Any benefit to offering cod liver oil?

Crabby Abby · Post by **Crabby Abby** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 8:54 am

From Wikipedia:Cod liver oil is a nutritional supplement derived from liver of cod fish. It has high levels of the omega-3 fatty acids, EPA and DHA, and very high levels of vitamin A, vitamin D and vitamin E. It is widely taken to ease the symptoms of arthritis as well as other health benefits...Cod liver oil is widely taken to ease the pain and joint stiffness associated with arthritis,but has also been clinically proven to have a positive effect on heart, bone, and brain, as well as helping to nourish skin, hair, and nails.Cod liver oil and fish oil are similar, but cod liver oil has much higher levels of vitamins A and D.Any benefit to offering it or might it be too much A and D for them?

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 9:07 am

I am not too sure about the crabs, but in dogs cod liver oil and fish oils have brought dogs with almost NO use of the back side of body(legs) back to full use. It is amazing to see a dog how cant walk take the oils and regain all use.IMO if it has to much of these vitamins for daily use it would be great to offer to a sick crab, and might even have healing effects. It would at least be worth a try.

KittyCaller · Post by **KittyCaller** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 1:56 pm

Vitamin D is very good for calcium absorbtion. Apparently it would take quite a lot to OD. Vitamin A is useful and essential for LOTS of components for human life, (including Immune system) and I'd imagine that's true of hermies as well. I think it would be difficult to OD on vitamin A. It's in a LOT of foods, particularly ones hermies find tasty ie rotting fish. (Okay, fish in general, but my hermies would probably prefer rotted fish reference Ask Batty)

lpshiner · Post by **lpshiner** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 9:37 am

quote:but my hermies would probably prefer rotted fish reference Ask Batty) Hee hee! KC, my crabs second that- about the time I think I ought to take the fish *out* of the tat b/c they have ignored it and it's been 36 hrs....*then* I find a hermie snacking on it... (mine eat the eyes first... eew- do yours?)As for the oils, I would tend to use fish oil over cod liver oil *most* of the time. I don't think an occasional pop of cod liver oil would hurt,but I do worry about too much Vitamin A...although I'm probably being overly cautious. (I do the same thing for dogs, Ivy- I second your comment about the oils being so helpful for back pain... but I alternate b/w liver and fish body oils..)

Dramatic Hermiexx · Post by **Dramatic Hermiexx** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 10:15 am

I can't see how it can be harmful. Offering it once in a while would probably be good for the crabbies. Vitamin D does seem hard to come by in food sources and I've never heard of a 100% certainty that hermies can synthesize D from UV exposure.

lpshiner · Post by **lpshiner** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 3:19 pm

quote:I've never heard of a 100% certainty that hermies can synthesize D from UV exposure. I haven't heard that either. It might indeed be an issue, if the crabs tank doesn't have UVA/UVB light. Apparently they need the full spectrum, although I don't know if it has anything to do with Vit D... just thinking aloud....

KittyCaller · Post by **KittyCaller** » Wed Mar 18, 2009 2:14 pm

Some people have experimented with using UVA and UVB bulbs. You might check around the archives (main page, towards the bottom) to see results. I'd just caution those with small tanks about using lights. You need a big enough tank that the crabs can escape from the light and you can properly see if the crabs are enjoying it or not.

Willow · Post by **Willow** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 3:34 pm

I take cod liver oil....or my skin will all fall off . Really, my skin gets SO dry in the winter, and cod liver oil is the only thing that works. Also helps my knees, which ache now and then. Plus vitamin D is hard to come by in this northern latitude. I am a little worried about vitamin A toxicity, so in the summers I take fish body oil.I haven't tried cod liver oil for the hermies, though.....hmmmm. I'll have to squeeze a capsule onto their food and see how they like it. I tried giving them regular fish oil, and they liked it OK. It wasn't a big hit, though.