Zoomed Bearded Dragon diet (?)

[Nate the great]

Does anyone know if Zoomed's Bearded Dragon food is okay for hermies?

What about the one from T-Rex?

[CrabMater]

Hey Nate- look out for copper and sulfares. Usually the stuff that's bad are preservatives. Check the Food Saftey guide for the list of toxins usually found in pet food

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[CrabMater]

*sulfates

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[soilentgringa]

I wouldn't feed them any kind of pellets, personally. It isn't necessary.

You can get dried shrimp and mealworms at WalMart (U.S.).

I don't know about your local Kroger stores but ours bags up "ugly" fresh veg and fruit and sells them for .99 cents.

It is very easy to feed crabs well without ever having to buy any sort of commercial or independently prepared crab food.

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[CrabMater]

I wouldn't feed them any kind of pellets, personally. It isn't necessary.

You can get dried shrimp and mealworms at WalMart (U.S.).

I don't know about your local Kroger stores but ours bags up "ugly" fresh veg and fruit and sells them for .99 cents.

It is very easy to feed crabs well without ever having to buy any sort of commercial or independently prepared crab food.

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Agree 100% cheaper and safer to make their food yourself.

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[Nate the great]

I did not post this question to give you a platform for your extremists' agenda.

I posted it to get a question answered.

I also wanted to get someone to add the foods to either the safe or unsafe list. Could someone please do so?

[kieagcarm]

Maybe it's not on any list because it's not recommended?

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[Rawrgeous]

Name calling and personal attacks are against the HCA rules, especially against an admin. Healthy debate is encouraged, but being argumentative is not.
The safe foods list is a list of foods we are positive that are safe. I'm not really sure on what food you are referring to being added...However, we do not add foods unless they have been used extensively and tested as safe. An accurate experiment cannot be performed without a test group and a control group. Not many people are willing to use their crabs as test subjects as I'm sure you can imagine. So it takes awhile for a food to just be wholly accepted as "safe" even if a crabber or two have reported using said product. As far as the pellets go, I found a list of ingredients. The information on what chemicals to look for in commercial foods are linked on your other post. Remember mods are people too, and they volunteer their time to keep the HCA going. I'll be honest, I wouldn't use them, but they are your crabs, and you are most welcome to make your own decision. I'll include the ingredients to the particular product below. Happy crabbing!
The t-rex one is safe :Sweet potato, carrots, red bell pepper, dried mealworms (tenebrio molitor beetle larvae), savoy cabbage, zucchini, spinach flakes, green peas, green bell pepper, chives


zoo med: Suncured Alfalfa Meal, Dried Lima Beans, Rice Bran, Organic Soybean Meal, Wheat Middlings, Ground Whole Wheat, Escarole, Endive, Calcium Carbonate, Monocalcium Phosphate, Dicalcium Phosphate, Dried Dandelion Greens, Sodium Bicarbonate, Dried Lactobacillus acidophilus Fermentation Product, Dried Lactobacillus casei Fermentation Product, Dried Bifidobacterium bifidum Fermentation Product, Dried Enterococcus faecium Fermentation Product, Hydrated Sodium Calcium Aluminosilicate, Hydrolyzed Yeast, Brewers Dried Yeast, Yeast Culture, Yucca schidigera Extract, L-Ascorbyl-2-Poly- phosphate (source of stabilized Vitamin C), Garlic Extract, Anise Extract, Chinese Cassia Extract, Ginger Extract, Horseradish, Juniper Extract, Vitamin E Supplement, Zinc Methionine Complex, Mixed Tocopherols (a preservative), Rosemary Extract (added flavor), Ascorbic Acid, Citric Acid (a preservative), Lecithin, Choline Chloride, Vitamin A Supplement, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Niacin Supplement, d-Calcium Panto- thenate (source of Vitamin B5), Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex (source of Vitamin K activity), Riboflavin Supplement (source of Vitamin B2), Thiamine Mononi- trate (source of Vitamin B1), Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (source of Vitamin B6), Biotin, Folic Acid, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Zinc Oxide, Manganous Oxide, Ferrous Sulfate, Copper Chloride, Calcium Iodate, Sodium Selenite.

