To have healthy, happy hermies, you must give them a adequate diet. There are lots of commercial foods out there marketed for hermies, but most just dont have everything they need, and some actually have ingredients that are believed to be dangerous for our little friends.

It is believed that the preservatives copper sulfate and ethoxyquin can cause molting deformities. Im sure that there are a few more, but these two are the most notable ones. The administration that governs the pet food industry does not have a rule that these must be listed in the ingredients. Most are but some do not. The only one I am sure does not contain it is Crab Island Hermit Crab Food. The Fruit and Flower made by the same company includes copper sulfate. If you are going to feed your crabbies commercial foods, please do your research and make sure it is safe for them. Giving them the foods once in a while as a treat should not affect them, but everyday use could so please be careful.

The best foods to feed your crabbies are foods found in your home already. There are a variety of meats, fruits, veggies, and other things that can be fed safely. To find a list of safe/unsafe food, please visit the sister site http://www.epicureanhermit.com. Of course the best kind of foods to feed them are organic foods. Hermit crabs are affected by the same things insects are, so you dont want them eating anything that has been exposed to pesticides. Hermies like a lot of different trees, but same thing, stay away from any kind of evergreen tree or pine as they contain a natural pesticide that can kill your crabbies should the crabbies eat them. I believe to a certain extent that crabbies know instinctively what is dangerous to them, but that doesnt mean that in a controlled environment they will trust those instincts or whether just exposure to these things could hurt them, regardless of whether they eat them or not.

Hermies also need a decent amount of protein. It keeps tank aggression down and also keeps other crabbies away from molters if you have your molts in the main tank as I do. If they have plenty of protein in their diet, they wont go looking elsewhere for it. Foods high in beta carotene such as carrots, sweet potatoes, watercress, and mangoes are good for color. The staws especially need this to keep their vibrant red, but the other crabbies need it as well.

The picture posted above contains one of my hermies nightly meals(my hubby says they eat better than him, lol). That night they had white fish, tomatoes, broccolli, bananna, pineapple and shredded organic coconut sprinkled with sprirulina.

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