Can Hermit Crabs Eat Strawberries?
Hermit crabs are scavengers and will try to eat just about everything! But they do have nutritional needs, which includes some fruit.
Fruit should be a substantial part of their diet, and strawberries are generally liked by most hermit crabs.
Strawberry is a great source of vitamins and minerals, and it’s 91% water which hermit crabs also enjoy.
But fresh strawberry in a hermit crab habitat does come with some challenges.
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Fresh strawberry starts rotting very quickly
Fresh strawberry is made up of about 91% water. This makes it more susceptible to rotting and mold more quickly than most other types of fruit and will attract unwanted pests into your habitat.
Any wet foods like strawberry will be quick to start rotting, but strawberry can be one of the most problematic in a hermit crab habitat. However, because it’s made up of such a high amount of water, it makes a great treat for hermit crabs!
Remove fresh strawberry after a few hours
If you do feed fresh (or frozen) strawberries to your hermit crab pets, make sure to remove them after a few hours or no more than a day. Why?
A fresh strawberry slice, after 4 hours in a hermit crab habitat, can look like this! (see photo). It’s been nibbled on and about half the size of it’s original size (which is good, they like it!).
But it’s also starting to brown, the initial stages of rotting. Mold will start to grow quickly, because it’s made up of so much water.
Remove fresh strawberry after a few hours if you can, to avoid potential issues with mold and attracting unwanted pests.
Dried strawberry solves the problem
Dried strawberry is almost as healthy as fresh, as it maintains most of its important vitamins and minerals. And since it’s a dry food, it won’t quickly rot and mold and attract pests. This makes it a great supplemental treat or vacation food. And most hermit crabs seem to like it just as much.
There are multiple foods that contain dried strawberries that are healthy and nutritious, and will give a little extra color boost to your hermit crabs too!
Just remember, not all hermit crabs like the same exact things. Just because one likes dried strawberry, it doesn’t mean they all will.
Hermit crabs CAN get tired of certain foods, or not like them at all. So if you can feed them both fresh and dried on occasion, all the better!
We feed our hermit crabs both fresh and dry strawberry. If we’re eating fresh strawberry, we cut a few small slices off for the hermies. We don’t put fresh strawberry in the same food dish we put their daily meal in.
Why? If we forget to remove the fresh strawberry after a few hours, it can start to spoil the rest of the food that’s inside that dish.
We place fresh fruit like strawberries on an upper level of the habitat. Why an upper level? We try to keep all wet food (and non-meal treats) above the ground level, so there’s nothing attracting ants or other ground level pests to come anywhere near the habitat.
And it helps us remember to remove it more quickly than their daily meal food that gets removed after a day or so.
Once pests get inside a hermit crab habitat, it can be challenging to get them out! It’s MUCH EASIER to simply avoid all ways pests will find their way inside.
SO be extra careful when feeding fresh fruit to your hermit crab pets, especially strawberry!
Here’s another GREAT, nutritious treat to provide to your hermit crab pets! And this one is a dry food and won’t rot!
Last update on 2024-05-08 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API