fuits & cinnamon bark

[Hermycrabitat21]

I picked up Higgins Sunburst fruit and cinnamon stick bird treat that was on clearance at petco. it wasn't until I got home that I realized that I had never given my hermit crabs cinnamon before... then I checked the unsafe list. and even though the other ingredients in it are papaya, pineapple, cherries ad juniper berries they all have that cinnamon smell. and I am not sure whether I should give it to them or not. what would you do?

[YYWW]

I read on here someones crabs liked cinnamon. I'd offer and observe. It could be more unpopular and less unsafe.


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[fraksocks]

Cinnamon is a known insect repellant. The crabs may not find it appetizing.

[wodesorel]

It hasn't been experimented with in earnest. There are really good arguments for and against. :/

[gotta-crab-em-all]

Mine have been eating the papaya, pineapple, and cherries from that mix for two years with no problems. They dig right into it too so they don't seem repelled at all.

[wodesorel]

Mine have been eating the papaya, pineapple, and cherries from that mix for two years with no problems.

With the cinnamon dust on it? That's grounds to remove it from the unsafe list at the very least.

[CallaLily]

Are we sure it's true cinnamon? When my youngest broke out in hives twice and we were looking into cinnamon as the cause, I learned that some of what's labeled as cinnamon is actually cassia. Related to cinnamon but not the same thing. From my understanding, people allergic to cinnamon are not necessarily allergic to cassia.



Just a thought. I'm not sure it would matter where the crabs are concerned and I could be completely misunderstanding. After testing and ruling out the possible causes we could come up with, I stopped looking into it.

[gotta-crab-em-all]

Its actual cinnamon bark, Calla. I'm not sure how much cinnamon particles the fruit would actually get on it from brushing up against the bark inside the bag, but the crabs don't seem to mind it!

Here's a picture of what the mix actually looks like, from petsolutions.com : http://www.petsolutions.com/images/Prod ... 32252a.jpg

I don't feed the juniper berries or the cinnamon to the crabs, just the payapa, pineapple, and cherries.

[Hermycrabitat21]

Its actual cinnamon bark, Calla. I'm not sure how much cinnamon particles the fruit would actually get on it from brushing up against the bark inside the bag, but the crabs don't seem to mind it!

Here's a picture of what the mix actually looks like, from petsolutions.com : http://www.petsolutions.com/images/Prod ... 32252a.jpg

I don't feed the juniper berries or the cinnamon to the crabs, just the payapa, pineapple, and cherries.

so why don't you feed them the juniper berries?

I have given it to my crabs and thus far they have not tried to eat or pick at the cinnamon but they took everything else. even though the dust of the cinnamon is on everything else.

[gotta-crab-em-all]

Because all evergreen species are on the unsafe food list, and I know evergreens can have major negative health effects on a variety of species, so I didn't want to take the chance. I took the chance with the cinnamon because I wasn't feeding them the cinnamon itself and when I rubbed my fingers on the cinnamon bark, there wasn't any dust on my fingers that I could see or taste, so it didn't seem likely that there was much of it on the fruit itself. So, it isn't feeding them the unsafe-listed food directly, but giving them the juniper berries would be, and I'm not comfortable doing that.

[wodesorel]

I didn't realize Pine had been listed in more then one area. We removed that last year, since things like pine cones are okay to give.

[gotta-crab-em-all]

I'm not tree savvy so sorry if this is a dumb question, but are juniper berries from pine trees or juniper trees? Or do you mean evergreens in general were taken off of the list and not pine specifically? As in, it would be safe for me to stick a crab on my Christmas tree (with a thing to catch them with if they fall off) for a picture?

[wodesorel]

Evergreen is a large group of species. It's like saying all Deciduous Trees are safe or unsafe. And it's not a dumb question at all! This stuff isn't taught and it's easy to think that because they look the same they are the same.

Juniper and Pine are separate species, so just because one is okay it doesn't necessarily mean the other is. It's likely fine, but food trials would need to be done to be sure. We don't have Pine on the safe list (just pinecones, if memory serves) but small amounts of pine seem to be safe and the crabs have been known to eat it. We're all a little wary about suggesting anyone use a huge amount of needles or branches, since it has very strong oils - in a small contained space with little airflow and no way for the crabs to leave if they needed to, it could be bad. This is the reason why pine bedding should never be used for other pets, because it gives respiratory problems to reptiles and small mammals.

Christmas Trees are a whole nother matter. Of course it's safe to take a photo with your crabs on evergreens - there are many photos of them in the wild hanging out in such trees. The ones sold specifically for the holidays however are usually sprayed down with fertilizers and pesticides, and the ones they use are pretty nasty. The only way I would trust a Christmas Tree around the crabs is if we cut it ourselves or bought it straight from the farm, and talked with the grower to find out what had been used.

[CallaLily]

juniper berries?

I have given it to my crabs and thus far they have not tried to eat or pick at the cinnamon but they took everything else. even though the dust of the cinnamon is on everything else.

So they seem to avoid the cinnamon sticks? But they do eat the juniper berries? (they're on the unsafe/unpopular list too) How long have you been offering both? I'm assuming no issues?

Edit: and duh you're the OP so I'm guessing not long.

[gotta-crab-em-all]

Evergreen is a large group of species. It's like saying all Deciduous Trees are safe or unsafe. And it's not a dumb question at all! This stuff isn't taught and it's easy to think that because they look the same they are the same.

Juniper and Pine are separate species, so just because one is okay it doesn't necessarily mean the other is. It's likely fine, but food trials would need to be done to be sure. We don't have Pine on the safe list (just pinecones, if memory serves) but small amounts of pine seem to be safe and the crabs have been known to eat it. We're all a little wary about suggesting anyone use a huge amount of needles or branches, since it has very strong oils - in a small contained space with little airflow and no way for the crabs to leave if they needed to, it could be bad. This is the reason why pine bedding should never be used for other pets, because it gives respiratory problems to reptiles and small mammals.

Christmas Trees are a whole nother matter. Of course it's safe to take a photo with your crabs on evergreens - there are many photos of them in the wild hanging out in such trees. The ones sold specifically for the holidays however are usually sprayed down with fertilizers and pesticides, and the ones they use are pretty nasty. The only way I would trust a Christmas Tree around the crabs is if we cut it ourselves or bought it straight from the farm, and talked with the grower to find out what had been used.

Thanks for explaining! I'm not gonna chance the juniper berries, in that case. Juniper is toxic to parrots as well and yet this fruit mix - for parrots - has lots of juniper berries :roll: so I've been throwing the berries away for as long as I've been using it, anyhow. (I buy the fruit mix for my parrot, but he doesn't mind sharing with the crabs if he isn't looking when I sneak some to them )

Thanks for explaining that as well! I took a picture of Anorith in our Christmas tree last year and posted it on my crab Tumblr blog and got some strong words from somebody who scolded me for letting him near it because evergreens were on the HCA's unsafe list. We do buy straight from the farm (have to go into the field and cut them down ourselves and everything) so I'll ask about pesticides when we go this year and if its safe, I'll repeat the picture this year if one of the crabs will cooperate for it.