HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Some of you may recall a discussion a while ago about the sea fans and how badly they stink. Well, I finally had an epiphany and decided to grind mine up in the food chopper and add it to their food. I cut it up into pieces and discarded the hard "root" part first. My crabs haven't turned their noses up (so to speak) at it yet Previous thread about the stinky sea fan

Hehe, I may have to try that. I think I still have the stinky sea fan somewhere ... why, I don't know. At least I am pretty sure I didn't throw it out when I moved. Incidentally, I have since gotten a non-stinky sea fan. Apparently the "black sea fan" variety doesn't have the smell. I got mine on E-Bay, but http://seashellcity.com often has them too.

On the subject of sea fans, is it safe to use a seafan in the crabitat that I have recently purchased from a nautical craft/supply house? It is whitish in color, and about 7 inches across...

I bought one a few years back and never used it. I had a lovely conversation with the owner of the gift/shell shop where I purchased it and told her I was going to use it in my crabitat. She suggested that I clean it very well because chemicals are used to clean and prepare them for market.

That's what I figured on. Maybe it has safer applications as a decorative item outsidethe crabitat. I have a pretty nice nautical/ocean collection going as it is... I'll keep this one for myself

eek! I hope the ones from USShell are okay-it states that it's "all-natural dried sea fan"...I boiled mine at least a million times in salt water (well, maybe only 5 times) trying to get rid of the smell. I will email them and see if I get a response.

Hopefully, the supplier is true to their word, though I don't see why they wouldn't be. But this is also a good reason to boil and rinse, rinse, rinse shells. The store owner told me acids are used to clean some of them. I've also found bugs and eggs in the whorls.I have a finger sponge I bought back then too, and talk about stink! The humidity in the tank does make it worse and no matter what I've done to it, that stench rises to the surface every time I try to put it back in the tank. I leave it for a short time because my little guys love climbing on it, but I usually end up taking it out after a few days.

NC Good point about the shells, I've also heard that, so I am very dilligent about making sure they are boiled for at least 10 minutes before they go in the tank. And, my finger sponge smells too-so I haven't used it in a long time LOL

I had one of those fans and it got all soft and wilted in the tank and I broke it up into pieces and the little guys nibble on it ^_^