HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Hello, just a quick question! I made some beans for my crabs last night, and just to be safe I soaked and boiled them in conditioned/dechlorinated water. Did I need to do that, or does boiling somehow make the water safe for them anyway? If I don't need to use dechlor. water, that would be great cause then I could eat some, too. XD On that note - is it safe for me to eat beans which were soaked and boiled in conditioned water? If not, and if conditioned water is what I should continue using to soak and boil foods, then I'll just make much smaller batches in the future to reduce food waste. Thanks in advance!

That is a good question, and I am not quite sure about that; I would just do it, myself, to be on the safe side, because the beans absorb the water.

I wanted to mention, though, that if it turns out that you do need to use dechlorinated water for both soaking and boiling the beans and you are familiar with canning/jarring things, you can always do that, and have them when you need them.

When you boil water it cooks off the chlorine... Yet I have found myself dechlorinating the water too, just to be safe lol

I wouldn't eat the beans if you've used dechlorinater in the water. However, you could get distilled or purified (make sure it's crab safe) water and use that to make the beans if you'd like to eat the leftovers.

Oh! I actually didn't know this post had gotten any replies until just now! Haha oops. But thank you everyone, that is all very good information! I think I will use distilled water if I can eat it myself afterwards.