Petition against painted shells...

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sun Aug 14, 2005 4:17 pm

Hopefully they use non-toxic paint that is safe for the crabs, but who knows. I know that it's hard to find crabs without painted shells as most pet shops carried the painted ones. All of the crabs I bought had painted shells except for one. As soon as they change out of the painted shells into a natural shell, and show no interest in returning to the painted shell, I'll remove the painted shells for good. I noticed the one painted shell had sections of missing paint, most likely ingested by the crab, or a former crab that may have used the shell previously. Hopefully there will be no long term harm done to the crabs that did eat some of the paint.

Until I know more information about how harmful the paint is I will hold off on signing the petition. I'm still new to to all of this.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sun Aug 14, 2005 5:53 pm

WadeF wrote:Hopefully they use non-toxic paint that is safe for the crabs, but who knows. I know that it's hard to find crabs without painted shells as most pet shops carried the painted ones. All of the crabs I bought had painted shells except for one. As soon as they change out of the painted shells into a natural shell, and show no interest in returning to the painted shell, I'll remove the painted shells for good. I noticed the one painted shell had sections of missing paint, most likely ingested by the crab, or a former crab that may have used the shell previously. Hopefully there will be no long term harm done to the crabs that did eat some of the paint.

Until I know more information about how harmful the paint is I will hold off on signing the petition. I'm still new to to all of this.

"The painted shells also cause much harm in many ways: the crabs becomes sick from eating paint chips and/or have become cemented inside of the home that is designed to protect from bodily harm."

Thats not reason enough to convince you?

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 11:23 pm

They can be stuck in a painted shell? Oh my! Hurt eating paint bad enough but poor crab not able to change shell ,wow. That did it for me , no more painted shells I may rescue a painted shell crab but never will purchase any painted shells anymore.Lucky my 2 Hermie's are in natural shells now(and both were bought in natural shells too).

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Thu Aug 18, 2005 12:34 am

Oh wow. I didn't know it hurt them. I bought two with painted shells and I bought two more painted shells for them to change into. I'll go to the pet store and buy some real shells... I don't want my crabs to get hurt...

I signed both petitions.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sun Aug 21, 2005 2:20 pm

Sea shell city has painted shells... Some actually have metal hooks on them. Any rightful crab owner would know hermit crabs are super-sensitive to metal. This is what they said:

Shells with Gold-Toned Rings. Used for Crab Leashes or Jewelry

LEASHES! LEASHES ARE MEANT FOR DOGS NOT CRABS! [smilie=pull_hair.gif]

Totally wrong...
Got To: http://www.seashellcity.com/crabs/crabshells.html to see the catastrophy... [smilie=cry.gif]

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Thu Aug 25, 2005 6:55 pm

Its not the metal thats bad for hermit crabs, it's the rust that forms on the metal that's bad.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Thu Sep 01, 2005 10:39 pm

I just got two PP's for my college dorm room (my roommate is more afraid of fish than the crabs...?). Both of them have painted shells. I tried to find a non-painted one, but these two were the most active. I wish that none of them had painted shells!

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Thu Sep 29, 2005 1:52 pm

Get this: When I bought my crabs, it was the painted shells that attracted me and my kids. The guy working the kiosk told me that I could paint my own shells!!! All I had to do was use non-toxic paint and take them to a pottery place to be fired in the kiln. At the time, I thought that was a neat idea. Now though, I have taken away all painted shells from the tank and the crabs seem to like the natural ones better anyway!

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue Nov 29, 2005 4:00 pm

I didn't really know that I have 5 crabs...and 2 of them are painted when I first got them...after reading this, I removed one of the painted empty shell....which I didn't honestly like but bought one cuz it was the only shell that would fit the crab I bought the same day. I actually prefer the natural shells without paint...but I have to admit that I bought one female crab that had a painted green shell with a watermelon picture on it that attracted me and liked it and named the crab "Watermelon"
I have 5 crabs, from biggest to smallest and the names are in bold: (female) Xena (she was named that because she was big and very tough and pinched me sooo hard that even I had to suffer and tolarate it and let it continue until she stopped and it left a little red mark for a few days), (female) Trisha, named by one of my friends (also that one quickly changed shells when I put her in to the crabitat which was very similar to the old one but more brown than green and had a golden color inside the shell), (male) Cody (has painted shell painted brown with white swirl also my first crab which I got along with another crab named Zack who was really huge (bigger than Xena, but died of stress

), (female) Watermelon (this crab has painted shell which was green with a picture of a watermelon (and while owning this crab it was the second crab to molt!)) and finally (male) Yoshi (smallest crab and was the first crab to molt and this crab was recently bought)
I agree that the shells should not be painted after finding out about this......it makes sense that it could be dangerous....thanks for the info and this is my first post in this site!)

