Wild hermit crabs prefer to eat a variety of food, especially in a span of 24 hours. In the wild, they will eat that ranges from: plants, fruits, leftover food, small creatures and insects.
If you choose to provide your hermit crabs with insects as food, you should get the ones that are already frozen or already pre-killed. Insects as food for hermit crabs provide them a variety of tastes. But do note that never make this as the only source of nourishment for them.
You Can Feed Your Hermit Crabs Insects
Your hermit crabs are are omnivorous which means they will eat plants and insects as well. So how do they feed on insects in the wild? They do it by locating the hiding places of insects which is usually under the rocks or insides of a rotting wood.
Wild hermit crabs are sustainable creatures and they do it through scavenging. And as mentioned earlier, they love to eat variety of foods.
Insects that your hermit crabs can feed on
Flies
If you feed your hermit crabs fresh food such as fruits and vegetables chances are there will always be leftovers or sometimes they lose their appetite and not eat their food at all.
So don’t be surprised if suddenly you find flies in your hermit crabs’ tank. Flies are not harmful to your hermit crabs but they can be really annoying to deal with especially if they start to hatch maggots and starts crawling into the shells of your hermit crabs.
Your hermit crabs will eat it but flies are not really sanitary.
Spiders
You may also find spiders in your hermit crabs tank as these arachnids enjoys the warmth of the tank comforting. Common house spiders are not harmful to your hermit crabs since they are not poisonous.
There are chances even that both of these creatures will coexist. Remember that flies might infest your hermit crabs’ tank? Well, spiders will deal with it. The only thing you should look out for spiders are their webs, especially the big ones that can create huge webs.
Your hermit crab can become trapped in this web and will most likely feel stressed.
Booklice/Barkfly
These insects multiplies very frequently and just like spiders they also love the warmth of the hermit crabs’ tank. Additionally, their presence in your hermit crabs’ tank is considered a good thing since these creatures feast on fungi and mold that will harm your hermit crabs.
Plus, Booklice are not aggressive creatures which makes them very safe for your hermit crabs.
Centipedes and Millipedes
If you have mossy plants in your hermit crabs’ tank, then chances are centipedes and millipedes will be in the tank. These creatures are harmless as well to your hermit crabs, they will not do harm and can be a source of snack for them.
Additionally, if centipedes and millipedes are left alone in the tank, they will take care of decaying plants. And just like booklice and spiders, your hermit crabs can also coexist with these creatures.
Gnats
These creatures have 3 types: Fungus Gnat, Fruit Fly, and Phorid Fly. And they are common as well in hermit crab’s tank, especially the fruit fly, since it will infest the tank, especially if there are uneaten fruit and vegetables. Your hermit crabs can feast on them, but this does not mean that you can leave these creatures alone since they multiply fast. So be on the lookout for these creatures.
Crickets
Your hermit crabs will enjoy feasting through the exoskeleton of crickets. But do not give them live ones since as your hermit crabs can get ill from eating live crickets. Why so? Crickets infests crop lands and they might have eaten through crops with chemicals such as pesticides or herbicides. And these chemicals will definitely kill hermit crabs.
So be sure to buy crickets available in pet shops, since these are safer compared to live ones.