Organic or not

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue Dec 12, 2006 10:38 pm

Hello

I have recently become the proud owner of two hermit crabs. I would like to vary their diet by feeding them more fresh foods. Do the vegetables have to be organic? and which vegetables would be the best to feed them?

Thanks for the help

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue Dec 12, 2006 11:57 pm

Congrats on your new pets, and welcome to the HCA.

I would recommend organic. Pestisides are formulated to kill critters that are not too distantly related to hermit crabs, and may have an accumlative effect with long term feeding.

Organics are not that hard too find, even at your local grocery store. Vareity is key to duplicating their wild scavenger diet. There is a safe foods list to the right of the screen, under Emergancy Care and Links, Crab Care FAQ in under that list is Safe Foods List.

I think fresh foods has made a big difference in my crab's health.

starmaiden · Post by **starmaiden** » Wed Dec 13, 2006 12:24 am

The pesticides used on veggies are intended to break down into harmless natural elements after a certain time frame so that they are gone when the veggies and fruits are picked for market. You're safe if you buy produce grown in the U.S. or Canada because of strict guidelines. South American produce is more worrisome because of less strict guidelines.

Just make sure you wash all veggies really well with dechlor water, even organics, because contrary to popular belief, organics are treated with pesticides too, like pyrethrins, Neem oil sprays, Bacillus thuringiensis, soaps, diatomaceous earth, and other naturally derived products that can be quite lethal to insects and also crabs. My dad grew organic lettuce and my uncle grows organic broccolli and green beans. And my cousin's husband is a produce broker who deals a lot in organics.

NaRnAR · Post by **NaRnAR** » Wed Dec 13, 2006 12:25 am

If you can get organics, although they are more expensive, I think they are the way to go. But if you dont have access to them or cannot afford them (I know how that goes, especially since I am a full time student) then make sure you wash them well. Sometimes the stickers on the fruits and veggies will say that they have been grown pesticide free, but they arent considered organic b/c of commercial fertilizers, I would guess.

Veggies to feed...carrots, bell pepper, sweet potato or yams, dark leafy greens such as kale or spinach, corn/corn on the cob (no seasoning or butter), green beans, broccoli.....mine even enjoy fresh jalepenos from time to time!

Pumpkins are also fabulous...and around this time of year are going for cheap at stores. I like to cut them up and bake the seeds and guts, and then I cut up the actual pumpkin and either put the little pieces in my dehydrator or I bake them and make things like pumpkin muffins for my hermies

or just scrap all the soft meat off and put it in a ziplock baggie and freeze it.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Dec 13, 2006 2:34 am

Star, that's intesting info on pestisides, I am wondering also about hormones, and their effects, I've often wondered what hormones in our meats and what effect that has on our crabs.....

Anybody?

So, NaRnAR, why do you still suggest organic?

I don't eat organics, too expensive, only my crabs do.

NaRnAR · Post by **NaRnAR** » Wed Dec 13, 2006 9:16 am

I suggest organics b/c I have seen the difference between eating organinc foods vs. regular store food. My mom, for example, she can go and get an organic banana and eat it and be just fine. Now give her a banana from say, Safeway, that is not organic, she'll eat it (unwillingly) and she will be sick to her stomach and running to the bathroom the rest of the day. There is something different in nonorganic foods that causes such a harsh reaction to happen in my moms digestive tract....I can only imagine what might be happening in the gut of a hermie who has only ever eaten natural things that are found in their habitat.

I dont feed mine organics all the time, especially when I am at the store and I see something they might like.

I just think you should be picky with your foods, we arent meant to ingest chemicals and hormones (like in nonorganic meats and milk/milk products)...it really messes with your bodys balance and can cause some nasty things. If I had that financial option to always eat organic foods I would, but for now I am picky with my milk and meat and the rest I will think about later.

(Im overgeneralizing by comparing hermies to us, but I figure they arent meant to ingest chemicals or hormones either and some sort of reaction to those must be happening internally)

starmaiden · Post by **starmaiden** » Wed Dec 13, 2006 1:45 pm

Star, that's intesting info on pestisides, I am wondering also about hormones, and their effects, I've often wondered what hormones in our meats and what effect that has on our crabs.....

I learned about pesticides while in Future Farmers of America and also while editing water quality reports for USGS in college. One of the reasons that DDT was banned in the United States is because it didn't break down into harmless particles, but even the eroded chemical structures were still toxic. It supposedly has a half-life of 15 years, so that means some part of it will be with us for a long while. 20 years after the ban, DDT was still showing up in soil, water, and fish fat tests according to the reports I was editing for the USGS.

Newer pesticides and herbecides are made so that they break down faster, usually within weeks or months instead of years. I worry about hormones too crabber. I wish I had the means to grow my own meat like before, or at least buy a 4-H or FFA animal and freeze it, but I don't have the money or the space to buy so much meat at once. Here in the US, our food supply is extremely safe compared to many other countries, Parts of S. America and Africa for example. Food is also cheap and plentiful too, thanks to modern farming techniques.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Dec 13, 2006 3:19 pm

For what it is worth... I saw this article this morning....

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13737389/

and then this while looking for the link to the above article...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3076638/

starmaiden · Post by **starmaiden** » Wed Dec 13, 2006 4:09 pm

Thanks for those links Feathers! I wash all my produce really well and scrub things like potatoes and carrots with a brush and dish soap and water. I often heard that if you were to invest in organic, things like potatoes and carrots and other 'in the ground' crops were worth the extra money because they tend to have more pesticide residue, but I did not know about apples! Since I live in Wa state, there are a lot of organic apples available for nearly as cheap as the regular ones, so I'm in luck.

The nice thing about organic apples is they're not waxed. Now if I could just find apples that don't have those dang stickers on them!

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Dec 13, 2006 4:28 pm

It's a hard question... I am trying to answer the question for my family too... luckily Nar makes a variety of organic crab foods which she sells so reasonably! The fresh stuff they get usually isn't organic.

I am feeding my family all natural foods... I've cut out all of that hydrognated stuff and high fructose corn syrup and enriched stuff... which leads to organic prepackaged foods... I think the next step will be to start with those foods on the must buy organic list...

Willow · Post by **Willow** » Wed Dec 13, 2006 5:19 pm

I don't usually buy organic for myself, except for milk (and I don't drink much milk), because I worry about the effect of the growth hormones. Little girls are going through puberty much sooner than back when my mom was younger (I was 11, she was 14), and I'm pretty sure it has something to do with milk and meat hormones. I would buy organic meat, but I don't prepare meat at home, I'll only eat it at a restaurant. For fruits and veggies, I don't worry about the pesticides too terribly much, although I do buy organic salad greens. I do think that hermies should get organic fruits and veggies as much as possible, because they're so much smaller than we are, and more closely related to bugs.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 8:50 am

Wow, I did not expect so many answers so quickly. Thanks to everyone who relpied, the info helped.

I have another question...

My Hermit crabs are not very active. The only time that they move around is in the evening, and i know this only because of their tracks. They both seem to be slighty buried in the sand. Is this normal? Could their be something wrong in my crabitat? I just worry that im not providing the right things to make them happy. Any help would be great.

Would it have been better to just post a new topic. I am new to all this

.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 8:56 am

How are your temp and humidity?

Also, if you have more ground cover they tend to be a bit more active but they are usually most active at night when things are still and quiet.