HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Picked this up. Asked around on FB too but I want to be sure. It's been boiled soaked and rinsed several times and will continue to do so tonight. It smells just like I'm used to rope smelling but I'm not really sure if that's a good thing or not. Any input is appreciated.


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I don't go thru all that trouble. I boil things once then they go in

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Sisal is a product of the agave plant and as such, is a natural fiber. However many natural fibers are coated with insecticides or anti-fungal agents, because they are shipped a long way, generally from warmer climes, where things like, say, dermestid beetles can be problematic.

I'd recommend a quick email to the company's customer service to see what's up with your brand. I found jute that wasn't treated in my local hardware store, but I threw out the packaging sadly.

But don't be sad - sisal has kind of a tough texture anyways, so jute is probs a better choice.

LadyJinglyJones wrote:Sisal is a product of the agave plant and as such, is a natural fiber. However many natural fibers are coated with insecticides or anti-fungal agents, because they are shipped a long way, generally from warmer climes, where things like, say, dermestid beetles can be problematic.

I'd recommend a quick email to the company's customer service to see what's up with your brand. I found jute that wasn't treated in my local hardware store, but I threw out the packaging sadly.

But don't be sad - sisal has kind of a tough texture anyways, so jute is probs a better choice.

That's good advice. I just emailed the company. Thanks


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Last time I tried "natural" sisal, I tossed it halfway through a project because I decided it smelled too much like petroleum. Repeated rinsing/soaking/boiling is a good idea, as is the email suggestion. Just use your senses too. (:

Any smells you smell on it now will get worse with the humidity of the tank. Also it is possible to make your own rope out of many plants. The known safe ones are agave, coconut husk and hemp. I would be willing to bet dogbane, milkweed and nettle would be safe too. Actually come to think of it nettle would easily be safe because its edible for us.

Interesting on making your own rope - I've never heard that before!

As far as the milkweed, that would not be safe for hermits. Milkweed sap is what makes Monarch caterpillars and butterflies poisonous

Hm... my understanding is that it's unclear whether the chemicals that make milkweed toxic to vertibrates have a similar effect on invertibrates. Milkweed might not be something a crab would want to eat, but it might not be unsafe for them, per se. A variety if insects will happily prey on monarch larvae, for example.

I've never heard that LadyJinglyJones. That's interesting. I've always heard that whatever has eaten Monarch caterpillars or butterflies will either get really sick and or die (insect/small animal wise) and that the toxins in the milkweed is why.

I am trying to make my own rope, and have tried a few plants with no success. You mentioned coconut husks. How would that work?

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Yeah i wasnt sure on Milkweed. Look up the "reverse wrap" Its the basic method of making cordage. I am an Earth Educator and that is one of the most basic skills. It can be difficult to teach yourself.

If you get the threads of the coconut husk and combine them together you can "reverse wrap" them together. If you practice and do it well you can make rope of any tensile strength and size.

So, I weaved this from a palm frond.
It's about 18 inches long and I will loop over my driftwood catwalk, as a kind of ladder. It's stronger than it looks.

What do you think?
http://imgur.com/a/5x92z

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Neat!

LadyJinglyJones wrote:Neat!

Thanks. It's from my yard too, so I know no pesticides, fertilizers or anything the like. Can't wait to set it up tonight

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GotButterflies wrote:I've never heard that LadyJinglyJones. That's interesting. I've always heard that whatever has eaten Monarch caterpillars or butterflies will either get really sick and or die (insect/small animal wise) and that the toxins in the milkweed is why.

It depends on what insect you're talking about; vespid wasps and several kinds of ants predate adults and larva; some assassin bug types predate larva, as well as some spiders; specialist tachinid flies parisitize larva, as do the ubiquitous parasitic wasps.

Some critters that eat monarch larva have been seen to get kind of dopey after, like spiders that can't weave webs properly after a monarch snack. So it probably depends on the animal. I think it might also be the case that younger larva, with less stored milkweed chemical, are preyed upon more often - but there are quite a few insect predators that do eat them.

Plus, different milkweed species have different amounts of toxicity.

So here's the interesting part: cardenolide glucosides are the heart-arresting toxins found in plants, like milkweeds, but also others too. I got curious if there was research into crustacians & cardenolides.

And there is: Birgus latro (coconut crabs, related to coenobita) are sometimes poisonous to humans. The most toxic parts of the crab are the hepatopancreas (a digestive gland) and the intestines... which suggests that toxicity is derived from foods they eat. (You can see where this is going.)

In places where the crabs are eaten, starving the crabs before they are consumed is thought to make them safe. Traditional knowledge has it that the crabs feed on the deadly poison seeds of a plant called the Cerbera mangas,
which in turn makes them poisonous. These plants produce cardenolide glucosides.

So! While this in no way proves that milkweed is safe for hermits (maybe it isnt), because there are a number of different kinds of killer cardenolides, and different ones may affect different crabs in any manner of ways, it certainly adds to the knowledge of the kinds of things some coenobitids can handle. And I think that's neat.


Sorry for the long post!