[Giner13]

Name calling and personal attacks are against the HCA rules, especially against an admin. Healthy debate is encouraged, but being argumentative is not.
The safe foods list is a list of foods we are positive that are safe. I'm not really sure on what food you are referring to being added...However, we do not add foods unless they have been used extensively and tested as safe. An accurate experiment cannot be performed without a test group and a control group. Not many people are willing to use their crabs as test subjects as I'm sure you can imagine. So it takes awhile for a food to just be wholly accepted as "safe" even if a crabber or two have reported using said product. As far as the pellets go, I found a list of ingredients. The information on what chemicals to look for in commercial foods are linked on your other post. Remember mods are people too, and they volunteer their time to keep the HCA going. I'll be honest, I wouldn't use them, but they are your crabs, and you are most welcome to make your own decision. I'll include the ingredients to the particular product below. Happy crabbing!
The t-rex one is safe :Sweet potato, carrots, red bell pepper, dried mealworms (tenebrio molitor beetle larvae), savoy cabbage, zucchini, spinach flakes, green peas, green bell pepper, chives


zoo med: Suncured Alfalfa Meal, Dried Lima Beans, Rice Bran, Organic Soybean Meal, Wheat Middlings, Ground Whole Wheat, Escarole, Endive, Calcium Carbonate, Monocalcium Phosphate, Dicalcium Phosphate, Dried Dandelion Greens, Sodium Bicarbonate, Dried Lactobacillus acidophilus Fermentation Product, Dried Lactobacillus casei Fermentation Product, Dried Bifidobacterium bifidum Fermentation Product, Dried Enterococcus faecium Fermentation Product, Hydrated Sodium Calcium Aluminosilicate, Hydrolyzed Yeast, Brewers Dried Yeast, Yeast Culture, Yucca schidigera Extract, L-Ascorbyl-2-Poly- phosphate (source of stabilized Vitamin C), Garlic Extract, Anise Extract, Chinese Cassia Extract, Ginger Extract, Horseradish, Juniper Extract, Vitamin E Supplement, Zinc Methionine Complex, Mixed Tocopherols (a preservative), Rosemary Extract (added flavor), Ascorbic Acid, Citric Acid (a preservative), Lecithin, Choline Chloride, Vitamin A Supplement, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Niacin Supplement, d-Calcium Panto- thenate (source of Vitamin B5), Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex (source of Vitamin K activity), Riboflavin Supplement (source of Vitamin B2), Thiamine Mononi- trate (source of Vitamin B1), Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (source of Vitamin B6), Biotin, Folic Acid, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Zinc Oxide, Manganous Oxide, Ferrous Sulfate, Copper Chloride, Calcium Iodate, Sodium Selenite.

I agree with Rawrgeous, as well as the others on here. Not sure where you got off on the personal attacks. But we do take pride in knowing what is good & proper for our crabs around here. So any "agenda" is just good ol knowledge of hermit crab tendencies from their natural habitats. Please take care of your hermies!!


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[Nate the great]

I agree with Rawrgeous, as well as the others on here. Not sure where you got off on the personal attacks. But we do take pride in knowing what is good & proper for our crabs around here. So any "agenda" is just good ol knowledge of hermit crab tendencies from their natural habitats. Please take care of your hermies!!


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Perhaps it is because I asked a simple question and the topic was rudely interrupted by a couple senior forum staffers, including the site admin, who used this thread to restate the position of the militant hermit crab owners without actually answering my question.

And Rawrgeous, if the policy about adding new foods to the lists is really that cautious then perhaps we need a couple additional lists which identify safe/unsafe foods based on the ingredients list. Those lists would be quite useful.

