Is ANY of this stuff safe?

[emmac350]

I just adopted Rocky and Spaz (I'll give all sorts of details in the journal) and they came with a bunch of stuff that I don't think is safe, but I wanted to confirm before throwing it all away. Because these products fit in so many different categories, I figured I'd consolidate them all here in this forum. So here's the stuff - if you know it's safe (Wai or Marie or anyone who knows for sure) please let me know!

HBH Hermit Crab Salt for soaking and bathing "Sea salt for crabs!"

Hermit Crab Drinking Water Conditioner Parts 1 and 2: "Instantly removes chlorine and chloramines from your crab's drinking water...removes ammonia and helps prevent its accumulation...adds essential electrolytes (including calcium)"

Petco Neopolitan Cookies for Hermit Crabs: "Ingredients: Wheat flour, fructose, carrot powder, glycerin, carob powder, soybean oil, glucono-delta-lactone, vanilla flavoring, strawberry flavoring, rosemary extract, natural mixed tocopherols (preservative), citric acid."

They came with another food, but it has Copper sulfate so I know it isn't safe.

[HermitOrCrabs]

If I were you I would not bath them becuase, it is supposed to be very stressful for them. The, it is safe though. The cookies are safe, there dont seem to be any harmful ingrediants in them (and besides, there for hermit crabs). The water conditioner is actually used by alot of hermit crab users (including me) so yes. Its all safe, if there is anything else, just post it here.

EDIT: I wasnt including the last thing though, so just incase you may of thought I ment that, I didnt.

Dont consider thisrude or anything, but im kinda suprised im telling this to a moderator.

[CrabbyJo]

I've also wondered a little bit about the hermit crab salt and hermit crab water conditioner, as we know most of the hermit crab stuff sold by pet stores is NOT safe for them.
So I do understand your reluctance and your wondering if they are safe, too, Emma.
I also passed up some hermit crab salt and water conditioner at a thrift store as I did not know of it's effectiveness or safety, and have not seen mention of it when discussing salt and conditioners. Usually it's Instant Ocean (or suchlike) and other water conditioners.
The water treatment, though, does not mention removing or neutralizing heavy metals, so I would not use it myself, as I'm sure there is copper in my water due to the age of my house and the pipes.

[emmac350]

I'm asking because most everything advertised for hermit crabs is not good for them. All hermit crab foods (for the most part; there are VERY few exceptions) and 'hermit crab sands' are bad for crabs, and I'm pretty sure the drinking water conditioner and sea salt are. I wanted to confirm with Marie mostly as she's usually good at remembering which brands are safe and, most importantly, which aren't. She's been crabbing for over 9 years now (whereas I've been for less than a year, although I have gotten to the point where I know a lot about hermit crabs, including some of the more 'breaking edge' research that's been done) and I trust her input and Wai's as he runs the site and has to do research for it.

[HermitOrCrabs]

Well, I mainly use the water conditioner or part 1 because, of the calcium it is told to give to the water. Then comes the salt water conditioner which is more recommended for a hermit crab because, it does 2 things. 1 it goes into there molt sac (as for when they are molting) and helps lower stress levels and eases the molt section. 2 because, it will give that much more % of a healthy and successful molt. (Personally, I have a hermit crab that drank it for hours, and is molting pretty well at the time.

[emmac350]

Water isn't supposed to have calcium in it - calcium should be something that they get as a food, not as a water! You don't drink water for its calcium content, and neither do crabs in the wild. They eat dead shellfish, broken shells, and even animal bones for calcium, which is where it should come from. It's where it's natural to come from.

As for the salt water conditioner, crabs don't need "salt water" - they need OCEAN water. There's a lot more stuff in ocean water than there is in just salt water. Ocean water has even more minerals than a human grade "100% natural sea salt" (or, I'm pretty sure, than the drinking water conditioner) can provide. Actually, looking at the salt water conditioner, it contains Yellow # 5...that can't be safe for crabs (since artificial coloring isn't that great for people) so I'm not even going to consider it.

