HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Wondering if this was safe. Not as a main diet, but occasionally. They really seem to like.

Ingredients:

• Soybean Meal
• Corn Meal
• Meat Meal
• Bone Meal
• Soybean Oil
• Coconut Oil
• trace elements??

Gaurenteed Analysis
Crude Protein,
not less than.....12.00%
Crude Fat,
not less than.......13.00%
Crude Fiber,
not more than.....6.00%
Moisture,
not more than.....15.00%
Minerals,
added not to exceed...2.50%

That is all it says, all of it. Hope you can help!

Gracias.[/list]

I never use it because it seems like my hermit crabs just aren't interested in it. There are other kinds that I try just to see what kind they like.

Personally, my hermies like the "Hermit the Crab: Land hermit crab food". Try it. I think it's a good commercial food if you only feed it every couple of weeks or so.

Hope I helped.

I have FMR crab food too. It's what came in the "crab kit" I got when I bought my first two crabs. I've been feeding it to them in small amounts and trying to supplement with fresh foods. I'm not sure how much of it they are eating though. But I was also concerned about whether or not it was safe because I saw it mentioned somewhere on here that FMR was not a good brand. I thought it was because of the Ethoxyquin, but it's not listed as an ingredient.

I hope somebody knows for sure whether or not this is ok for the crabs.

Under crab care FAQ over on the right of the screen ----------> there is a safe commercial food list.

Eek. It is NOT good for them. I will get that out first thing tomorrow!!

But [i]why[/i] is it not good for them? I'm confused about that one. It seems to have the right ingredients in it.

I'd be careful with the trace elements and the meals; you never know what's in them. i thought it had ethoxyquin and/or copper sulfate in!


Also check out this link.

Johnny2991 wrote:Eek. It is NOT good for them.

This is a contested point. Trace elements are not inherently bad. You will have to decide for yourself, but there is no hard evidence that it is bad for them.

We use it from time to time. We try to vary the crabs diets.

Trace elements are good. All living creatures need lots of different types of minerals that they won't find in their normal food supply. Wild hermit crabs get most of their trace elements from salt water, which is a big reason why we give it to them.

There are two main problems with FMR food. First there are all those meals. Corn meal has very little nutritional value and is generally considered a filler. Meat meal is not the same as ground-up meat - it's mostly byproducts. All four of those meals are supoosedly treated with ethoxyquin as a preservative. Ethoxyquin is a known carcinogen to mammals and is banned from our food supply; however, we are not certain how it affects crabs. FMR food also supposedly contains copper sulfate, a molluscicide that is likely to harm crabs. It is one of the least nutritious commercial foods.

FMR food is perfectly safe for your hermit crabs!! this is my personal opinion yes, but its also the opinion of my personal crabs that have been living off of it as their staple diet, 2 of them for the 3+ years ive now had them. so if it wasnt good for them i think i'd be seeing signs of it by now! im a huge objector to the fact that commercial hermit crab food (with proper ingredients!) is bad for crabs. in fact, i think its a very good idea to always offer a staple commercial food and supplement with fresh foods so you know they are getting all the vitamins and minerals they need. FMR has an R&D department that has done research on the dietary needs of land hermit crabs, i dont know about any of you but i havent done any significant research beyond the internet so i will call them the experts on the subject. i trust their food, it does not contain ANY trace elements of ethoxyquin (if it did, they would have to mention it on the ingredients list) and I have verified this information by email and on the phone with a sales rep of FMR. note: they USED to put ethoxyquin in their food and removed it entirely years ago (maybe thats where you guys are getting this info from, who knows?) thats my 2 cents and many will disagree but its my strong belief and is shared by several other experienced crabbers

so yes this is a contested point lol

scary words in the ingredients list of FMR food and their meanings:

magnesium oxide: used to supplement the diet w/ magnesium

zinc oxide: used to supplement the diet w/ zinc

iron sulphate: used to supplement the diet w/ iron

copper sulphate: used to supplement the diet with copper. poisonous (fatal IN LARGE AMOUNTS). "copper is an essential trace element and is a constituent of plants and of animal and human tissues" (www.inchem.org). copper sulphate is regularly added to the basic diet of much of the livestock you eat (pigs, dairy cows, etc). yes, its fatal if you get too much, but then again so is oxygen.

