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Safe Foods By Category

Variety is the key to healthy hermit crab diet, something which often preservative riddled pelleted foods cannot give. Here we have listed by category a vast range of safe foods to help inspire keepers to expand their crab's diets.​ As with all foods, use pesticide and chemical free sources and avoid unnatural additives. Always observe proper hygiene precautions when preparing food or dealin with the crabs.

Feel free to share the link with others or to print off a copy for yourself, not to be used elsewhere or copied without permission. 
This list will be updated regularly. - Last update 10/08/2014

Fruit and Berries

 

  • Apple

  • Apricot

  • Avocado (not skins)

  • Banana

  • Blackberry

  • Blackcurrant

  • Blueberry

  • Currant

  • Cherry

  • Chili

  • Coconut

  • Damson

  • Dates

  • Dragonfruit

  • Elderberry

  • Fig

  • Goji Berry

  • Gooseberry

  • Grape

  • Kiwi

  • Lychee (Stone is highly toxic)

  • Mango

  • Melon

  • Olive

  • Papaya

  • Peach

  • Pepper

  • Pear

  • Plum

  • Pineapple

  • Pomegranate

  • Raisins

  • Raspberry

  • Redcurrant

  • Strawberry

  • Sultanas

  • Tomato

Plants and Sprouts 

Always ensure are chemical free and do not harvest from protected areas/plants

 

  • Acer, leaf, seed, bark and twig

  • Acorn, crushed

  • Alfalfa sprouts

  • Apple, wood and leaves

  • Bamboo (NOT lucky bamboo) whole plant

  • Bean, whole plant

  • Beech leaves and bark

  • Beetroot, whole plant

  • Birch, bark, seeds and leaves

  • Bittercress (weed)

  • Blackberry (bramble) leaf, fruit

  • Blueberry, flower, leaf and twig

  • Buddleia, flower and leaf

  • Calendula flower

  • Catappa leaves

  • Camellia, flower

  • Carnation, flower only

  • Carrot greens

  • Celery, leaf

  • Chamomile flower

  • Chestnut, nut, leaves, bark and pollen stem

  • Chia sprouts

  • Chickweed

  • Cholla (cactus) wood

  • Clover,whole plant

  • Comfry, flower

  • Corn, leaves, stem and cob

  • Cornflower, whole plant

  • Courgette, flower and vegetable

  • Daisies

  • Dandelion, whole plant

  • Dead nettle

  • Ferns

  • Fuchsia, flower

  • Grape, leaf and vine

  • Hazel, leaf and twig

  • Honeysuckle flower

  • Hollyhock, flower

  • Hibiscus, flower and leaf

  • Jasmine, flower

  • Lilac, flowers

  • Maple, leaf, bark and twig

  • Melon leaf

  • Mint, whole plant

  • Millet, sprout

  • Moss

  • Nettle (blanched or dried)

  • Oak, leaf, bark and twig

  • Pansy, whole plant

  • Parsnip Greens

  • Pea, leaves, flowers, sprouts

  • Peony, flower

  • Pinecone

  • Raspberry, leaf

  • Reed

  • Ribwort plantain, leaf

  • Rose, flower, leaf and stem

  • Seaweed

  • Sow thistle

  • Sphagnum moss

  • Spider plants

  • Strawberry leaves

  • Sunflower, petals, sprouts, leaves, seeds

  • Timothy Grass

  • Turnip Greens

  • Viola, whole plant

Vegetables

 

  • Acorn squash

  • Aduki bean

  • Artichoke

  • Asparagus

  • Aubergine

  • Beans 

  • Beetroot

  • Broad Bean

  • Broccoli

  • Brussel sprouts

  • Butternut squash

  • Button Mushroom

  • Cabbage

  • Carrot

  • Cauliflower

  • Chard

  • Chestnut Mushroom

  • Collard Greens

  • Corn (cob, separate and baby)

  • Courgette

  • Cucumber

  • French beans

  • Green beans

  • Hot peppers

  • Kale

  • Lettuce

  • Lentils

  • Mangetout

  • Mushroom (human edible)

  • New potato

  • Oyster mushroom

  • Parsnip

  • Peas

  • Pepper (Sweet and hot)

  • Potato

  • Pumpkin

  • Radish

  • Rocket

  • Runner beans

  • Soy beans

  • Spinach

  • Spring greens

  • Squash

  • Swede

  • Sweetcorn

  • Sweet pepper

  • Sweet potato

  • Turnip

  • Watercress

  • Water chestnut

Animal Proteins

Avoid feeding live prey

 

  • Anchovy (no preservatives, added salt etc)

  • Ants (dried and dried eggs)

  • Bass

  • Beef

  • Bloodworm

  • Bone marrow

  • Brine shrimp

  • Buffalo

  • Carp

  • Chicken (meat and bones, whole frozen reptile food chicks)

