Bringing home a hermit crab from the beach can be an exciting and educational experience for kids Hermit crabs make great low-maintenance pets However, caring for a beach-found hermit crab does require learning what to feed them. Their diet has some specific needs.
In this article, we’ll cover everything you need to know about feeding a hermit crab taken from its natural habitat. Follow these feeding tips, and your new pet will stay happy and healthy.
Getting Started with a New Hermit Crab
After collecting a hermit crab, the first thing you’ll need to do is set up proper housing. Hermit crabs require:
- A secure, well-ventilated terrarium or tank
- 3-5 inches of proper substrate, like coconut fiber
- A fresh and saltwater dish big enough to submerge in
- Housing temperature between 70-80°F
- High humidity around 75-85%
Providing the right environment is key to your crab’s health Never use a wire cage, aquarium gravel, or plain water And avoid keeping multiple crabs together at first.
Once comfortable housing is set up, you can determine an appropriate feeding routine.
What Do Hermit Crabs Eat in the Wild?
Hermit crabs are omnivorous scavengers by nature. In their ocean habitat, they eat:
- Decaying plants and animals
- Algae
- Fungi
- Small invertebrates
- Anything else they discover
This varied diet provides the nutrition a hermit crab needs. They love high-protein foods in particular.
When foraging, hermit crabs use their pinchers to bring food to their mouths. They don’t have teeth to chew, so ingesting smaller foods is best.
Essential Nutrition for Pet Hermit Crabs
Even in captivity hermit crabs require a diverse diet. Here are the key nutrients they need
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Protein – for tissue growth and repair. Insects, fish, shrimp, worms, and plankton provide protein.
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Fiber – supports digestion and substrate grazing. Offer vegetables high in fiber.
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Calcium – needed for proper shell growth. Cuttlebone is an excellent calcium source.
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Fruits and Vegetables – provide vitamins and minerals. Variety is important.
Without proper nutrition, pet hermit crabs will eventually weaken and die. Feeding a mix of proteins, fruits/veggies, and other supplements is vital.
Best Foods for Pet Hermit Crabs
Here are great options for feeding your new hermit crab:
High-Quality Proteins
- Cooked unseasoned meats – beef, chicken, turkey, fish
- Hard boiled eggs
- Live mealworms and crickets
- Unsalted nuts like almonds and walnuts
- Dry cat or dog food
Fruits and Vegetables
- Squash, zucchini, cucumber, sweet potato
- Papaya, mango, pineapple, berries
- Peas, broccoli, carrots, spinach
- Apple, banana, grapes (seedless)
Supplemental Foods
- Cuttlebone
- Coconut
- Unsweetened cereals
- Crackers with no salt
- Plain popcorn or rice cakes
- Dried seaweed nori
- Brine shrimp
- Fish food flakes
Avoid citrus, dairy, salty foods, greens high in oxalates, and any sugary foods. Introduce new foods slowly and watch for signs of an allergic reaction.
Feeding Techniques and Schedules
- Scatter foods across the tank substrate to encourage foraging.
- Provide a shallow dish of fresh water changed daily.
- Feed younger crabs daily, older crabs can eat every other day.
- Remove uneaten food within 24 hours.
- Try offering foods at different times until you find their feeding preferences.
- Give foods in a variety of textures – powdered, shredded, chopped, or whole.
Monitor your crab’s appetite and droppings to assess if they are eating enough. Healthy crabs will be active foragers.
Foods to Avoid for Hermit Crab Health
Some foods are unsuitable for hermit crabs and can make them ill. Do not offer pet hermit crabs:
- Anything moldy or rotten
- Citrus fruits, grapes, onion, garlic
- Chocolate, candy, junk food
- Dairy products
- Fatty meats or bone-in meats
- Highly seasoned foods
- Saltwater animals like starfish
If unsure about a new food, research thoroughly or avoid giving it. When in doubt, stick to the known safe foods listed above.
Providing a Varied Hermit Crab Diet
The key is providing your hermit crab a varied, nutrient-dense diet. Rotate through different fresh foods, incorporate high-quality proteins, and include supplements as needed.
With proper nutrition, your beach-found hermit crab can live happily for over a decade. Just be sure to closely follow safe feeding guidelines. And give your crab time to adjust to captivity before introducing too many new foods.
If you have any other questions on feeding pet hermit crabs, don’t hesitate to ask! I hope these tips help you keep your new friend healthy and satisfied.
Where hermit crab addicts go! Primary Navigation Menu
Hermit Crabs are beach scavengers and they can and will eat a wide range of things. General rules:
Avoid chemicals, pesticides, table salt, moldy foods, plants that are toxic to animals.
Our hermit crab nutritional food chart can be downloaded as a PDF. It shows what foods hermit crabs need to stay healthy.
Written by Kerie Campbell
Fresh Fruits or Wrinkly Fruits? I’ve read that they eat a lot of fresh fruits, which I also do. But I’ve read a lot about people putting in fruits that are old and wrinkling up. Is one better than the other?.
Answer from Kerie on March 4, 2005, 7:52 a.m. The crabs like it fresh and wrinkly. Mine also like stuff that’s gone mushy from being thawed after freezing. Alternating fresh and older fruit is a good way to vary their diet. As the fruit ages, the sugars and other chemicals in it, such as terpenoids, tend to change and break down, giving the fruit new tastes. If it’s citrus fruit, though, you should always let it sit until it is wrinkly. The peels contain substances like limonene that act as insect repellents. The fruit peel loses limonene quickly as it ages, so making it wrinkled makes it more appealing to crabs. Crabs can get a lot of health benefits from the pith and stringy parts of citrus fruits, like beta carotene. Because of this, crabs should be given citrus fruits on occasion to help them eat well.
