Pine nuts?

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Plasmoc
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Pine nuts?

Post by Plasmoc » Sun Jan 27, 2019 5:49 pm

I do t see line nuts on either safe or unsafe food list. Anyone know if pine nuts are safe for hermit crabs or not?


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Topic author
Plasmoc
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Re: Pine nuts?

Post by Plasmoc » Sun Jan 27, 2019 6:06 pm

Sorry for the typos! * don’t see pine nuts


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Plasmoc
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Re: Pine nuts?

Post by Plasmoc » Sun Jan 27, 2019 7:20 pm

Also, I bought “untreated” dried / baked natural starfish... but they don’t break easily. I thought they would break pretty easily. Does this mean they are actually treated and not safe fir the hermit crabs?


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wodesorel
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Re: Pine nuts?

Post by wodesorel » Mon Jan 28, 2019 9:47 am

Pine cones are safe, so pine nuts should be as well.

What color are the starfish? Usually the treated ones fall apart due to the bleaching process, so that they are solid is a good sign!
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Re: Pine nuts?

Post by Plasmoc » Mon Jan 28, 2019 10:41 am

They are white, with a little yellowish color deep inside the holes and one of the starfish arms has a little brown / burnt looking tip. I did research before buying them and it said often starfish are baked for the drying process so I assume it’s from that. I can try to post a photo tonight

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Re: Pine nuts?

Post by wodesorel » Mon Jan 28, 2019 11:01 am

White is usually bleached. I'd be cautious unless you can check with the source and make sure nothing was used.
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Re: Pine nuts?

Post by Plasmoc » Mon Jan 28, 2019 11:12 am

What color should they be?


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Re: Pine nuts?

Post by Plasmoc » Mon Jan 28, 2019 11:16 am

The seller said they are “white finger starfish” if that makes a difference. And they smelled bad when they arrived (not chemical, it was like a bad sea smell if that makes sense)

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Re: Pine nuts?

Post by wodesorel » Mon Jan 28, 2019 11:42 am

According to Shells of Aquarius, finger starfish are naturally blue to blue-grey and the white ones have been bleached.
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Re: Pine nuts?

Post by Plasmoc » Mon Jan 28, 2019 1:45 pm

Crap, ok thanks. Glad I didn’t feed them to my hermits!

I fed mr hermits sand dollars by this seller a few days ago.... how bad is this? The sand dollars were also white but are supposed to be white so I didn’t think anything if it


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Re: Pine nuts?

Post by wodesorel » Mon Jan 28, 2019 1:52 pm

Sand dollars should be grey or a very dingy beige. They are also not naturally white. If it's picture perfect, it's been treated somehow.

Bleached out sea life is the most common to find for sale since it makes them not smell. Regular dried dead things smell like dead things. People don't want those in their house!

If it's coming from a hermit seller there probably isn't a ton of risk, because you'd hear about it if other people's crabs were dropping dead. But it was one of the reasons why I never carried them, finding sources of untreated ones was impossible. You'd have to have someone like wolfnipplechips who actually beach combs for items, and can guarantee they are natural.
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Plasmoc
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Re: Pine nuts?

Post by Plasmoc » Mon Jan 28, 2019 1:53 pm

So what do I do now? What chance is there my hermits will get sick from eating it once?


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Re: Pine nuts?

Post by wodesorel » Mon Jan 28, 2019 2:05 pm

Just watch and wait. If it was just chlorine bleach, anything really harmful should have evaporated. I'm not sure what else might be used commercially.

They're hermits, they can handle some things with absolute grace, but can have problems down the road due to others!
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Re: Pine nuts?

Post by Plasmoc » Mon Jan 28, 2019 7:17 pm

Hopefully it’ll turn out ok since it was a one-time exposure and I think only one crabbie ate a little. Lesson learned!

Here’s a photo of them with the white of a ziplock bag label for reference. Both are going in the trash!Image


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Re: Pine nuts?

Post by wodesorel » Mon Jan 28, 2019 7:41 pm

They're beautiful! And there may be methods I don't know of to turn them white, but commercially it's going to be chemicals for speed and huge batches.
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