Can I offer sea snail shells to my hermit crabs?

Questions about designing a terrarium.
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lilohermies
Zygote
Zygote
Posts: 22
Joined: 05 Nov 2010, 13:27
Gender: Female
Hermit crabs: 2
Total gallons: 55
Total tanks: 1

Can I offer sea snail shells to my hermit crabs?

Post by lilohermies »

Honestly buying shells for hermit crabs can get pretty expensive, and for Christmas dinner, my family and I went to a Chinese all-you-can-eat buffet. They had this sea-snail soup there and if you remove the snail, you're left with a shell perfectly shaped for hermit crabs. I took them home and I boiled it for about 10 minutes at a rolling boil, and kept at a medium boil for about 20 minutes. I was wondering if these shells were okay to put in my terrarium since they have been used by a cooked snail. Please help! Thank you (:
Jennie
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Zygote
Posts: 42
Joined: 09 Dec 2010, 22:24
Gender: Female
Hermit crabs: 18
Total gallons: 70
Total tanks: 3

Re: Can I offer sea snail shells to my hermit crabs?

Post by Jennie »

I can't see why not - after all most of the shells they use do come from different types of sea snails.
CrabbyJo
Coenobita
Coenobita
Posts: 1849
Joined: 21 Jan 2009, 13:31
Gender: Female
Hermit crabs: 7
Total gallons: 85
Total tanks: 4
Location: Alaska

Re: Can I offer sea snail shells to my hermit crabs?

Post by CrabbyJo »

Lilohermies,
I honestly don't know for sure, as I don't know how snails are usually cooked, and what seasonings might be used. I would think that perhaps it might be alright.
Jennie is right, the shells our crabs use are sea snail shells anyway! :P
6 hermit crabs - 3 PPs and 3 Equadorians
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