What foods are good for hermit crabs?
Apple and natural, unsweetened apple sauce Apricot (no pit) Asparagus Avocado (no skin or pit) Banana Barley (calcium) Bell peppers (red, yellow, orange, green, or purple) Bee pollen Blackberry leaves Blackberry Bladderwrack Blueberries Bone Meal (no additives or preservatives, sold as a supplement for people) Broccoli and leaves Brown rice, soy, wheat, or 7 grain cereal Canteloupe Carnation flowers Carrots (carotenoids) Carrot tops Chicken bones that have been cooked and not seasoned (smash the bone to get to the marrow) Cholla wood Cilantro Clams Clover blossoms and leaves Coconut and coconut oil Cod liver oil Collards (calcium) Cooked eggs Cork bark Corn (also on the cob) Cornflower Cornmeal Cranberries (dehydrated) Cucumber Currants Cuttlefish bone, powdered Dandelion flowers, leaves, and roots Dates Dragonfruit Egg Eggshells Fish Oil Flax seeds (crushed) Flax seed oil (small amounts, rarely) Frozen fish food (esp. algae, krill and brine shrimp) Garbanzos (calcium) Grape Leaf Grapes Grapevine (vines and root) Green and red leaf lettuce (not iceburg; dark green) Green Beans Greensand Hempseed Hibiscus flowers Hikari products: brine shrimp, krill, crab cuisine, sea plankton (ONLY SAFE if no preservatives, ethoxyquin (fish meal), copper sulfate are present) Hollyhock flowers Honeydew Melon Huckleberries/Bilberries Irish Moss Impatiens flowers Jasmine flowers Kale Kelp (calcium) Kiwi Lobster with crushed exoskeleton Mango Marigold flowers (calendula) Marion Berries Mint (but not peppermint!) Most organic baby foods Mulberry (fruit, leaves, wood) Mushrooms Mussels Nasturtium flowers Nettle (wilted) Oak Leaves and bark Olive and olive oil (extra virgin) Oranges Oysters (zinc) and Oyster shell (whole or crushed and buffed, no sharp edges) Pansy flowers and leaves Papaya Parsley (calcium C) Passionfruit Peaches Peanut butter (avoid sugar, corn syrup, and hydrogenated oils)—feed in VERY small drops in a very small dish so that it doesn’t spread on the body, in the shell, etc. Pears Pecans Pecan bark Petunias Pineapple Plain calcium carbonate powder Popcorn (unseasoned, unflavored, unbuttered) Potato (no green parts, including eyes) Quinoa (New World grain – calcium) Raisins (no sulfur dioxide) Raspberry Red raspberry leaves (highest bioavailable calcium source vitamin C and trace minerals) Rolled Oats Rooibus Rose petals Rose hips (high in Vit. C) Royal Jelly Salmon Sand dollars Sardines (great source of calcium) Scallops Sea biscuits Sea fan (red or black) Sea grasses Sea salt Sea Sponges Sesame seeds (crushed) Shrimp and exoskeletons Spinach Spirulina (highest source of protein and chlorophyll) Sprouts (flax, wheat, bean, alfalfa, etc.) Strawberry tops and squash seeds Sunflower seeds (crushed), flowers, and leaves Swamp cypress wood (false cypress, taxodium sp. Orange, tomato, tangerine, and tuna (zinc) Turnip greens, violet flowers, and walnuts (no wood, bark, or leaves) were some of the foods that were on the Wasa All-Natural? A) Watermelon Wheat grass (magnesium) Wheat (calcium) Wheat germ (B vitamins) Whitefish Whole Wheat Couscous Worm Castings Zucchini.
Other Herb Flowers: You can eat the tiny flower heads of anise, basil, bee balm, chives, coriander (cilantro), dill, fennel, garlic, oregano, rosemary, and thyme.
Earthworms, Grasshoppers, Harvestmen, Hornworms, Isopods, Katydids, Locusts, Mealworms, Scorpions, Spiders, Super worms, and Waxworms are some of the animals that live in the world.
*Much of this food list comes from Summer Michealson and Stacey Arenella’s book, The All-Natural? Hermit Crab Sourcebook. Julia Crab and others have added to it.
Feeding your Hermit Crabs || Simple Food Prep
How do you feed a hermit crab?
Some people also use natural seashells (the flatter half shells) for feeding. Since all species of hermit crabs should have access to both fresh and salt water, you will need two water dishes.
What do beach hermit crabs eat?
Hermit crabs are caught and then sold as pets. So the beach hermit crabs will have the same dietary requirements as other hermit crabs do. You’ll likely be feeding the crabs pellets or other types of commercial hermit crab food. Then you’ll be giving them veggies and fruits to supplement their diets.
How do you care for a hermit crab?
Use dechlorinated water for freshwater and marine aquarium salt for saltwater. Monitor Feeding Habits: Pay attention to your hermit crab’s feeding habits and adjust their diet accordingly. Some individuals may have preferences for certain foods or require additional supplementation based on their health status.
Where should a hermit crab eat a food dish?
Place the food dish near the hiding spot or the area where they usually come out, as this is where they are most likely to look for food. Ensure your hermit crab has easy access to fresh water by placing the water bowl in a location where it won’t be bumped over easily.