Avocados

[crabby33]

There is one group that I was a member of that believed that Avocados were poisonous and put it on their unsafe list. I want to know, why would one group say that Avocados are unsafe while this group and others have it on their safe list? I am not naming the group that believes avocados are toxic to crabs and has told their members not to feed it to them. They said feeding the flesh and skin and pit was a no no.

[wodesorel]

I'm not sure. They are known to be toxic to birds, and some groups consider things that are toxic to one species to be toxic to all. That doesn't really work out as a good guide though, as we know that humans can have chocolate while dogs cannot, or hermits can have raisins while cats cannot. Crustaceans and insects can eat a lot of plants that would be deadly to other creatures.

We use what are known as food trials to determine if a food is safe. It involves multiple people offering a questioned food item multiple times and watching for deaths or adverse effects. Most of the food items on our lists were done using food trials arranged by Epicurian Hermit (Julia Crab) which were even more well controlled and done in the late 90s and early 00s. Avocado is one of these food items that was well tested, although the websites and topics discussing it no longer exist due to how long ago it was.

I can tell you from personal experience that I went through a guacamole phase a few years ago and my hermits were always getting the skins to pick at, with no harm done. They quite liked them! But if pesticides are a concern then the skins should be skipped in favor of the flesh inside.

[crabby33]

I've tried feeding avocados, but my crabs didn't like it. They liked the orange bell pepper better. In fact, I've fed conventional produce before and I have not had a crab die due to pesticides.

[wodesorel]

Pesticides can build up over time, they deposit in fat in the body (and hermits have lipids which do the same job) and when the levels get too high it causes problems. You might not see problems now, but it could have an effect on a few years, and with how long lived hermits are that's why organics are talked about so much.

There are ways to make conventional things safer or extremely safe. Peeling helps as most is concentrated on the skin. There's also the 'Dirty Dozen' list that lets shoppers know which fruits and veggies are the most affected, and those are the ones best bought as organic if possible.

[Happyhermiehome]

My hermies love avocado! I've never given them the skin though. Only the flesh.