HCA: Hermit Crab Association

As you all know I have been working hard on my crabitat and stabilizing its conditions. Last weekend I bought some of those glass beads for aquariums. I thought it would add a little color and give the crabs something to climb on in the water dishes. I had the shiny ones in there becasue they're so pretty, but as I was changing the water today I thought, uh oh, should I really use these in the water? They have a coating on them that gives them that shiny appearance, do you know what I mean? So I immediately took them out and replaced them with the frosted ones that came in the bag. They don't have any coating, they just aren't polished. Are these ok? Thanks for your opinions!


this is similar to what I got, but mine are from walmart.

http://www.petsr4u.com/proddetail.asp?prod=AG8

Did you boil them first?

That alone should ensure they are safe for the most part.

what i'm really worried about is the pearly coating leaching into the water...boiling wouldn't prevent that...

I don't think many types of glass beads and stones have any sort of polish or coating on them. They're 100% glass. I don't think you have anything to worry about unless they have designs painted on them, which usually is not the case with any kind of glassware.

nope, these aren't painted, but they have that rainbow type shine to them...hard to describe...I put the non shiny ones in anyway...but yeah, they're glass...so they should be ok!

I think I understand what you're saying. I've seen several different types of glassware made by hand. They only use glass, even to get that rainbow appearance. As long as you wash them before hand and there are no chips, they are completely harmless.

Whew... thanks, michele213! I'm still really new to crabbing...just started about a month ago. So I tend to question myself a lot!

We've been crabbing about the same amount of time then I'm still in the same phase of crabbing you are, so I know how you feel!

Sorry, I have to disagree on this issue. I know for a fact that the iridescent coating on plastic can kill birds and small mammals. Because of that, I would not trust an iridescent coating on glass, especially since the product you're using wasn't intended for use with pets.

the glass stones are intended for use in aquariums...which should be pet safe...but to be on the safe side I switched and am using only the glass stones that are not pearly...

Sorry I missed the part about the glass stones being meant for aquariums. I'm paranoid about any kind of iridescent coating since I heard about the incidents with it on plastic. People were putting those plastic wind-spinner things that have an iridescent coating into bird and sugar glider cages as toys and they have killed a lot of animals. Of course, I'm inclined to be overly cautious about anything and everything I give my pets.

oh i know, me too...i want to make the most ideal conditions for my crabbies!

Iridescent glass gets it's sheen by getting a coating of metallic salts while it's still hot, then getting refired. I collected a few pieces of Carnival Glass, which is the common name for decorative pressed glass pieces with the iridescent overlay; it's perfectly safe for human food use; once it's refired the metal salts are fused into the glass.

That said, I worry about EVERYTHING when you're soaking it in salt water day in and day out - it's terribly corrosive.

I have glass beads, some round, some oval, in all my water dishes. I added them when I got a mess of micro E's and they work terrific. Funny enough, this morning I actually found 2 of them out of one of the dishes and in the sand being rolled around by one of the PP's. I am thinking he took a fancy to them and took them out to play with...

aawwww...cute!