Affect of Pesticides/ Unnatural ingredients

[Guest]

I totally agree that we are responsiable (lol sp?) to provide our hermies with the best LIFE possible. We bought them there for we must do what is necessary to keep them healthy and happy. Its not hard to spend a few extra minutes in the grocery store reading lables and info on what a food has in it. Personally I would think that by providing a all around "healthy enviroment" we are giving them a all around "happy life". I would rather try my hardest to give them good food that they need and see them live longer than give them food that just makes them happy for the time they spend esting it and see them perish sooner than later.Again my point being that you took the crabs in, now be responsiable enough to give them the life that they deserve, and make it be a life that they will thrive in.

[JediMasterThrash]

Here's a copy of a post I made on HCA a week or so ago:quote:A while back there was some fear about playsand due to the silica dust. However, silica dust is only a factor if the sand is very dry, and it only affects human lungs. It doesn't pose any risk to crabs. Crabs are closely related to mites, and spiders and insects as well. It's well researched and documented which chemical compounds act as pesticides and kill insects. It is those compounds, and foods or plants which naturally contain them, that are put onto the Unsafe list. Of course not everything on the unsafe list is for sure unsafe, and vice versa. But a lot of the listed items are based on biological research. Others are based on experiments and trials that lasted for several years. Still, things regularly get changed. Yes, in the wild hermit crabs are exposed to a variety of healthy and dangerous foods and chemicals. However, in the wild, the crabs are exposed to a *variety*, and variety is the key word. They might nibble on a poisonous plant one day, but not the next. They might rummage through some garbage and eat some bad food one day, but not the next. The danger is that we only feed our crabs a very limited diet, and often the same foods every day. A consistent diet of something harmful will probably eventually cause problems. We can never provide them the variety of plants, carrion, and food the crabs are exposed to in the wild. In the wild they won't eat enough of the same unsafe foods regularly to cause themselves problems. Also, in regardes to proof that certain ingredients are harmful, there has been a lot of evidence (including from personal study) correlating copper sulfate (an insecticide) with molting deformities.