[Rawrgeous]

I don't think anybody was trying to be rude to you, I think they were just trying to help. Text can be hard to convey emotions through. I urge all users to keep this topic on subject of the op or it will need be locked. The major known harmful ingredients are listed in the link I posted. There are several other preservatives and vitamin additives used in commercial foods that we have no clue on the effects on hermits. This is likely why it is not listed. However I will consult with the other mods on their opinions. My personal preference is to not feed anything with man- made ingredients. It's a safe rather than sorry sort of situation.

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[Giner13]

I don't think anybody was trying to be rude to you, I think they were just trying to help. Text can be hard to convey emotions through. I urge all users to keep this topic on subject of the op or it will need be locked. The major known harmful ingredients are listed in the link I posted. There are several other preservatives and vitamin additives used in commercial foods that we have no clue on the effects on hermits. This is likely why it is not listed. However I will consult with the other mods on their opinions. My personal preference is to not feed anything with man- made ingredients. It's a safe rather than sorry sort of situation.

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Agreed


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[aussieJJDude]

Just remember, not every single food item can be placed on a list... It will take quite a while, and like mentioned, needs throughout testing to ensure that it is safe or not! If you come across something that you're unsure about, best bet is to look up the ingredients. If nothing jumps out as harmful, then you could use HCA and other crabby owners opinions in determining if its ok to give. Just don't be surprised if everyone is just as unsure as you are! Many things that we had viewed as unsafe is now slightly "safe" (aka: no serious problems in a few months of using these products) but can't be 100% proven. As a general rule, if its not on the safe list then it can/should be treated as unsafe.

I'd personally stay away from the zoomed due to Copper Chloride. There has been links to copper and crustacean deaths, and used in pesticides, which insects have similar body structure and function to hermit crabs. Due to this link, its often placed as unsafe. Even in the aquatic invert world, many stay away from foods that have copper in it. However, some do feed "copper" to their shrimp and have had apparent success, but due to different environmental conditions from land and water, we can't 100% say thats its also land hermit crab safe as well. (But might be)

Many have a preference in not feeding pellets, which you may of noticed in multiple topics about pellet and man made foods in the HCA forums. I do feed them quite of bit of dried foods, however most pellets I've come across haven't been safe - or to my liking of safe.... a general statement of "preservatives" in the ingredient list is not enough for me! Due to reasons like that, many will and understandably do lump all pellets together as "I wouldn't feed... But if you want, you can..." type of thing!

~~~~~
Ramble aside, try to keep things from becoming too heated. If you want opinions, you will get them! Whether you agree or not, is a different story; and we can't tell you not to feed, but rather list suitable alternatives. At HCA we strongly believe that there is not right way in successfully keeping hermies, and "encourage" differences, discussion and opinions - without getting too heated.
And just like everyone else, admins can have an opinion too! We're also crabbers as well and can give suitable answers and opinions to questions!

[PinchersAndShells]

I wouldn't recommend it. It seems to have a lot of unpronounceables, as I like to call them, that may or may not be safe for the crabs and even if they are "safe" doesn't mean they won't have negative long term effects. (Kind of like how humans eating certain things may have negative long term effects.) I'm not going to sit here and nitpick all of the ingredients, but if you chose to then go ahead. I personally do use more pet store foods than others have mentioned on here, yet I do not feed anything with unpronounceable ingredients or anything with a list longer than I care to read. Targeted towards hermit crabs and reptiles I have found Fluker's Canned Rivershrimp for Hermit Crabs, Zoo Med's Can o' Crickets, and Zoo Med's Can o' Worms to all be something my crabs enjoy. Targeted for fish, my crabs have seemed to like Tetra Freeze Dried Jumbo Krill and Tetra Freeze Dried Bloodworms. I plan on extending this list in the long term. All of these do not contain any added ingredients except for the Jumbo Krill which contains soybean as a vitamin E supplement. I plan on using more products from reptile, fish, bird, and the like to find more good things like I've found so far with shorter ingredient lists.