Dull shells

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Thu Sep 02, 2010 4:28 pm

I made the dumb mistake of placing my shells in vinegar. Now they look pretty dull. The shells appear a little stripped inside. Would you recommend applying EVOO inside the shell?

Kilimanjaro wrote:I found a way to refinish the shells which have
dulled!

If you take a small amount of extra virgin olive oil and massage it onto the shell it regains its original look. I rub the EVOO onto the shell first, let it sit for 10 minutes to absorb, and then dry off the excess with a paper towel.

So far, my shells seem pretty refurbished.

MudCrabDude · Post by **MudCrabDude** » Thu Sep 02, 2010 4:36 pm

ICS wrote:I made the dumb mistake of placing my shells in vinegar. Now they look pretty dull. The shells appear a little stripped inside. Would you recommend applying EVOO inside the shell?

I don't know if the EVOO would fully polish the shells in the inside, but a light swabbing of EVOO is a great way to get a land hermit crab's attention in terms of making a crab switch snail shells.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Thu Sep 02, 2010 5:11 pm

How about mineral oil?

MudCrabDude wrote: I don't know if the EVOO would fully polish the shells in the inside, but a light swabbing of EVOO is a great way to get a land hermit crab's attention in terms of making a crab switch snail shells.

MudCrabDude · Post by **MudCrabDude** » Thu Sep 02, 2010 5:56 pm

ICS wrote:How about mineral oil?

I would not use mineral oil. I'd stick with the EVOO.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Thu Sep 02, 2010 6:07 pm

Thank you so much for your help!

MudCrabDude wrote: I would not use mineral oil. I'd stick with the EVOO.

suebee · Post by **suebee** » Thu Sep 02, 2010 9:40 pm

One thing with olive oil is that when it drys out it gets sticky.. Like on the outside of a olive oil can or bottle if you buy a big bottle. I think if i put any olive oil on a shell i would make sure to wipe it off well.

kgbenson · Post by **kgbenson** » Fri Sep 03, 2010 7:17 am

suebee wrote:Keith do you think the shells inside showed any difference? I think the inside of the shells seem more porous and there fore might be effected sooner then the outside.

I think that is possible, if the surface area is greater (by virtue of a bunch of little pores) then it might be more affected. Then again, the coir is definitely going to be in contact with the outside and most crabs do keep the inside of their shells pretty darned clean. I have some that are a bit duller than I would expect and they are in 5:1 mix. Of course they may be leftovers from a long time ago. I have a hunch that a shell that is already slightly etched is going to get worse faster because the surface is more reactive to start with.

Lately I have been wondering about the effects of putting shells in different types of salt water or even fresh water (say R/O vs Tap etc.) and it's long term effects on shells.

I need about 1000 polished turbos and a way to measure luster.

And while I am doing that several colonies of crab on different substrate to look at longevity and the state of their hemolymph and shell water over time. Dulling shells is one thing, and adverse effect on health is another. The first I could tolerate, the second I could not.

Keith

suebee · Post by **suebee** » Fri Sep 03, 2010 3:15 pm

Im wondering if the sand might act as a polish? I took lots of photos of the adopted crabs to see if the shells seem to change in any way. so far they are still keeping the same shells. If they do change i will leave those 3 shells in the tank. I think they will get moved around quite a bit even if a crab was not in it. I can see if you think that your making a difference in a crabs health that you feel is better, (in my situation taking crabs that were in just EE for 5 years and seem dull pitty and miss shaped and putting them in what you feel is a better substrate 5parts sand 1 part EE, crushed oyster shell and worm castings) it would be easier then doing what you feel might hurt the crabs.. I dont think i could put crabs in all EE because i believe that the EE has been a problem in the past for me and others. That is one test i wouldnt want to do. Im glad i got to adopt the crabs that have lived in EE for 5 years for many reasons.. First i love them and they are very sweet, second i can see a difference in them from my crabs, its what made me ask what substrate they had been kept in. Third it gives me a chance to see if the new substrate will make a difference. 4th, i know that PPs and Indos will live in EE, even though im not convinced that it was successful.
Hope some of that made sense.