-JECWhiz

hermiegirl · Post by **hermiegirl** » Wed Nov 30, 2005 9:19 am

I got all six of my crabs from the same mall kiosk (which has since left the mall, thank goodness). They didn't offer any in natural shells, so I was forced to get painted ones. Two of them have changed shells (remarkably into similar shells), but all the rest are still in painted shells. They don't seem interested in changing out of them. One probably won't for a while since he can go all the way in his with tons of room still. My smallest is molting right now, so I'm hoping he changes when he comes up.

I totally agree that painted shells are only a eye-catching gimic. My first crab's shell chipped all the time from his constant movement over the gravel in the kiosk. I spent the first week picking up orange paint flecks, but he seems to be doing just fine, so I don't think he ate anything toxic. But all painted shells should die. The natural turbos are so much prettier anyways!

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue Jan 10, 2006 8:24 pm

im very angry at the inventer of painted shells.most of them r hideouse anyway

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue Jan 10, 2006 9:50 pm

I signed the painted shells petition, but it wouldn't let me bring up the crab in a cup petition, but I will definitely sign it if and when I can bring it up.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sat Jan 14, 2006 10:34 pm

I didnt know lead was allowed in paint anymore. I thought they banned it back in hummmm the 70's.....
And I never saw a crab eating its shell either, mine like the cake and icecream.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Feb 01, 2006 11:54 am

I think that what is worse then painted shells are those goofy shells with googly eyes and ears glued on so that they look like mice. My one crab had that kinda shell and she was always getting stuck on stuff. MY Jericho switched out of his painted shell as soon as he could. Riley my littlest refuses to change into an unpainted.
Right now I offer a few painted ( ones that I have test and scraped at with a razor blade to make sure they won't chip I have thrown out six out of ten because they fail the test) because there is more sizes available by me in painted shells.
At the petco by me they have all natural shells available, however they have a kit you can buy to paint your own shells and add glitter and other things. I think that that is a bit rediculous.
I am actually trying to figure out the sizes of shells so that I can order them online and then I am gonna throw out all my shells and give them the nice natural ones.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sat Apr 08, 2006 9:55 am

OK. here's a bit more info on why ALL paint can be toxic even if it is labeled non toxic. This is something that as a fine arts Student you end up learning eventually.

the difference in something being labeled toxic and non-toxic is the death of one rat. Literally 3 live 2 die. It non toxic. think of it that way. Also Even if it is acrylic the only difference between it and an oil paint or any other pain is the medium used to carry the pigment. pigments being natural Minerals found in nature. Many colors are now being manufactured synthetically but that doesn't make them any less dangerous. ANY color saying Cadmium followed by the hue name is potentially dangerous. the difference between "artist Colors" and others is the amount of pigment and on non artist colors they could have mixed many different minerals together to get the color instead of using the actual single mineral to make the color. *those giving very poor color quality and making it cheaper*

Now Ceramic painting is a little different if your Kiln firing the "Glaze!" not paint. the colors you see on ceramics are basically Melted on. Its similar to glass. I still wouldn't do it to the shells though. you don't know if any got on the inside making sharp edges. Also you would only want to use Lead free glaze another words FOOD SAFE glazes. So it would be OK to offer tank decorations this way though.

and No they do not put Lead in any house paint any longer. though if you where to buy any WHITE artist paint it could possibly have lead in it. ALL good artist colors give you a list of the pigment and vehichal used to Carry the pigment. I as an artist would never use any paints on my crabs shells. My skin acts a pretty good barrier to getting the paint on me. But I even go wash and scrub my hands after painting. you don't' want to ingest the stuff.

they do make ceramic Paints and glass paints that are food safe if you wanted to do some decorating of Tank accessories. Use discretion and be safe to your crabbies. I recommend ceramic decorations and natural stuff. Painted plastics I've noticed peel after awhile.

Hope this was help full.

HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Petition against painted shells...

paint is bad...

paint!