Wondering if eCOTRITION snack shak would be crab safe

[jclee]

I am mentally planning ahead to a big upgrade next summer and I want to make sure that my biggest (who is a little bigger than a softball) has somewhere to hide. I happen to have an extra snak shak (link below) left that my guinea pigs aren't using, and I thought it might be size appropriate.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/p ... atid=29397

From the description, it should be crab safe. It might mold, but I could take it out if that started to happen. Does anyone have any thoughts/opinions about how this might work out?

[StayLoki]

omg I was wondering the saaamme thing!

my two concerns were a dye of any sort, since over time it my stain lighter substrates or even affect the crab color if truely eaten..? and then weither alfalfa (which I'm just assuming it is) is ok for them to pick at.. ?

I guess we should start with the ingredients list 1st and brainstorm from there, ill work it

[StayLoki]

O the ingredients are there, in the link you posted..

Ingredients
Pine Wood Shavings, Cassava Starch, Alfalfa, Sodium Alginate, Potassium Sorbate, Propionic Acid, Honey, Glycerin, Propylene Glycol.

idk. . what do you think?
not so thrilled about the pine, but I suppose its so dehydrated or whatever? lololol

[ashleyandanimals]

My first thought would be no. I'm sure someone else will be able to chime in.


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[JulesRolyCrab]

No, it isn't!!
Sorry. But it would hurt them. Propylene glycol is not safe for the crabbies. I'll quote Kilimanjaro on this one:

The preservatives and harmful ingredients that everyone should be looking out for in commercial foods are artificial color, by-products, copper sulphate/sulfate, ethoxyquin, ferrous sulfate, foods containing "meal", magnesium oxide, menadione, propylene glycol, sodium chloride, zeolite, zinc oxide

Check out the guide for more: http://www.hermitcrabassociation.com/ph ... 25&t=92554

There might be other things wrong with it, but this stood out first. Anyway I probably wouldn't feed it to them because of the Glycerin, and the crazy words.

[jclee]

Thank you all for your informed attention to detail. I will not be trying that experiment, then.

[soilentgringa]

Someone already caught it, but yeah the pine shavings would also be a no-go, IMO.

Pine is extremely controversial in the crabbing community anyway, with there being some serious division as to whether it is safe or not for crabs. We know that they have trees in the pine family in their natural habitat and that they climb on these trees, but we also know that the phenols in the sap can be toxic to them in enclosed environments.

Some crabbers have suggested that when comparing deaths, one constant was the half logs, but then again, correlation does not imply causation, so who knows? With PPS and other factors leading to deaths, it is really hard to pin down why any crab lives when another one survives in captivity for 30 years. (It's 4AM sorry for the rambling.)

I've had a pine half log in the tank and when I baked it, a lot of sap oozed out, so I don't use them in my tanks any more.

But yeah, anyway, the other ingredients that julesrolycrab linked and the pine shavings would definitely put me off using it.