What do hermit crabs eat?
What do hermit crabs eat? It is a common question among those pet owners who are first learning the joys of having a hermit crab. Hermit crabs are wild animals that have been caught and learn to live in captivity easily since they are very versatile eaters with healthy appetites. The good news is that they do not have a tendency to be picky eaters. Still, you have to bear in mind a number of things when feeding them. For instance, did you know that they locate food by either seeing that other crabs are eating something or smelling the food themselves? In fact, to stay healthy, hermit crabs need to eat just like we do if we are maintaining a nutritional diet. Simply put, hermit crabs are omnivores, just like we are. They can eat meats, they can have fish, they can certainly have vegetables, and you can even give them fresh fruit for dessert. Whenever possible, these foods should be organic, or at least unprocessed. Everything needs to be washed thoroughly before being served. After that, especially with vegetables and fruits, let the food dry. Hermit crabs also eat foods rich in tannin. This includes oak tree leaves and even bark. These too need to be washed and left to dry.
The hermit crab diet you can buy at the pet store sometimes has extra supplements in it like calcium, antioxidants and carotene. If their diet does not contain enough of these then, after they have gone through the molting process, their color will be faded and they may have problems molting.
Hermit crabs love to try different foods. Hermit crabs will eat a wide variety of foods and it can be fun to experiment to see which your pet crabs like the best. Try fruits and vegetables, tuna fish, peanut butter, crackers or potato chips. Grapes, raisins and popcorn are crab favorites.
The hermit crab diet you can buy at the pet store sometimes has extra supplements in it like calcium, antioxidants and carotene. If their diet does not contain enough of these then, after they have gone through the molting process, their color will be faded and they may have problems molting.
Hermit crabs love to try different foods. Hermit crabs will eat a wide variety of foods and it can be fun to experiment to see which your pet crabs like the best. Try fruits and vegetables, tuna fish, peanut butter, crackers or potato chips. Grapes, raisins and popcorn are crab favorites.
Hermit crab facts
Hermit crabs make fun and interesting pets – in fact, they are probably more interesting than you know! In order to have one of these creatures as a pet, it is absolutely essential that you know a few vital hermit crab facts. Fortunately, this can make for a fun learning experience as well.
So, what does a hermit crab look like? Like other crabs, hermit crabs have no backbone – they are invertebrates. A lot of people do not realize that they can be a whole spectrum of different colors. Typically they are a reddish color, an orange shade, or sort of brown. Many of them also have purple spots and other patterns. Except for the molting period, when they shed their exoskeleton and move from one shell to another, their soft bodies, which are twisted, remain hidden within their shells. They have ten legs with joints and two claws in front.
The shell they are in isn’t theirs – they have borrowed it from a sea snail! When a crab gets too big for its shell, it moves to another one. That’s why your hermit crab pet needs to have another shell in his habitat, in case he needs to move to a bigger home.
There are quite a few interesting hermit crab facts associated with where these creatures are found. Some of them live on the land and some of them live in the sea. With more than five hundred different species, you can understand the variety of types involved here. But most hermit crabs are ocean-based creatures.
During their life cycle, a female hermit crab releases her fertilized eggs into the ocean. Because most crabs reproduce in the ocean, they can not be bred in captivity. Once in the larval stage, the baby hermit crabs grow through the molting process. All hermit crabs molt. The younger ones, because they grow at a faster rate, can molt every few months. Adult hermit crabs tend to molt every eighteen months or so.
Other essential hermit crab facts involve their diets. The good news is that hermit crabs are not picky eaters. In fact, what hermit crabs eat is identical to a healthy human diet: meat, fish, fresh fruits and vegetables. Hermit crabs will eat a wide variety of foods and it can be fun to experiment to see which your pet crabs like the best. Try fruits and vegetables, tuna fish, peanut butter, crackers or potato chips. Grapes, raisins and popcorn are crab favorites.
Some hermit crabs have lived as long as 15 years in captivity! Because they are nocturnal (move around at night) they can be a loud pet to have in your bedroom, so it’s better to keep them in some other room if you have a hermit crab as a pet.
Hermit crabs are not actually ‘Hermits’. They like a crowd and are seen in groups of 100 or more on the beach. Make sure to always have more than one crab if you get them for pets – or you’ll end up with a sad lonely crab.
So, what does a hermit crab look like? Like other crabs, hermit crabs have no backbone – they are invertebrates. A lot of people do not realize that they can be a whole spectrum of different colors. Typically they are a reddish color, an orange shade, or sort of brown. Many of them also have purple spots and other patterns. Except for the molting period, when they shed their exoskeleton and move from one shell to another, their soft bodies, which are twisted, remain hidden within their shells. They have ten legs with joints and two claws in front.
The shell they are in isn’t theirs – they have borrowed it from a sea snail! When a crab gets too big for its shell, it moves to another one. That’s why your hermit crab pet needs to have another shell in his habitat, in case he needs to move to a bigger home.
There are quite a few interesting hermit crab facts associated with where these creatures are found. Some of them live on the land and some of them live in the sea. With more than five hundred different species, you can understand the variety of types involved here. But most hermit crabs are ocean-based creatures.
During their life cycle, a female hermit crab releases her fertilized eggs into the ocean. Because most crabs reproduce in the ocean, they can not be bred in captivity. Once in the larval stage, the baby hermit crabs grow through the molting process. All hermit crabs molt. The younger ones, because they grow at a faster rate, can molt every few months. Adult hermit crabs tend to molt every eighteen months or so.
Other essential hermit crab facts involve their diets. The good news is that hermit crabs are not picky eaters. In fact, what hermit crabs eat is identical to a healthy human diet: meat, fish, fresh fruits and vegetables. Hermit crabs will eat a wide variety of foods and it can be fun to experiment to see which your pet crabs like the best. Try fruits and vegetables, tuna fish, peanut butter, crackers or potato chips. Grapes, raisins and popcorn are crab favorites.
Some hermit crabs have lived as long as 15 years in captivity! Because they are nocturnal (move around at night) they can be a loud pet to have in your bedroom, so it’s better to keep them in some other room if you have a hermit crab as a pet.
Hermit crabs are not actually ‘Hermits’. They like a crowd and are seen in groups of 100 or more on the beach. Make sure to always have more than one crab if you get them for pets – or you’ll end up with a sad lonely crab.