calcium iodate: couldnt find much info on this except that it is a common additive in foods for all animals and people alike. perhaps it provides calcium?

cobalt: essential to many living organisms

calcium carbonate: calcium supplement. main component of seashells and the shells of snails.

meat and bone meal: "meat meal is an animal feedstuff produced by recycling animal by-products. these by-products include meat trimmings, inedible parts and organs, fetuses, and certain condemned carcasses. they are cooked (rendered) to produce a nutritional and economical feed ingredient. blood, hair, hoofs, horns, manure, stomach contents, and hide trimmings are not permitted to be added to the meal. when bones are added to the meat meal it becomes meat and bone meal" (http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/PS024). research in the 1980s found that many bone meal preparations were contaminated with lead and other toxic metals, and it is no longer recommended as a calcium source. view the previous listed website for extensive info on meat and bone meal

most of this info was found on wikipedia. correct me if i'm mistaken but i dont see which of these ingredients is used as a preservative? the one point i do agree with you all on is the use of meat and bone meal, it can be dangerous. but that is not enough to stop me from feeding my crabs FMR food.

Bone meal is not good. And EQ does not have to be put on the ingredient list by FMR if it was already present in the ingredients (ie. the meal). The food is mainly fillers and as a consequence, is less nutritious than fresh alternatives. Your post also supports the contamination of bone meal with chemicals and lead. Furthermore, human and pet foods have different legal standards and so the meat meal prohibitions you listed may not apply to pet foods such as FMR.
As you say, the meat and bone meal are not good ingredients and likely to be contaminated with lead and other toxic heavy metals. That is definitely enough of a reason for me not to feed it to my crabs, let alone to spend money on the stuff! It's basically garbage and costs far more than fresh food. Hermit crabs can live for many decades, and so 3 years is probably not nearly long enough to measure any ill effects from their diet. Don't forget that metals can also cause sores on the crabs. Not all negative effects can be seen simply by looking at lifespan. Commercial staples are usually a waste of time, both from the perspective of the crabs' wellbeing and your back pocket.

i think aussie crabber misquoted me there, i dont think bone meal is "likely" to be contaminated with lead and other things, i think that was true in the 80s and i think the 80s were a long time ago and food processing has come a long way. the info i posted was based on restrictions on feed for livestock mostly, not human requirements. if you dont want to consume bone and meat meal i suggest becoming a vegetarian because your chicken ate it, even the cow whose milk your drinking ate it.

the metals listed are absolutely necessary in any living organism's diet. you can overdose on any of them, you will die without any of them. i dont want this to turn into a huge debate tho we've seen this over and over so ive made my point and i'll leave it at that.

research in the 1980s found that many bone meal preparations were contaminated with lead and other toxic metals, and it is no longer recommended as a calcium source.

It looked like you were saying that meat/bone meal is no longer recommended as a calcium source because of the contamination problems, suggesting they still exist today.

Many consumers choose to buy vegetarian-fed eggs and meat these days for this reason. The amounts of the metals you mention needed as part of a healthy diet are so small that adding them is unnecessary, hence the levels are too high, especially for a small organism like a crab.

Your original post said that "FMR food is perfectly safe for your hermit crabs!!", and that you think that it's "a very good idea to always offer a staple commercial food". I don't think you can make that assertion given the possibility of heavy metal contamination and ethoxyquin already present in the meal, and therefore not displayed on the ingredient list.

"hermies do NOT have nearly the excretory capabilities of higher order animals, so most of what goes in them, stays there, for good or ill."

One of our biologist members said this... so I am hesitant on using anything that might have those certian chemicals in it. It was posted in the food and water section ... "what is your favorite saltwater" in case you want to read the rest of the post for content.