More Natural Protein Options

As gross as it may be to us in the wild land hermit crabs don't get our neatly processed and packaged meat. They are scavengers, part of nature's cleanup crew, and most certainly will feed on whatever remains they come across. This means a much wider range of nutrition from each meal including extra iron from the liver, calcium from the bones and everything else "gooey"!

Since even supermarket liver is washed and treated one way to provide for this is visiting the local butchers and explain what you want it for. Skin, bones, eyes, ears, hooves, ligaments, feathers, all of this gets thrown away on a regular basis so they should be happy to help you out for a little or even free. Another option which is especially easy for snake keepers is to use the frozen/thawed rats, mice, chicks, quails and other food items sold for reptile and raptor feeding. Smaller options like quail, younger mice and whole sprats could be used in colonies with less individuals or smaller crabs.

 Day old chicks in particular have proven popular in my own tanks, the violas in particular adore them and my 9 strong colony will strip one back to almost nothing in two days. Even the fluffy feathers will go. Looking past the squeamish side this is an absolutely fascinating process to watch and the use of whole food is much more reminiscent of the natural diet they would have had.

First Indo Moult

We have had some fantastic news today, my little one eyed Indo Smartie has successfully finished a moult and now has all of his/her legs fully grown back! The little one still only has one eye but the hope is over the next few moults that too will grow back.

The moulting cave was extremely near the surface (probably due to all the third leg segments being missing) and had been sealed with a shell. The cave actually got uncovered when another Indo moved into the shell and walked off, revealing little Smartie sat with a stash of egg shell that he'd also dragged into the hole to eat! I popped him into a cricket tub with some Calcium Crunch popcorn and crab exo while I quickly changed the water then he was off and pootling around the setup again.

As you can see Indos naturally have very long antenna!

Jumbo Turbo Shells

This late night delivery was one of the most anticipated we have had, I love unwrapping shells but as the first jumbos we have gotten in there were lots of "ooohs" and "ahhhs" over how beautiful they are.

 

Coenobita brevimanus, New Arrivals

The latest addition to my crabby family in a new, third setup is four beautiful but battered Indos. These little guys are sadly missing a few bits including legs, leg segments and one eye but they are already showing an improvement in energy levels with some TLC. Within ten minutes of entering their tank one had swapped into a beautiful tapestry turbo. Their appetites are definitely huge, the largest has already shown an obsession with peanuts and all the food put in is being demolished overnight.

The smallest in the temporary ISO tank they went in for the first night, Smartie has a lot of leg missing as well as only one eye.

This is the largest crab, Peanut, who is in desperate need of a moult but has been building up a moult sac very quickly.

This little one is missing a leg and the front half of his little claw but is the most active of the lot and has the largest moult sac ready.

Last but not least, this one is in the best condition and had just changed shells.

South East Arachnid Show 2014

January and the new year saw another landmark for the store, the first time selling at an expo. Having been at every previous SEAS I knew that this would be a fantastic place to test the waters and was proven right, of the small selection we took 

nearly everything sold and the garlands sold out in less than half an hour of the doors opening!

This was also a brilliant opportunity to meet customers, the recognition of the store and positive feedback is a huge boost and catching up on how individual colonies are doing made for a refreshing break. A lot of new keepers approached for advice on keeping the crabs they had just bought, between the care slips we made available and conversations I feel confident everyone I spoke to has a good chance of getting their new friends into the proper setups they deserve.

The aim for next year is a whole table for the store, possibly with a small information display and species specific caresheets, but either way I will definitely be there and look forward to seeing you all again!

A Seaside Scene

Things have been going well with the crabs. Most of the violas are down to moult, as are three of the ruggies and Tara. The littlest ruggie, Kili, has got a good gel limb forming and will hopefully regain her missing leg over the next two moults.

Since the Ruggie tank is being brought more towards a beach theme I decided it needed a seaside classic, so we now have a mini bucket and spade set forming a new climbing area and moss den. They seem to really love it and Fili spends a lot of time asleep on top the spade.

Picture taken before adding moss, the spades shovel part is roughly the size of a tablespoon:

Crabby Cookies and Greater Shell Selection

Our latest product at Crabby Cravings is some delicious Crabby Cookies, a tasty treat homemade with my own recipe using only 100% natural ingredients. No flour is used and everything is not only crab safe but crab healthy.

We also have some more shells in, including moon shells and various sizes of babylonia and turbo types. The "mosaic" turbos are particularly beautiful. All are available at crabbycravingsstore.co.uk