Updating Crab Care section

Queries and feedback on how this site is run. No care questions.
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ladybug15057
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Re: Updating Crab Care section

Post by ladybug15057 »

CJ I couldn't find on the long link for ZooMed where it showed the ingredients for the food? But it also contains copper sulfate:

http://www.petco.com/product/6348/Zoo-M ... -Food.aspx

FMR Hermit Crab Food :
Copper sulphate:
http://www.reptilesupply.com/product.ph ... cts_id=552

Tetra Hermit Crab Cakes
http://www.petguys.com/-046798169760.html

Ethoxyquin
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Wai
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Re: Updating Crab Care section

Post by Wai »

Thank you for the links, CrabbyJo and Marie!

This article is worth reading too, about CuSO4. It can be used to kill parasitic crustaceans.
http://www.fishyfarmacy.com/Q&A/all_about_copper.html

Although there is no proof that CuSO4 will be deadly to land crustaceans too, it is unlikely to be beneficial to hermit crabs.

The items have now been blacklisted in our Food Database:
http://www.hermitcrabparadise.com/crabc ... tabase.php
Wai
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Re: Updating Crab Care section

Post by CrabbyJo »

Glad to help out Wai!
I was in a hurry having to leave work so gave that darn long link without double checking it. Darn those websites with frames!
here is the actual ingredient list for the Zoo Med hermit crab food:
Ingredients
Fish Meal, Plant Protein Products, Wheat Mill Run, Soybean Meal, Cottonseed and Bone Meal, Blood Meal, Fish Oil, Soy Oil, Ascorbic Acid, Biotin, Choline Chloride, Folic Acid, Niacin, D-Calcium Pantothenate, Pyridoxine Hydrocloride, Riboflavin, Thiamin Mononitrate, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Vitamin A Acetate, D-Activated Animal Sterol (source of Vitamin D), Vitamin E Supplement, Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex (Source of Vitamin K3), Copper Sulfate, D-Calcium Phosphate, Manganese Sulfate, Potassium Iodate, Salt Zinc Sulfate, Ethoxyquin (preservative).

Crabworx Hermit Crab Pellets also contain Ethoxyquin.

Here is Crab Island Hermit crab food. It does not have EQ, but may have copper sulfate, I have to find an ingredient list.
Here I am impressed because this Veterinary doctor is actually admitting that Ethoxyquin "may contribute to irregularities during the molting process"!
Hurrah! To me this means that professionals in the community are recognizing and being public about the dangers of these additives!
6 hermit crabs - 3 PPs and 3 Equadorians
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Please feel free to share information from this website, but please be sure to give credit and a link back to the information. Failure to give credit is plagiarism. Don't take credit for someone else's information.
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Re: Updating Crab Care section

Post by Wai »

I added a few more commercial products to the database that definitely contain copper sulphate and/or ethoxyquin. Also, along with copper sulphate and ethoxyquin, ferrous sulphate is another chemical to watch out for. It was noted to be moderately toxic to shrimp.
http://www.pesticideinfo.org/List_Aquir ... rustaceans

I would really love to help more at this stage, but my end-of-year exams are only three weeks away. Below are some useful pages of information that I found, but don't have time to go through thoroughly as of now.

Toxicity of several compounds found in hermit crab food products:
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/epic ... ssage/4559

Store that sells many different brands of hermit crab food and lists the ingredients for some of them:
http://www.reptilesupply.com

Pesticidal effects on crustaceans:
http://www.pesticideinfo.org/List_EcoCh ... taceans%27

---

I am currently reviewing and rewriting parts of the Crab Care section so that it is less wordy and repetitive. I think it is best that I start from the start then work my way through each section in order.
Wai
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ladybug15057
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Re: Updating Crab Care section

Post by ladybug15057 »

Wai I was looking in the links area, (looking for your species ID page) and noticed CrabWorks.

http://www.hermitcrabparadise.com/links/

She has not actually 'lost' all info. All the pictures she had on geocities were moved into a public album. She had written to me so I created a photobucket album for her so her pictures were not lost:

http://s657.photobucket.com/albums/uu295/CrabWorks/

To the left you will see te albums, and they are named as she had them on her site.
We also have her spotlight saved on CrabbyWiki under noteworthy crabbers: (with permission of course)

http://crabbywiki.com/tiki-index.php?pa ... s%27+Ormes

When I get time, I will be adding more to the CrabbyWiki as well as some more pictures.
Marie (aka ladybug15057)

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Re: Updating Crab Care section

Post by Wai »

Thanks for the notice, Marie! I'll update the links.

Edit:

The Transportation page has been extended to include information on posting hermit crabs in the mail. However, as you can see from the page, this site does not encourage people to send hermit crabs in the mail.

The guide serves as an example of 'harm minimisation'. It is impossible to stop everyone from posting hermit crabs in the mail, so if they must do so, then they should do it in the best possible way. The guide explains how to do so if required. It does not imply that posting hermit crabs in the mail is a good idea. They are two different concepts that should not be confused with each other.
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Re: Updating Crab Care section

Post by Purple pinchers »

I like it, Gives good info about shipping crabs but does not encourage it.
The only problems i saw were that you didn't talk about the box you just told about the container. If people dont put air holes in the box then there will be no airflow in the box and that could lead to overheating or even suffication. People could read that then try to ship crabs in just a plastic container or they could not put any air holes in the box then tape it up realy good. The other problem i see is that it doesn't tell them to use shredded paper or foam penuts around the container so the crabs dont bounce and beat around during the trip. But besides those things it looks great, you did a great job on it
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Re: Updating Crab Care section

Post by Wai »

I was thinking that shredded paper and foam wasn't a good idea for them to munch on. I had the impression that people just fill the whole box with loose moss for that purpose. I'll be more specific with the air flow description then.
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arhoads
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Re: Updating Crab Care section

Post by arhoads »

The ones I got in the mail had damp moss and were packaged in a small burlap bag with a few cheerios. The bag were placed in a styrofoam container (small one so they didn't get jostled around) with I think shredded paper on top and then two hothands for warmth (they shipped in March) then the styrofoam box was put into a perfect fitting cardboard box and sealed, they stamped it with live animals stamps and protect from heat and cold stamps. They arrived very healthy and active.
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Re: Updating Crab Care section

Post by Purple pinchers »

Hermit crabs or any animal should NEVER be shipped in bags (except fish). Bags do not allow airflow and only have a limited supplie of air. Those crabs could have very quickly died of over heating or they could have died because they ran out of air.
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