Frozen Bloodworms

[Marthacln]

I bought frozen bloodworms and my crabbie won't touch them. Is this ok for them? I know the safe list says dead or alive, but when I went to Petco and asked for bloodworms they directed me to the freezer. I was in a rush to leave town and bought them. He prefers oats and eggs. But I want to expand his diet. He is active and has been awnry and digging and dumping water out. Any suggestions? I am about to cut a sweet potato to see if he will eat it.

[LadyMorrgian]

Crabs can be picky. I would just put them In rotation and offer them once a week or two. Personally, my crabs won't even go near a food dish with blood worms in it. I still offer it, but they never once touch it.

Also, how are you feeding them?

Just setting the cube in and letting it melt down? If so, that is a whole of bloodworms! He may be eating them, but in a small quantity that you are not seeing.



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[CrazyCrab12]

Generally the wetter the food, the more likely they will eat it because they can smell wet foods better. try moistening the food before you give it to them. or give them something that already has moisture like carrots, banana, water melon, ground meat, peanut butter, or honey.

[wodesorel]

Mine used to pig on bloodworms - dry or frozen - whenever I gave it to them. Hannibal once ate an entire dish of dry by himself! Unfortunately it's really easy to develop an allergy to them, and both me and my husband got to the point where it wasn't safe to have them in the house anymore.

[LadyMorrgian]

@wodesorel

Exactly what are the symptoms of a bloodworm allergy? I am going bonkers over here. I am allergic to something, and can not figure out what it is. My skin is seriously sensitive and I work in a thrift store. So I have been chalking it up to all I encounter at work even though I break out only after I been at home for a bit.



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[wodesorel]

My first sign was itchy palms and in between my fingers after handling them. It progressed to contact dermatitis, then hives, then it started setting off my asthma the moment I got near them. My husband got wheezy around them (he doesn't have asthma) and would sometimes get a rash. Surprisingly, he was never exposed to them before and had worse symptoms then I did from the start.

[Crabinski]

I bought frozen bloodworms and my crabbie won't touch them. Is this ok for them? I know the safe list says dead or alive, but when I went to Petco and asked for bloodworms they directed me to the freezer. I was in a rush to leave town and bought them. He prefers oats and eggs. But I want to expand his diet. He is active and has been awnry and digging and dumping water out. Any suggestions? I am about to cut a sweet potato to see if he will eat it.

My crabs prefer freeze-dried blood worms. They are usually shelved in the Fish section at Petco/PetSmart and the Tetra brand can also be found at Walmart. As @wodesorel mentioned, humans can have adverse reactions to bloodworms, frozen or freeze-dried; in fact, there is cautionary wording on the container advising people not to touch the freeze-dried product directly. I just lifted a small bit of the foil covering and shake out the amount I want directly into the food dish.

[Marthacln]

I just looked at this post and noticed all the replies. I am going to get rid of bloodworms because I noticed my hands itching. Good to know about moistening foods though. I found some freeze dried shrimp at Walmart. Looking at the ingredients list that is it. My freshly molted crab is eating it up. Houdini not so much. He is still eating oats only so I will branch out some now I know to moisten.

[KellyCrabbieLove]

The woman who runs DeliciouslyCrabby developed such a severe allergy she got blisters on the whites of her eyes! She can't go near them now.

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[jclee]

I had no idea that bloodworm allergies existed, let alone got so severe. This is good information to have. Thanks!

[wodesorel]

Anything that contains protein chains (ie, anything alive or that was once alive) can trigger an allergic reaction if a person becomes sensitized to it. Insect allergies are well documented due to researchers and caretakers managing colonies, and feeding them off to other creatures. It's possible to become allergic to any kind of insect with repeated exposure - including crickets and mealworms. With bloodworms, because they are so closely related to mosquitoes, the allergy can pop up extremely fast in people with very little prior exposure. If you get welts from a mosquito bite than you'll be more likely to have itchy palms (or worse) from bloodworms since the protein chains are so similar. (Cross creativity is common like that with allergies. It's why someone who is allergic to latex will react to a banana, or why someone who is allergic to ragweed will get an itchy throat from melons. The protein chains between certain things are too similar for our bodies to tell apart.)

[jclee]

That makes perfect sense. Now I'm wondering if my husband is allergic to crickets. He always complained that our home in Providence was stuffy, and his nose was congested a lot, and since moving to the LA area, that hasn't been an issue. Among many variables to change: since I rehomed my geckos, there is no 10Gallon full of crickets in this apartment. It didn't even occur to me that this might be on the list of variables to consider.