Can Hermit Crabs Eat Celery?

Celery is a healthy food that can be a great addition to your diet. But according to the USDA, it can also be toxic to pets. This article explores whether hermit crabs can eat celery.

Can hermit crabs eat celery? Celery is a great food for hermit crabs because it’s low in fat and high in salt content, perfect for keeping hermit crabs hydrated and healthy. It contains essentials nutrients such as beta carotene and vitamin C which are important for their growth. Hermit crabs tend to prefer the leaves of the celery plant over the stock.

Fresh fruits and vegetables make up a large portion of these omnivores’ diet and are thoroughly enjoyed by them; celery is no different. While it is difficult to say if these crabs can eat celery stalks or not, they’re quite fond of celery leaves and would eat them both raw as well as cooked.

Celery is high in calcium and that does a hermit crab’s body good. A little bit of the green veggie here and there is fine, but if you’re thinking about making it a regular part of their diet, think again.

Hermit crabs are opportunistic scavengers in the wild, eating anything they can find washed up on the shore, ranging from grass to decaying wood. Even as pets, they have a pretty flexible diet and can eat various fruits and vegetables regularly.

However, not all fruits and veggies can be added to their daily diet. Some have little nutritional value for them, while others are only good for them in moderation. What about celery? Can it be included in their daily diet? That’s what we are going to find out in this article.

Will hermit crabs eat celery?

We understand the concern of pet parents about their pets not liking what they’re being offered. But when you own a hermit crab for long enough, you learn that there’s very little that they wouldn’t eat; and it certainly won’t be leafy greens like celery.

In fact, many hermit crab owners have claimed that their pets are very fond of celery leaves munch them down in almost no time. So, if you were thinking of feeding celery to your pet crabs, their not liking it will not be a problem for you.

Is celery healthy for hermit crabs?

While celery is considered quite healthy for us, we must not forget that our little pet crabs have different dietary needs than ours. Therefore, simply assuming what’s healthy for us would work for them is unwise.

To find out whether celery is suitable for hermies or not, we should explore the health benefits of eating celery for them.

The first step of this process involves going through the nutritional breakdown of celery depicted in the table given below:

Serving size: 100 grams

Now that we have a better idea about the nutrients present in celery, we can proceed to talk about their roles in maintaining your pet’s health.

Although hermies are an understudied species with little information about their nutritional requirements, some macronutrients are essential for their good health.

Let’s see how many of these are present in celery:

• Celery contains beta carotene, a plant pigment that gives the fruits and veggies their vibrant coloring in moderate amounts. Beta carotene is responsible for maintaining the brightly colored shells of the hermies. Additionally, it is also known to have powerful antioxidant properties.
• Celery is also rich in Vitamin C, a vitamin that is known for strengthening the immune health of all animals, including your pet hermies.
• Calcium is an essential mineral for the hermit crabs, for it plays a key role in keeping their exoskeleton strong and healthy.
• There are plenty of carbs present in celery that store and deliver energy to your pet crabs. Moreover, carbs also contribute to a portion of chitin in their exoskeleton.
• The protein in celery helps the hermies in processing the carbs and fats they consume and is also responsible for the maintenance of their exoskeleton and soft tissue health.
• Unlike carbs, which provide your pets with instant energy, fats can be stored as an energy source in their body to be used later. Moreover, fats also play a key role in the digestion of fat-soluble vitamins in their diet.

For offering all the aforementioned health benefits to your pets, celery can certainly be declared healthy for them and safely be added to their regular diet.

Raw or cooked celery leaves: which one is better for hermit crabs?

The leaves of celery are probably the favorite part of these veggies for your hermit crabs. But how would you feed these leaves to them? Would you serve it to them raw or cook them beforehand?

While hermit crabs would not mind eating both cooked and raw celery, we would recommend you not to cook it to them. It is because celery is not only the most nutritious in its raw form, but it is also fresh and crunchy, which means your hermies will enjoy them more.

Are celery stalks edible to hermit crabs?

When you feed celery leaves to your pet crabs, what do you do with the remaining stalks? Do you throw them away? Or can they eat these stalks just like us?

While some pet owners feel that celery stalks are too tough for their little pets, others set aside the softer, yellow stalks for their hermies, cooking the rest for themselves.

If you want to serve softer stalks to your pet crabs as well, there’s one thing you would need to do beforehand: de-stringing them.

There are thin, string-like parts present between the celery stalks that make it difficult for us to eat the stalks.

To ensure that your pet doesn’t go through the same discomfort, you must de-string the stalks in advance. De-stringing is a simple process that would take only a couple of minutes to have a Swiss peeler or a paring knife.

Are the seeds of celery safe for hermit crabs to eat?

Most people only think of its leaves and stalks; not many are aware of its small, brown-colored seeds. These seeds have a warm, earthy flavor and are often used as a spice.

Are the celery seeds edible to hermit crabs? Why not? Celery seeds are a great source of essential minerals like iron, calcium, and manganese, are low in calories with high protein and carb content. So, eating these seeds is certainly healthy for your pets.

If you have reservations about feeding these seeds to them, you can also feed them ground seeds, easily available in both the stores and online.

Can hermit crabs drink celery juice as well?

Another popular way of consuming celery is to blend it and drink its juice. But is celery juice only healthy for humans, or can your pet crabs drink them as well?

If you blend your juice at home, there’s no reason why your pets can’t have a sip. However, you must not add sugar, salt, or any other spice to their portion of celery juice.

Also, try to keep juice moderated in their diet because they prefer raw celery to its juice.

Feeding celery to hermit crabs: things to remember

Now, we are going to give you a few quick pointers about how to feed celery to your hermit crabs:

• When purchasing celery for your pet crabs, you should always go for organic ones cultivated in a safe, pesticide-free environment and are safer for them. This should be followed with other fruits and vegetables as well.
• Once you’ve brought celery home, washing it thoroughly is the first and most essential step, even if they’re organic.
• When you’re feeding your crabs celery leaves, all you need to do is to separate them from the stalk, and they’re ready to be served.
• In case of stalks, always make sure to de-string first. Also, if the stalk is too tough, avoid feeding it to them.
• Leave the bowl of celery leaves in their tank overnight, for they’re primarily nocturnal feeders.

Can Hermit Crabs Eat Celery?

The answer to the question, “Can hermit crabs eat celery,” is not only “yes” but they just love it! Celery is safe for hermit crabs and can even be healthy. The stalks of celery are a little tougher and not as popular but are still healthy to feed. Celery leaves are the favorite part of celery for hermit crabs.

This vegetable is surprisingly popular with hermit crabs, though you shouldn’t offer too much celery at once or too many leaves. You should introduce it to your pet slowly by offering very small portions at first so that your pet can get used to the flavor. It’s best to feed them leaves as a treat.

Well, what can I say? We’re finally at the end of our article! We learned a lot about hermit crabs and celery along the way, so thanks for reading. If you’ve learned something new, great. If not, that’s cool too. Hopefully, you found some useful things out along the way.

If you have any additional questions, don’t hesitate to reach out!

Have your hermit crabs been asking to try some of your celery? Well, now is the time to give them what they want! 🦀

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