs will also drink salt water some also like to bathe in the salt water so providing a dish of salt water big enough for the crab to get into is a good idea. All tap water must be treated with a dechlorinator drops available at pet stores to remove harmful chlorine and chloramines.
For preparing the salt water, use a product such as Instant Ocean which is designed to imitate natural salt water. The salt designed for fresh water fish for treating illness etc. Never use table salt. Hermit crabs are among the more unusual pets, but they make for interesting, easy care companions.
Hermit crabs are among the more unusual pets, although they do make interesting, easy care companions. They have distinct personalities, are active and curious, and their unique characteristics and low maintenance requirements make them good pets. Hermit crabs are not "true crabs. They must find larger shells as they grow, and owners of these pets must provide progressively larger shells as their pets grow.
In the wild they are omnivores, feeding on both plant and animal material. There are both marine and land hermit crabs. The information below refers to the land hermit crab. In the United States, there are two main species of hermit crabs found as pets: Coenobita clypeatus goes by a variety of names such as Caribbean crab, purple pincher crab, land hermit crab, tree crab, or soldier crab and Coenobita compressus Ecuadorian Crab or E-Crab.
In the wild, land hermit crabs eat a wide variety of foods: fallen fruit, decaying wood, leaf litter, plants and grasses, and items washed ashore by the tide. They are not fussy eaters by nature and have even been observed eating fecal matter. Hermit crabs locate food in two ways, by smelling it and by seeing other crabs eating. Hermit crabs require calcium, carotene and antioxidants just like people do.
A crab whose diet is carotene-deficient will fade in color after molting, from a nice reddish or orange color to a washed-out tan or gray. To make sure your crabs get adequate carotene, supplement their diet with brightly-colored vegetables, like corn and carrots. You can also add ground dried organic marigold petals to your crabs' food.
You should be absolutely certain that the marigolds were grown without pesticides before adding them to crab food. For example, the small plastic containers of marigolds that you find at the local greenhouse are probably treated with pesticides and therefore unsuitable for crab food.
The best diet for a land hermit crab is basically what you feed yourself with the exclusion of highly-processed foods and sugary snacks. Land hermit crabs are omnivorous and therefore eat just about anything. You can feed them meat, fish, vegetables and even citrus fruit. 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 water do not use any soap and allowed to dry completely -- crabs like their leaves crunchy.
If you provide your hermit crab with a varied diet of "human grade" food, it should not be necessary to feed them commercial crab food.
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