  • Clams

  • Cockle

  • Cockroaches (prekilled or dried)

  • Cod

  • Crab (meat and exo)

  • Crayfish

  • Crickets (prekilled or dried)

  • Crocodile

  • Cuttlefish (meat and bone)

  • Daphnia

  • Deer

  • Duck

  • Earthworm (prekill or dried)

  • Eel

  • Egg

  • Escargot (unseasoned)

  • Flounder

  • Haddok

  • Herring

  • Isopods (woodlice)

  • Krill (pacifica and superba)

  • Lamb

  • Lobster (meat and exo)

  • Locusts (prekilled or dried)

  • Mackrel

  • Maggots (prekill or dried)

  • Mealworms (dried or prekill)

  • Mice (sold frozen for reptile food)

  • Mussels

  • Octopus

  • Oysters

  • Pheasant

  • Pigeon

  • Pork

  • Quail

  • Rabbit

  • Ray

  • Reptile and raptor frozen prey (mice and rats etc)

  • Salmon

  • Sardines (no preservatives, added salt etc)

  • Scallop

  • Shrimp

  • Silkworm pupae

  • Skate

  • "Slug" eggs (unfertilised eggs from reptiles etc)

  • Snails (prekill or dried)

  • Snail Eggs (frozen and defrosted)

  • Snake (non venemous dead in the egg hatchlings)

  • Squid

  • Starfish

  • Trout

  • Tuna

  • Tubifex worm

  • Venison

  • Waxworms

  • Woodlice

  • Worm (prekill or dried)

  • Whelk

Other Beach and Ocean Foods

Always avoid polluted areas.

  • Barnacles

  • Coral

  • Crab Carapace

  • Cuttlebone

  • Egg Cases (whelk, dogfish etc)

  • Pinecones

  • Seaweed

  • Sea Urchin Shells

  • Shells

  • Spirulinia

  • Sponge (NOT for use in water dishes)

Nuts, Grains and Seeds

 

  • Almond nut

  • Amaranth

  • Brazil nut

  • Bulgar wheat

  • Carrot seed

  • Cashew

  • Chestnuts

  • Chia seed

  • Chufa (Ground nuts/tiger nuts)

  • Clover seeds

  • Dari

  • Flax seed (linseed)

  • Hemp seed

  • Meadow seeds

  • Millet

  • Oats

  • Peanuts

  • Pecan nut

  • Pumpkin seed

  • Quinoa

  • Rice (wild)

  • Sesame seed

  • Sunflower seed

  • Walnut

Other Foods

​

  • Bee pollen

  • Blackstrap Molasses (occasional treat)

  • Earthworm castings

  • Honey (100% natural no corn syrup, small blobs or mixed with food)

  • Leaf litter

  • Oils (all natural safe such as coconut, cod liver, flax, salmon, light drizzle over food)

  • Peanut butter (no added salt or sugar, 100% peanuts)

  • Popcorn (natural ingredients only, no salt or sugar etc)

  • Snake Shed Skin

Calcium

  • Barnacles

  • Bones, (marrow and meat ones)

  • Coral

  • Cuttlefish bone

  • Crab exoskeleton

  • Eggshell

  • Limestone flour

  • Nutrobal (reptile supplement)

  • Oyster shell grit

  • Shells (crushed or whole will be picked at)

Wood and Bark

Always avoid polluted areas.

  • Acer 

  • Apple

  • Ash

  • Bamboo (NOT "lucky bamboo")

  • Beech

  • Birch

  • Blueberry

  • Bogwood

  • Chestnut (sweet)

  • Cholla (cactus) wood

  • Cork Bark

  • Crabapple

  • Elm

  • Grape Vine

  • Hazel

  • Liana vine

  • Mangrove

  • Maple

  • Mopani

  • Oak

  • Pear

  • Rose

  • Sycamore

Oils

​For occasional light addition to the diet. Opt for pure oils and use cold pressed where possible.

  • Almond

  • Chilli

  • Coconut

  • Cod Liver

  • Corn

  • Fish

  • Flax (linseed)

  • Grapeseed

  • Ground nut

  • Hemp

  • Olive

  • Palm

  • Peanut

  • Salmon

  • Sesame

  • Sunflower

  • Walnut

Animal Waste Suggestions

​Land hermit crabs naturally eat animal waste and while unsavoury to us it is beneficial for them. ALWAYS ensure the animal has not been medicated in any recent length of time and has a crab safe diet.

                    *Observe proper hygiene precautions!*

  • Beetle (fruit)

  • Cow

  • Giant african land snail (captive bred)

  • Horse

  • Lizards (captive) 

  • Millipede

  • Rodent (captive not wild)

  • Sheep

  • Worm castings

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