***Toxic Food Advisory***

Although there are many foods that are safe for hermit crabs, there are some unsafe foods and some food warnings.

Food Warning #1: Unsafe Foods
To view unsafe foods, please visit our Guide to Unsafe Foods.

Food Warning #2: Oxalic Acid in Greens
Many greens have oxalic acid inside of them. Oxalic acid binds to calcium and makes it unprocessable by reptiles, humans and other mammals. Foods high in oxalic acids should be avoided or fed sparingly as we do not know the affects on crustaceans.

**These acids can be neutralized by boiling them.**

Food Warning #3: Preservatives in Commercial Foods
There are many preservatives in commercial foods for land hermit crabs. Please refer to our Guide about Commercial Foods to learn more about additives and harmful substances.

The preservatives and harmful ingredients that everyone should be looking out for in commercial foods are artificial color, by-products, copper sulphate/sulfate, ethoxyquin, ferrous sulfate, foods containing "meal", magnesium oxide, menadione, propylene glycol, sodium chloride, zeolite, zinc oxide.

There are many natural kibbles that can be purchased from hermit crab enthusiast sites.

Food Warning #4: Pesticides in Foods
Most of the fruits and vegetables we eat today have been sprayed with pesticides in order to produce more food to feed the growing population. Because pesticides and insecticides are designed to target the exoskeleton of insects, it is possible that pesticides can be harmful to hermit crabs because they also have an exoskeleton.

Many crabbers opt to buy natural and organic products in order to cut out pesticide consumption. Berries and thin skinned foods have the highest amount of pesticides in them and many crabbers make sure to buy these organic. Foods with thick peels or rinds absorb most of the pesticides in the skin and the skin should not be fed unless it is organic.