So cool thing happened today (well not really) and I now have four of the smallest hermit crabs I've ever seen. They were surrendered at work and I know a lot about their housing and care, i had a bunch when I was a kid and they had about 8 inches of sand in a 30g with tons of enrichment BUT what foods do you suggest for hermies the size of your pinky fingernail? Ill be makin a post about them soon on my blog but youre the hermie master and I'd love your feeding suggestions!
Hey, sorry I’m a bit late with this! I really wanted to answer at least your ask last night, but just couldn’t manage it.
Poor babies, so small! :( I’m glad they’re safe with you though. I noticed you going through my crab tag last night, I hope that helped some! Let me know if you do need any links to care info or groups, just in case any info has changed since you last had crabbies. Sounds like your old crabs had much better care than a lot of childhood crabs though!
I have to say I haven’t had any that tiny, I wonder how on earth they ended up in pet trade. I’ve only seen pics of them that small from people who have successfully bred & raised babies (and that’s not someone can do casually!).
But from what I’ve read, they can have the same things bigger crabs can have. I would definitely make sure they always have plenty of animal-based proteins & calcium. I would also always keep a mineral supplement available - green sand has been super popular with my crabs since I put it in. Before that I used montmorillonite clay. Earthworm castings are another good supplement to keep in there, lots of good nutrients & crabs love it.
Definitely pay attention to the size & hardness of foods. They should be able to pinch off pieces of soft foods with no problem - cooked & raw meats, eggs, freeze dried meats are usually pretty soft, etc. Freeze dried & regular fruits should be soft enough too. Hard veggies, I would either cook or dry & grind up so it’s easier for them to eat. There are a lot of crab food stores on Etsy, or the Hermit Crab Owners group on Facebook has a swap/shop group as well, and most of those sell various powdered foods & mixes that would be great to offer as well. That will help give you more variety as well, without having to constantly get different foods or be drying/chopping things.
For calcium, make sure it’s also accessible - calcium powder (I make sure to offer the stuff with NO vitamin D, since it can be overdosed & is very high in some supplements), cuttlebone or eggshells are all good options. The last two are soft enough the babies should be able to break it themselves, but you can also grind it up for them to make it easier.
Another very big thing - make sure their pools are safe! Guessing you already know this, but the pools need to be deep enough for them to submerge, but they still need a way to climb out. A lot of people use plastic cross stitch matting, which should be easy enough for the babies to climb.
That’s most of what’s coming to mind now. I’m sorry this was late, but I hope still helpful! Please feel free to ask any other questions if you think of any, and I would love to know how they’re doing! Fingers crossed that they settle in okay with you. ♥
