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Hermit Crab Food Shopping

One of the things that trips up new hermit crab owners a lot is food! Pet stores & hermit crab shops often sell pelleted hermit crab food. These pellets are NOT good - they often have dangerous ingredients in them, and hermit crabs need a varied diet as they do not typically eat the same food every day. Their diet also needs to cover all of the necessary food groups and that can be overwhelming & confusing to new owners. (For more specifics on what constitutes a balanced, healthy diet for hermit crabs, see this post: http://fantasticbeastsandhowtokeepthem.tumblr.com/post/163525731439/hermit-crab-nutrition)

Since a lot of people don't realize how many things crabs can eat (omnivorous scavengers!) or where to find safe foods, I decided to compile a list of various locations & what kinds of crab foods you can get there. It's not a full list of possible foods, especially with human & wild foods - check the link above for safe food lists that have more ideas. The things I list here are mostly things I've bought or wanted to buy & haven't yet.

*** I may edit this later if I remember more foods! I will reblog if I add things in.***

*** Make sure you check the ingredients list on everything! Avoid things that have added sugar or salt. Here's a list of other additives & preservatives to avoid***

Pet stores  (also various sites that typically sell pet supplies)

- freeze dried meats - chicken, salmon, beef, beef liver, duck liver, duck heart, lamb lung are all ones I've seen (sold as dog/cat treats) - freeze dried shrimp (fish or reptile sections) - freeze dried krill (fish section) - freeze dried bloodworms (fish section) - dried mealworms, crickets, grasshoppers (reptile section, mealworms also often sold as wild bird food) - dried anchovies (found these sold as turtle treats!) - freeze dried veggies (reptile section, sold for bearded dragons) - calcium powder (sold for reptiles, but a pricier calcium option - make sure you get it with NO vitamin D added) - cuttlebone (bird section, good calcium source) - canned insects (mealworms, crickets, grasshoppers, caterpillars, snails, etc.) - frozen fish foods (bloodworms, squid, tubeworms, brine shrimp, mysis shrimp, spirulina, plankton, krill, beef heart, etc.) - frozen pinky mice (reptile food)

Amazon  (some of this stuff can also be bought on other sites, in health food stores, etc. - Amazon is the easiest place for me!)

- earthworm castings (sold as plant fertilizer, a very popular supplement with hermit crabs) - green sand (also sold as fertilizer - a good mineral supplement for crabbies, VERY popular) - bulk cuttlebone (cheaper & doesn't go bad!) - crushed oyster shell (good calcium source; also found at farm stores, sold for chickens) - spirulina (human supplement, double check that you get pure spirulina with no additives; is good to dust over food, nutritious & helps coloring) - astaxanthin (human supplement, double check that you get it pure with no additives - found naturally in foods, so not really necessary, but can be dusted over food & helps coloring) - montmorillonite clay (mineral supplement, but my crabs seem to like green sand better; might still alternate occasionally) - seaweed sheets & salad (human food - also found at health food stores, Asian markets, etc.; double check for salt & other additives) - bonemeal powder (I get the human supplement kind, to be safe - I also make sure there's a pure calcium alternative out alongside it, such as cuttlebone, calcium powder, or oyster shell) - bee pollen (another good supplement & a good healing food for stressed/injured crabbies or other emergency situations)

Etsy Shops https://www.etsy.com/shop/TheHappyHermitSupply (I really like their diet mixes & the large variety pack is totally worth it!) https://www.etsy.com/shop/Crabotanicals (haven't ordered yet, but would really like to) https://www.etsy.com/shop/HermiesKitchen (lots of variety, both mixes & single ingredients, and some more unusual things like snake skin) Unfortunately a few of the other stores I'd bought from or had bookmarked are no longer in business.

Facebook Groups The following two groups have buy/swap/sell groups associated with them that sell food, among other crabby supplies. You do have to be in the main group to join the sell groups. I haven't had a chance to go looking at the sell groups much yet, but I'm pretty sure one or two of the Etsy stores I've bought from are owned by people in one of the groups. https://www.facebook.com/groups/landhermitcrabowners/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/itsacrabthing/

Other Sites http://desertsun.tictail.com/products - had bookmarked; honestly can't remember if I've ordered from them or not! But good variety & ships to both US & Canada http://alaskahermit.com/shop/ - one of my favorite sites to order from!! Have ordered 2-3 times & been very happy every time; good variety, lots of great wild foods - got a lot of my ingredients for flower & leaf mixes from this store https://www.mountainroseherbs.com/catalog/herbs/bulk - the other site I got a lot of ingredients for flower & leaf mixes from; you WILL get a huge amount, but on the plus side...will last your crabs ages. XD Double check safe foods lists while shopping, I had to check & recheck constantly. Also, random note, I got the 4" storage tins from this site to store my foods in & I love them! https://www.joshsfrogs.com/search/category/accents/leaf-litter?q=leaf - haven't ordered yet, but really want to & have seen mentioned in numerous groups as a good site; leaf litter, safe woods, moss, etc.; also isopods & springtails for cleaner crew, both are safe for hermit crabs http://www.rainbowmealworms.net/ - my favorite site for ordering insects! Mealworms, crickets, superworms, dubia roaches, hornworms, earthworms, maggots, waxworms, phoenix worms. ***Freeze insects before offering to crabs! Not safe to have them live & loose in the tank.***

Human Food (grocery stores, health food stores, and Amazon) - freeze dried fruit (double check ingredients for added sugar) - fresh/frozen fruit, veggies (check safe food lists first) - raw or plain cooked meat (beef, chicken, turkey, pork, etc. - NO processed meats & check for added salt/seasonings) - raw/cooked poultry bones (crack them & the crabs will eat the marrow) - eggs & eggshells (easiest to scramble or hardboil eggs before offering; eggshells can be washed & dried/baked first or given raw with goop left inside) - 8-grain cereal (Bob's Red Mill is a great brand & has lots of crabby-safe grains & cereals) - other grains - brown rice, amaranth, quinoa, oats (can offer cooked or uncooked) - seeds - pumpkin, sunflower, chia, hemp, millet, flax, sesame (raw preferred, make sure not salted) - oils - flaxseed, olive, fish, coconut (one of my safe food lists includes cod liver oil, but I would avoid this - it's very high in Vitamin A, which can be overdosed in mammals, at least, due to be fat-soluble) - nuts - almonds, cashews, walnuts, chestnuts, macadamia, pecans

Wild Food

- large variety of safe leaves, fruits, & woods - buy online (eBay, Etsy shops & sites listed above) - gather yourself (only gather from safe areas - away from vehicle traffic & pesticides; good idea to freeze or bake at low temperature to avoid introducing pest insects to tank; check the safe lists & make sure you can accurately identify plants)

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