What can my hermit crab eat?

For a full list and very extensive collection of foods complete with photos visit Hermit Crab Cuisine

  • shrimp
  • sardines
  • turkey
  • chicken
  • salmon
  • fish flakes
  • spirulina
  • oatmeal
  • granola
  • nuts (almonds, pecans, walnuts, pistachios, peanuts, cashews)
  • peanut butter
  • wood
  • leaves
  • scrambled eggs
  • organic baby food
  • freeze dried shrimp
  • naturally dried red seaweed algea
  • chickpeas (a.k.a. garbanzo beans)
  • kidney beans
  • dulse (seaweed)
  • alaria (seaweed)
  • baby corn
  • snowpeas
  • hamburger
  • coconut
  • papaya
  • strawberry
  • banana
  • apple sauce
  • hot dogs (Beef)
  • dried brine shrimp
  • grapes
  • pears
  • apples
  • tuna
  • mango
  • pineapple
  • saltine crackers (With little or no salt)
  • red cabbage
  • celery
  • carrots
  • dried apricot
  • pomegranate
  • plantains
  • cereal (low sugar and salt)
  • raisins
  • parsley sprouts
  • clover sprouts
  • blueberries
  • watermelon
  • whole wheat bread
  • nectarines
  • peaches
  • popcorn (plain no salt or butter)
  • dead drickets
  • tropical fish
  • pork
  • cucumber
  • kiwi
  • unsalted potato chips
  • rice (white, cooked)
  • wakame (seaweed, reconstituted)
  • nori
  • calcisand
  • dates
  • boiled egg shells
  • cantaloupe
  • eggplant
  • green beans
  • corn on the cob
  • crushed dog kibble
  • oyster crackers
  • algae wafers
  • krill
  • Dairy foods are not longer considered unsafe

Organic Foods

  • Alfalfa
  • Almonds, crushed
  • Amaranth (Ancient grain – calcium)
  • Apple and natural, unsweetened apple sauce
  • Banana
  • Barley(calcium)
  • Bell peppers (red, yellow, orange, green or purple)
  • Bilberries/Huckleberries
  • Blackberry leaves
  • Blackberry
  • Blueberries
  • Broccoli and leaves
  • Brown rice, soy, wheat or 7 grain cereal
  • Brown rice
  • Canteloupe
  • Carnation flowers
  • Carrots (carotenoids)
  • Carrot tops (vit. E)
  • Cauliflower and leaves
  • Chamomile flowers
  • Chard
  • Cherry
  • Chicken bones
  • Chicken, cooked and unseasoned
  • Cholla wood (chitin)
  • Cilantro
  • Clover blossoms and leaves
  • Coconut
  • Cod liver oil
  • Collards (calcium)
  • Cooked eggs
  • Cork bark
  • Corn (on the cob, too)
  • Cornmeal
  • Cucumber
  • Cuttlefish bone, powdered
  • Dandelion flowers, leaves and roots
  • Eggshells
  • Extra-virgin olive oil
  • Fish flakes w/out chemical preservatives
  • Flax seeds (crushed)
  • Frozen fish food (esp. algae and brine shrimp)
  • Garbanzos (calcium)
  • Grape Leaf
  • Grapevine (vines and root)
  • Green and red leaf lettuce (not iceburg; dark green)
  • Green Beans
  • Hempseed Meal
  • Hibiscus flowers
  • Hikari products: brine shrimp, krill, crab cuisine, sea plankton (no
  • preservatives)
  • Honey (organic, or at least locally produced, for anti-microbials)
  • Jasmine flowers
  • Kelp (calcium)
  • Lobster with crushed exoskeleton
  • Mango
  • Marigold flowers (though I have reservations, it’s used as pest
  • repellent in organic gardening)
  • Marion Berries
  • Mint (but not peppermint!)
  • Most organic baby foods
  • Mushrooms
  • Nasturtium flowers
  • Oak Leaves
  • Oysters (zinc)
  • Pansy flowers and leaves
  • Papaya
  • Parsley (calcium & vit. C)
  • Peanut butter (avoid sugar, corn syrup and hydrogenated oils)
  • Pears
  • Pecans
  • Pineapple
  • Plain calcium carbonate powder
  • Popcorn (unseasoned, unflavored, unbuttered)
  • Quinoa (New World grain – calcium)
  • Raspberry
  • Red raspberry leaves (highest bioavailable calcium source + vit. C and
  • trace minerals)
  • Rooibus
  • Rose petals
  • Rose hips (high in Vit. C)
  • Salmon
  • Sand dollars
  • Sardines (calcium)
  • Sea salt
  • Sea grasses
  • Sea Sponges (chitin and calcium)
  • Sea fan (red or black – chitin)
  • Sea biscuits
  • Sesame seeds (crushed)
  • Shrimp and exoskeletons
  • Spinach
  • Spirulina (complete protein and chlorophyll source)
  • Sprouts (flax, wheat, bean, alfalfa, etc.)
  • Squash
  • Strawberry
  • Sunflower Seeds (crushed)
  • Sweet potato
  • Tuna (zinc)
  • Turnip greens (calcium)
  • Violet flowers
  • Walnuts
  • Watercress (vit. A)
  • Watermelon
  • Wheat grass (magnesium)
  • Wheat (calcium)
  • Wheat germ (B vitamins)
  • Whitefish
  • Zucchini

*Foods to AVOID

  • Bindweed
  • Catnip
  • Cinnamon
  • Garlic
  • Geranium
  • Hemlock
  • Holly berries
  • Juniper Berries
  • Lavender
  • Lemon Balm (Sweet Melissa)
  • Lemon Grass
  • Mistletoe
  • Morning glory
  • Ornamental tobacco (tobacco in general)
  • Peppermint
  • Pine or cedar wood and needles
  • Rosemary
  • Verbena
  • Vinca
  • Foods high in salt
  • Treated with chemicals
  • Treated with preservatives
  • *this list is courtesy of The All-Natural Hermit Crab Sourcebook please pick up a copy for more details.

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