Crab is being very strange

[HermieLove19]

Here's an updated picture of Eugene. He's doing great and he LOVES to climb. He's out everyday and his coloring is great compared to the first picture I put up when he wasn't doing so well. His favorite snack is honey and he loves turbo shells. I never could have told anyone any of his favorite things when I first got him because he never came out. Food makes a huge difference!

[erikleeson]

Great!
It seems like we're doing a documentary on a sick hermit crab.
"Eugene's coloring was very pale, he was very lethargic and slow. I thought I would lose him..."
"Weeks after feeding him honey and carrots his coloring improved and he is more active than ever before. And thats the story of Eugene..."

LOL

Hows Eugene now? My crabs are all molting. Except Xavi. He's really active now.

[krabby_katie]

Aw. I love Eugene. Great that he's getting more color.

[HermieLove19]

He's doing very well. He has a favorite hangy spot and hidey spot. I hand feed him honey all the time because it's his favorite . He's very cuddly and he loves his 20 gallon home with his friends.

[erikleeson]

Thats good news. Its kind of hard to believe how much coloring he got. They are supposed to get pale before they die...yeesh.

But carrots are the only supplement you fed to gain color right? Well apparently beta carotene is the weakest carotenoid in crustacean diet. Most seafood has a much greater chance of improving coloring than colored vegetation. I read that in the nutrition forum. So I guess the moral is, feed your hermit crabs seafood absolutely anytime you can!

Lol, congrats on the health of Eugene!

[HermieLove19]

They all had orange bell peppers, shrimp almost everyday either fresh or dried, bay scallops, organic kibbles, hermie hamburgers made from meat with a little sea salt and a tiny bit of cheese every once in a blue moon. I read an article on epicurean hermit about how much zeaxanthin different foods have and gave them something from the list everyday. He had a great molt as well. If you pack them full of healthy foods they have great coloring and maroon colored joints when they surface. He also had honey every time I held him. He could eat honey everyday if I gave it to him. I found out carrots aren't as beneficial as I thought they were.

Epicurean hermit has some great articles. Healthy food cures so many things!

[erikleeson]

Cool! All foods with beta carotene, zeaxanthin or astaxanthin will be converted to zeaxanthin in a hermit crabs body. Some foods are easier than others. I'd day the best way to insure lots of coloring is to feed as much seafood as possible. It would be an excellent opportunity to invest in a 1 oz. jar of krill or plankton. It would go a long way. And plus its an excellent source of protein and shrimp is also high in calcium! Meat is very important lol

Is Eugene getting more colorful? Do you have an updated picture?

[HermieLove19]

Eugene spends most of his time napping on the second level but I like to take him out and give him some orange blossom honey and let him "run" around for a while.



This was Eugene not too long ago. Since then he's been snacking on Colorado Care Co. Crab Kibbles. It's got shrimp, plankton, bloodworms, spirulina, calcium and mineral supplements, and a variety of fruits and nuts. I got it at the Crabbage Patch after I heard krabbykatie talking about how great it is. My cat actually ate some when I left the bowl out to refill the crabs fresh water.



The same goofball that sleeps in my dresser on my clean clothes.


Krill is definitely a great investment. When i give the crabs krill I put three in a bowl with other foods and the krill is always gone! They love it. I try to pack him full of these good foods so he is stronger and even more colorful after his next molt. I do it with all of them.

[ladybug15057]

Eugene is certainly a beautiful hermie!! His coloring has certainly improved from the other pictures you posted! A wide variety in a hermies diet is ever so important to a hermie. It is certainly one way to help keep them healthy. Honey has a lot of nutrients in it that are good for hermies, but it too should be fed on occasions. If you enjoy feeding him the honey, have you considered grinding another nutritious food into a powder form, mixing it with the honey and offering it to him? There are several various foods a hermie should be offered, and one I do not see mentioned within this thread is 'chitin'. Where as majority of chitin sources are protein, not all protein sources contain chitin. Chitin is a very important part of a hermies diet too.
I read earlier in this thread too, where it was stated a hermies coloring will become very pale before they die. This is not actually true, a lot of hermies coloring will fade and some do become quite pale before molting due to their old exo loosening from their new exo. Back in around 2001-2992, it was once believed that due to certain 'actions' or the 'looks' of a hermie that they were ill and some crabbers were treating their hermies as such. Because of this, I had done an article of the many pms signs our hermies here displayed prior to molting in hopes of helping others to know that if they had proper tank conditions there was a high chance what they were observing was pms signs and they were not ill. But even with all of the pms signs I noted, not all hermies displayed them and just did a surprise molt and up and threw their exo's off.

PMS

May I also suggest if one offers their hermies any fresh shell fish to please always at least steam it, (and let it cool) prior to offering it due to shell disease?

[HermieLove19]

I make sure to give them a variety of fresh and dried foods. They've had half the foods on the safe food list and I make sure they have daily access to foods with high levels of zeaxanthin. I mix all sorts of powders with the honey. They get cuttlebone, boost powder, spirulina, bee pollen, and anything else I can make into a powder. I hand feed it to the hermies every once in a while not very often. I have 3 different types of honey for them so it doesn't get boring. I'll have to find an article on chitin so I can make sure they always have it in thier diet.