HCA: Hermit Crab Association

for those of you who feed your crabbies frozen bloodworms, how do you defrost them???
i tried once to just put the frozen cube in, like an ice pop right? but noone tried it.

I pop the cube into a container marked just for crabby stuff and put in a bit of dechlor water, cover it up and put it in the fridge at night. Then I drain the water, holding the blood worm in with a spoon, and feed it the following night, usually mixed in with a little rice/millet/other whole grain. Be sure not to touch bloodworm, though. Everyone has a mild allergy to it and your allergy will get worse with each exposure. Serious Aqua-hobbyists can become severely allergic after a while.

REally? I can't tell you how many times I've touched frozen bloodworms!! That's kinda scary. WHat kind of allergies, like a rash?

Depends on the individual. I have a friend that has worked with aquariums for over a decade and is an aqua hobbyist. One of the new guys had put the blood worm on a common surface earlier in the day and didn't know better. My friend wound up touching the surface... He had to go home and have his breathing monitored. I'm unsure if he reacted that badly because wiped his nose or touched his mouth or something of the sort, but the point still remains that he reacted to that extent.

That said, I've fed bloodworms for years without ever having a really strong reaction. ~*shrugs*~ But everyone is allergic to it. If you touch it on a regular basis, you might want to consider investing in a box of latex gloves or just be careful not to come into contact. The longer the exposure, the more you react.

WOw, that's wild. I can't believe that. Is there a warning on the box somewhere? I've never seen it.

Every container of freeze dried I've ever had warns about touching it and breathing it in and the frozen ones I've had warn just about touching it. I've never seen a package without the warning. But I'm also not in the US.