Does the type of clover matter?

jasonmom · Post by **jasonmom** » Sun Jul 21, 2013 7:48 am

I've read clover is good for hermit crabs. Is that the white clover growing in my yard or the purple clover growing along the road.

Crabber85 · Post by **Crabber85** » Sun Jul 21, 2013 9:21 am

Actually it's neither you want farm grown/raised organic clover as anything wild will have the risk of introducing contaminants and foreign bacteria/microbes that the crabs may have little to no resistance to.The rule of thumb if its wild growing but isn't from their native environment then its a no go.

jasonmom · Post by **jasonmom** » Mon Jul 22, 2013 2:53 am

Couldn't I microwave it or freeze it to do away with bacteria? I'd really like to take advantage of some local growing plants.

finalfantasyxii · Post by **finalfantasyxii** » Mon Jul 22, 2013 5:08 am

I have only given my hermies red clover. I have gotten it from Hermit Crab Addiction and then realized I had the same thing to make tea with. I got it in bulk from a place that sells herbs and flowers to make tea. I don't know about the other kinds of clover.Feeding your crabs wild stuff is entirely up to your comfort level. My belief is that something from my yard might be safer than something grown on a farm. I don't see why bacteria and contaminants would NOT be a risk from something you purchase? It's not like they're grown in a sterile environment, and if it's organic wouldn't you run the same risk of foreign bacteria or microbes? I mean, it's not like the red clover from the Addiction store is grown in the crab's natural habitat either.I know people who have added home caught bugs and fed wild caught food with no problems. It's up to what you feel safe doing.

Crabber85 · Post by **Crabber85** » Mon Jul 22, 2013 5:13 am

Microwaving wont do anything but dry up the plant to nothing and freezing would completely destroy it hence the reason why it disappears with the first frost of the year.It's particularly hard to sterilize these plants you could bake them but clover has a really low ignition point much lower than wood which is around 300-400 degrees so your looking at a flash point of 100 degrees maybe less depending on the moisture content.You can't bake, microwave or freeze chemical contaminants out of the plant and the odds of the plants having come into contact with any number of chemicals goes up the higher the population is in the area.@finalfantasy, I know the farms in my state are required to have soil and plant analysis done once a week and the plants are more or less sterile compared to anything wild growing because the farm grown plants go through several different purifying process one of which is UV sterilization to kill of bacteria and microbial growth which makes the end product much much safer.

finalfantasyxii · Post by **finalfantasyxii** » Mon Jul 22, 2013 5:32 am

As a side note because I'm a nerd: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clover

Crabber85 · Post by **Crabber85** » Mon Jul 22, 2013 5:54 am

Thanks for the info FF. In lower Ga we have a lot of bee farms and they depend on clover mostly red clover to get the nectar the farmer needs for the honey so the farmers tend to plant large fields of clover all around the area where the bees are kept and some of the planted clover gets harvested for different things and due to state law the harvested product has to be sterilized at the processing facility.We had a huge problem with our honey bees a couple of years back over sixty percent of the colonies got wiped out due to an invasive fungus which put a hurt on the local honey market which we still haven't gotten over.

jasonmom · Post by **jasonmom** » Mon Jul 22, 2013 7:31 am

WOW , who knew there were so many types of clover.As for chemicals and such, where I would get stuff from is places where I would not worry about pesticides and such. I'm in southern WV & we own about 60 acres.

Crabber85 · Post by **Crabber85** » Mon Jul 22, 2013 7:51 am

As long as your reasonably sure of the purity of your land you can use the clover you have available I would just caution to sterilize it by rapping it in tinfoil and baking at 250 for five to ten minutes you may also want to soak the clover in dechlorinated water just to add a buffer against premature ignition.

Laurie LeAnn · Post by **Laurie LeAnn** » Mon Jul 22, 2013 9:35 am

huh? I get the purple stuff from my son's place he lives out in the middle of no where and it's a chemical free zone place I bring it home wash it in their water and put in the tank and they love it, it's normally a treat