If you want your crabs to have real ocean water, you can buy the mixes for salt water aquariums at the pet store. The two brands that most crabbers use are Oceanic and Instant Ocean. There has been MUCH more research done for the sake of fish than there ever has been for hermit crabs, so in some instances, like water for saltwater fish, there's a better product for us to use for our crabs.

After looking at the fresh water conditioner, it says "For captive pet animal use only" - why? If it's safe for "pet" hermit crabs, why isn't it safe for wild ones?

[HermitOrCrabs]

My point of view to the salt conditioner is that I dont live anywhere near an ocean or have resources that match it. So its the least that I could use. I didnt really know the thing about calcium, so thank you for that bit of info. Also, my guess for the "Only for captive" question is that most animals in the wild get plenty of calcium already.

[emmac350]

No problem, HermitOrCrabs! I recommend you pick up a bag of Instant Ocean or Oceanic. The small bags can cost under $5 USD and will make 5 or so gallons of salt water. Bigger bags can be had - I think mine's supposed to make 50 gallons or something; I've been using it almost a year now and still have well over half of it left.

[ladybug15057]

Emma I need to make a little comment here...that is a bit O/T
For one who hasn't been at crabbing for 'years' you (as well as CrabbyJo) do know a wealth of information yourselves. You also believe in researching which is certainly a HUGE plus on both your sides!! Kudos to both of you, and do not put yourselves down due to the time you have been crabbing!!
HermitOrCrabs, whereas Emma may not of been offended, I was to a degree with your comment:
"Dont consider thisrude or anything, but im kinda suprised im telling this to a moderator"

We are all human as well and at times have questions ourselves. But when we do ask a question, we do hope to get a reply from one who KNOWS the answer/answers not "Well it is sold for hermies so it is good". I would guess about 95% of things that are sold for hermies is NOT good for them in the least!
Now Emma, back to your questions...
HBH Hermit Crab Salt for soaking and bathing "Sea salt for crabs!"
(from the old archives at another site, yep since being contacted HBH did a little ‘changing‘ of their label…)
Ingredients: sodium chloride, magnesium chloride, calcium chloride, potassium chloride, potassium iodide

Besides having the WRONG type of calcium, it is normal table salt (sodium chloride/ potassium iodide), and they have thrown in the highly corrosive magnesium chloride to keep the iodine stablized...you know we avoid using table salt...I would like to see the research these schmucks did on their product!

Hermit Crab Drinking Water Conditioner Parts 1 and 2

This seems like the famous “ZooMed” Part 1 & 2?
Nope, garbage, says nothing about removing/neutralizing heavy metals. The salt Part 2 contains a yellow dye. When mixed, the salinity level does not register. (see the ending of)

http://crabstreetjournal.com/xoops/modu ... storyid=20

PETCO Hermit Crab Neopolitan Cookies

Seems a couple things were forgotten to be put on the label somewhere along the way?? Scroll down at the below and check under “Ingredients” .. IMO…. Garbage!
http://www.petco.com/product/12590/PETC ... okies.aspx

Wheat flour high gluten, fructose, carrot powder, propylene glycol, soybean oil, gluco-delta-lactone, artificial vanilla flavoring, artificial strawberry flavoring, carob powder, red 40, ethoxyquin (a preservative).

[ladybug15057]

Oops, forgot this part!

"After looking at the fresh water conditioner, it says "For captive pet animal use only" - why? If it's safe for "pet" hermit crabs, why isn't it safe for wild ones?"

(I questioned this a few years ago too...) Not a GUESS either! But captive pets are not consumed by humans majority of the time so it doesn't matter what chemicals are within the product. But in the wild, there is always that chance they maybe caught for human consumption and the ingredients are not considered safe to be consumed by humans. Anybody use API tap water conditioner or even the Stresscoat version? Ever read it? It does specifically state "Do not pour down drain" This includes when one empties their water ponds should NOT be put down the sink/toilet. This will have these chemicals get into the water supplies... very unsafe thing to do.