deltona shells & gifts

dylan644 · Post by **dylan644** » Fri Jun 22, 2012 5:48 am

quote: Edited to add--count them! I estimated that there are about 220 shells on the table. I didn't count them, I just guessed! I can't imagine how many shells you have in your tanks! What are you going to do with these shells when the crabs get big!Thanks for the help! I am definitely go to have to call them. Every time I try to "guesstimate" my crabs shell size, I mess up.

texasreb · Post by **texasreb** » Fri Jun 22, 2012 9:47 am

A good number of shells are buried in each tank. I try to keep 10-15 empty, clean shells available at all times, but I've been running out. Until this order came in, I would just boil and rotate the unclaimed shells every couple of weeks. Every time I did that, a few would change and I'd be able to get at least one painted shell out. Now I can give each tank 10-20 new shells and store the ones no one wants.

Jimmy · Post by **Jimmy** » Tue Jun 26, 2012 12:24 pm

I ordered a kilo size bag of turbos, a baggie od babylonias, and a couple larger turbos yesterday. It should get to my house in four more days if the estimate on the site is correct. The shipping costed more than the shells which kinda ticks me off. But heh, it's for the crabbies you know? Here's hoping they are all the right size for my hermies!

Jimmy · Post by **Jimmy** » Mon Jul 02, 2012 3:37 pm

I got my order today! The shells were all in perfect condition besides a small shell with a hole in it. The kilo-sized bag of turbos I bought had shells that were wayyy smaller than I expected. The baggie babylonias were great and Gimli already hopped out of hi painted shell into one. He shortly afterwards changed into one of my older less good looking shells. Over all I am very pleased with my order and highly recommend this store!

texasreb · Post by **texasreb** » Tue Jul 03, 2012 5:57 am

Wow! You got your order quickly. Mine was rather large--that might be why it took so long.I got a nice mixture of sizes in my kilo of turbos, but most were smalls and a few mediums.

dylan644 · Post by **dylan644** » Fri Aug 10, 2012 3:55 am

I finally placed my order. One thing that ticked me off was the $1.50 charge for new orders. I had everything planned down to the last penny and I had to go back and drop one of the shells off of my order. I am not too happy with that. I hope they get here before Wed so I atleast have something to look forward to. School starts back up Wed. :'(

dylan644 · Post by **dylan644** » Wed Aug 15, 2012 8:56 am

Still waiting for an email for my order to ship. I will call either Friday ir Monday to see if my order went through.

dylan644 · Post by **dylan644** » Thu Aug 16, 2012 7:15 am

I just got home to check my email and they sent me a email saying the shells shipped. Hopefully they will be here by next week.

texasreb · Post by **texasreb** » Fri Aug 17, 2012 3:57 am

Their shipping was very slow for me.One thing to potentially be aware of: Some of the polished shells I got from Deltona look like they've been shellac'ed. They are super shiny and seem to be coated. I know that some shells coming out of foreign countries are being shellac'ed. I've got a couple of these suspect shells and I'm still not sure...but they came from my Deltona order. I'll let y'all know for sure if I can determine one way or another. I'm thinking of trying to remove the shellac with a solvent on one shell. I have another one buried in a plastic container with wet sand. I check it every once in a while to see if I can detect any peeling, etc. So far, it's still looking good.

dylan644 · Post by **dylan644** » Sat Aug 18, 2012 7:43 am

I got my order in today! The shipping was really fast. Two days from Florida to OH. The processing took a while though. It says something on my recipe, but I cant make it out. I think they upgraded my shipping.So for the shells, I am very pleased. The box wash a bit crushed but the shells were fine, no scratches or chips. I give them a 8 on a scale of 10. While the shells look top line, being myself I'm a little dissapointed that they appear to all be minimum size listed. I was hoping I could get some bigger shells. I know it is hit and miss on them because they are not hand picked so I really cannot argue.As for the polished shells I got some too and they look hand polished. It isn't consistant all over like a glaze would. The polished dulled in the boiling process. And the water was quite dirty. Lot of calcium and lime residue. I think they are hand polished, they did the same thing that the polished shells did from THCP.

Fusious · Post by **Fusious** » Thu Sep 06, 2012 3:06 pm

They all look painted, though? Or am I wrong?

Toasty · Post by **Toasty** » Tue Oct 16, 2012 1:45 am

When I had hermit crabs previously, I placed at least 2 or 3 orders for shells from Deltona--I actually think they were the only site I ever actually ended up ordering from. Pretty sure my first order was made partly because of the huge selection, variety of sizes, and excellent prices, and partly because all that seemed too good to be true and I needed to find out for myself lol. I ended up being so pleased that I didn't hesitate to place a couple more orders after that. I do remember the shipping taking longer than average, though not as long as what texasreb experienced, but it was worth it to me. Now that I've returned to crabbing after my hiatus I'm really needing (ok, wanting) more shells (specifically pretty ones) so I placed an order yesterday with Deltona. The shells are definitely not painted, but I do wonder now whether it is possible some are shellaced as texasreb suspects could be possible. None of the shells I got from them ever exhibited any kind of peeling, flaking, or anything else to indicate to me that they were, but that obviously doesn't prove anything lol. I'll definitely be closely inspecting the ones I receive in this order for any sign they might be coated with something. What kind of solvent are you considering using to test it texasreb? Would acetone nail polish remover work?

texasreb · Post by **texasreb** » Sat Oct 20, 2012 12:08 pm

Sorry I didn't see this sooner. I never did try a solvent on the shells that I think have been coated/shellac-ed. I still think they have a coating of some sort on them even though it doesn't seem to be coming of. I put a bunch of them into the tanks before I became suspicious and the crabs all seem to love them. Every single suspect shell is occupied. Incidentally, all of the shells that I think might have a coating on them have a snakeskin pattern on them. They are very pretty.

Toasty · Post by **Toasty** » Sun Oct 21, 2012 8:41 pm

Got my Deltona order. It arrived 4 days after placing my order I believe, so more quickly than I expected. The shells are just as gorgeous as I'd remembered them being and no flaws on any of them. Only one shell has been moved into so far by my medium PP who I got pretty recently and was in a shell with a serious crack all the way across it, I was so relieved when he changed shells. When I picked up the old one it literally fell apart into 2 pieces in my hand. But 6 of my crabs are Es that are still in their original nerite shells, since they're notoriously stubborn about changing shells, I'm really not surprised that none have changed, plus, 3 are down molting currently. My last crab is a large PP that I got right after placing my order, and so of course none of them are close to being big enough for him. Guess that means I'll just have to make another order