Some foods and plants are toxic for hermit consumption. Steer Clear from any bug repellents. You may not find a food or plant on either list. It’s best to reserve it until confirmed. 

• Aconite (Monk’s Hood)
• African violet leaves
• African daisy (Osteospermum)
• Alder bark
• Aloe vera (interferes with potassium absorption)
• Amaryllis
• American Hellebore
• Anemone/Windflower
• Aniseed
• Avocado leaves
• Azalea/Rhododendron
• Bay leaves (natural insect repellent)
• Bindweed
• Bird of Paradise Flowers
• Black Pepper
• Bluebonnet
• Bottlebrush flowers
• Bougainvillea
• Boxwood
• Buckthorn
• Buttercup
• Carnation leaves
• Castor Bean
• Catnip
• Cherimoya Seeds
• Chocolate/cocoa
• Chrysanthemum
• Cinnamon
• Citrus (leaves and branches to be avoided; part of the evergreen family. The fruit is fine)
• Coffee (contains phenols and carcinogens)*
• Columbine
• Compost (unless 100% organic)
• Crocus
• Crown of Thorns
• Cube Plant
• Custard Apple (young fruit)
• Cyclamen
• Delphinium
• Derris
• Dieffenbachia
• Dill
• Dittany
• Eucalyptus
• European pennyroyal
• Evergreen (pine, cedar, juniper, etc.)
• Feverfew
• Fleabane
• Fruit Pits (Acocado, Apricot, Cherry, Peach, Mango Stone,etc)
• Garlic
• Geranium
• Golden Pothos
• Green hellebore
• Hemlock
• Holly Berries
• Horsetail
• Ivy (of any kind)
• Juniper Berries
• Kalanchoe
• Larkspur seed
• Laurel
• Lavender
• Lemon Balm (Sweet Melissa)
• Lemon Grass
• Lucky Bamboo (Dracaena sanderiana)
• Mayweed
• Mistletoe
• Morning Glory
• Mulberry leaves
• Oleander
• Onion
• Oxeye daisy
• Papaya seed
• Parsley Seed (fruit)
• Peace Lily
• Pencil Tree Cactus
• Peppermint
• Philodendron
• Pine or cedar wood or needles
• Prickly juniper
• Pride of China fruit
• Prunus Species Trees (apricot, bitter almond, cherry, cherry laurel, nectarine, peach, plum). Fleshy fruits are edible, everything else contains a cyanide-like compound and is fatally toxic, including seeds, wood, leaves, bark and flowers.
• Red Emerald
• Rosemary
• Sage
• Sago Palm
• Sanseveria
• Schefflera
• Stargazer Lily (Lilium x Stargazer)
• Sweet Flag
• Tansy
• Tea Tree
• Texas Mountain Laurel (Sophora secundiflora)
• Thornapple
• Thyme
• Tobacco
• Vanillin
• Verbena
• Vinca
• Wild Angelica fruit
• Wormwood
• Yew
• Yarrow

This food list is mainly adapted from Summer Michealson and Stacey Arenella’s book,

The All-Natural Hermit Crab Sourcebook, and expanded on by Julia Crab and others.

*Denotes HCO edits.

HCO Note: This list was posted from epicurean-hermit.com with explicit permission to do so. Krabitat does not claim to own this information or take credit for compiling it.