Are they eating?

[beepboop]

I got my first three hermies on Friday, a large-ish named Captain Hammer, and medium, Thor, and a small-ish called Panic!, and I'm worried they're not eating. They're not especially inactive, they do stay half-buried all day, but I've found them in different places in the mornings, meaning they've probably been moving a bit at night while I'm asleep, but I'm worried they're not eating as none of their food seems to be disappearing. I've changed the food and water everyday. Right now in the food bowl is a bit of shrimp (which was fully cooked in the microwave), coconut flakes, egg (also microwaved, with the shell), bell pepper, banana, a blueberry, and some oats. Yesterday they had shrimp, bell pepper, egg, and coconut. Is it just that these particular crabs don't like those food, or are the suffering from PPS and not eating yet? Or are they eating, but in small amounts that I don't notice? I'm thinking it's most likely PPS because I've only had them three days, but I would like opinions from somebody with experience.

[CrabbyJo]

Often it can appear that the crabs are not eating, for just the reason you suggest, they eat very small amounts.
One way to determine if they are eating is pay close attention to the food dish - is there any substrate in it in the morning? Those messy little crabs will drag sand bits or coconut fiber into their food dish with them. Also, set the food up so you can tell if there are little holes in the pieces the next day, or in the case of items like peanutbutter or applesauce or a powder like kelp or earthworm castings, note if there are "drag marks", or lines, as if a pincer has been dragged through it.
You can also smooth the substrate (if you have sand) near the food dish and notice if there are crab tracks to the dish the next day.
Don't give up, keep changing the food daily, and keep giving that nice variety! They may eat a lot for several days, totally trashing the dish, then for a week or more they may seem to be hardly touching anything. Either way, you're making available to them what they may be needing, and you never know when they'll start pigging out.

[beepboop]

Thanks
I use Eco-Earth, so I can't smooth it around the dish. But I'm probably going to give them some applesauce tomorrow to see if they crawl through it.
I think there was a bit of the coconut fiber in there this morning, so I guess they have been eating some
Thor actually seems to be moving during the day, too this morning he was hiding in the little ceramic log, then he was outside of it, next to it, and now he's on the other side of the tank

[CrabbyJo]

It's fun to just see that they've been moving, even if we didn't get to watch them do it! lol

Yep, with EE, you want to look for little bits of EE in the dish or on the edge of the dish. If you see some, it's likely they were munching. Same with the water dishes. I knew my first little E's were going to molt because I kept finding substrate in the salt water dish, and lots of it. They were pigging out too.

[beepboop]

Today I've given them some strawberry, watermelon, egg, coconut, and dragonfruit. I also put some peanut butter in their dish, so hopefully I'll be able to tell it they've eaten! There's currently no meat in the bowl, but that's because the only meat that's not in the freezer is shrimp, which I've given them two days in a row. The egg should have enough protein for now, but I'm going to thaw some boar or deer tomorrow.