Hermit crabs are well-known scavengers, but that doesn't mean that just anything will keep them healthy. Hermit crabs have specific dietary needs and feeding them scraps or crumbs will generally not give them the oils, vitamins and nutrients they need.
Commercial Hermit Crab Food
Most commercial hermit crab foods are a good balance of nutrients for hermit crab pets. They generally have the minerals, protein and vitamins that are important for hermit crab pets. Problems often arise, however, when owners feed them too much of their food. Because it has a high oil content, many types of hermit crab food are susceptible to mold growth.
Extra food can also be a problem when a hermit crab's urine and feces become mixed up in the leftover food in the cage. This can hasten mold as well as make the food unappealing to the crab. Excess hermit crab food can cause an oily build-up in the crab's water that can make the water supply dirty and can attract mildew to the water dish or water sponge.
Homemade Hermit Crab Food
Hermit crabs like a varied diet, but they don't generally like processed foods. When making a homemade hermit crab food, use natural ingredients like fruit, vegetables and meat. Small bites of vegetables like carrots are a good supplement to commercial foods, or a variety of whole foods can be fed to them in small quantities.
Hermit crabs food should have a variety of vitamins and minerals, but two of the most important are beta carotene and calcium. Hermit crabs need calcium when they are molting and after their molt in order to build a new exoskeleton. Cuttlebones, like the ones often given to birds, are perfect for a high dose of calcium. Hermit crabs also love dried krill and plankton, which are the basis of most commercial hermit crab foods.
Hermit Crab Food Supplements
In addition to a commercial food, there are vitamin supplements that can be a good, occasional addition of vitamins to a hermit crab's diet. It is generally not necessary to feed these supplements to a hermit crab each day. It is often better to supplement a commercial diet with a few natural items to add variety to the crab's diet.
Hermit Crab Water
Like aquarium fish, hermit crab pets need un-chlorinated water. The same dechlorinators can be used for hermit crab water as are used for aquarium water. There are also dechlorinators that are marketed specifically for hermit crab water. Both types work by adding a few drops of the dechlorinator to water and allowing it to sit for a few minutes before it is served to the hermit crabs.
To both give hermit crabs water to drink and to give the crabs the high humidity they need, adding two or more large, natural sponges to hermit crab cages will achieve both. If the crabs are small, two large sponges and one smaller sponge for drinking can be helpful.
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