HCA: Hermit Crab Association

I have been making jewelry form shells for some time.
I usually end up polishing it with my Dremel and Beeswax!
Now that I am about to rent out a tank to Hermit Crabs, and looked around online, I have seen so many pretty shells for big $$$
I know it is something I could do with natural shells, but I am not sure about the polishing part
Is Beeswax save?

Its not only safe, its a healthy treat for your crabs!

suebee wrote:Its not only safe, its a healthy treat for your crabs!

We won't know if it's a shell fight or a food fight, LOL!

Lol, come here friend i just want to taste you house.. its worse then the gingerbread people!

Oh well... then it is just like making jewelry!!!
I guess I will get busy as soon as my shells get delivered
Soon our little tenants will be stylin'

crabbyrn wrote: We won't know if it's a shell fight or a food fight, LOL!

Out of curiosity, could you use sand paper to safely polish a shell to get the "banded" look? I would really like to do some work on my crab's shells.

(Zephyr's looks more like a rock than a shell thanks to the whole camouflage thing, lol )

sand paper is fine on a empty shell, i wouldnt polish or sand any shell that a crab is already in..

Oh no! Of course not while he's in it! I'm hoping he'll switch and then I can steal it for a bit and clean it up a bit. (It has some chipping of the top layer.)

I made the dumb mistake of placing my shells in vinegar. Now they look pretty dull. The shells appear a little stripped inside. Would you recommend applying beeswax inside the shell?

suebee wrote:Its not only safe, its a healthy treat for your crabs!

How about mineral oil? How long do you think the shine would last?

suebee wrote:Its not only safe, its a healthy treat for your crabs!

If you use sandpaper... it will take you ages to get any kind of shine to it!
When I made jewelry from Shells, I would use the Dremel with a sanding bit for clams etc and my hubbys bandsander for snail shells.
It is not a quick and easy process!
I never used Mineral Oil on my Jewelry, because the shine does not last long, and it gets a yuk dirty look within no time. For the natural shells that our Hermies wear now, I just use a bit of Olive Oil to buff them up.

A few points:

To get a shine like we see on polished shells usually requires very, very, fine grit and if you don't want to spend hours at it, some power equipment. A dremel at the least, a buffing wheel or some-such would be even better.

Mineral oil vs Olive Oil. Tough call. In this instance, if the stuff is being buffed off really well I doubt there is a difference. Remember though, olive oil can go rancid (oxidize) and will grow some funky things. Spreading it out thin would increase the surface area and increase the rate of oxidation. A problem? I dunno. Mineral oil will not go rancid, but gobs of it on the gills would be a bad thing. Eating it is not a big issue, unless it is a chronic thing in fairly decent quantities, but oil and respiratory surfaces do not mix.

Banding - definitely a dremel with a grinding or sanding disk followed by buffing thing, unless you have a lot of extra time on your hands.

Beeswax: Know your source. Some beekeepers find it necessary to use materials in their hives to combat mites and other arthropod problems. These materials can build up in wax. Enough to affect a LHC? No one can say for sure, but the things are designed to affect other arthropods, and used improperly can certainly harm the bees (some would argue that they harm the bees even when they are used carefully but that is a different discussion). Since crustaceans share certain physiological mechanisms with insects, caution would be prudent.


Keith

I was thinking of applying a little bit of olive oil inside my shells. You indicated oil and respiratory surfaces do not mix. I'm assuming from this that applying a small amount of olive oil inside the shell would be a bad idea. Is this correct? Would it be okay to put just a small amount of olive oil on the outside of the shell, and then wipe it off/pat dry with a paper towel?

kgbenson wrote:A few points:

To get a shine like we see on polished shells usually requires very, very, fine grit and if you don't want to spend hours at it, some power equipment. A dremel at the least, a buffing wheel or some-such would be even better.

Mineral oil vs Olive Oil. Tough call. In this instance, if the stuff is being buffed off really well I doubt there is a difference. Remember though, olive oil can go rancid (oxidize) and will grow some funky things. Spreading it out thin would increase the surface area and increase the rate of oxidation. A problem? I dunno. Mineral oil will not go rancid, but gobs of it on the gills would be a bad thing. Eating it is not a big issue, unless it is a chronic thing in fairly decent quantities, but oil and respiratory surfaces do not mix.

Banding - definitely a dremel with a grinding or sanding disk followed by buffing thing, unless you have a lot of extra time on your hands.

Beeswax: Know your source. Some beekeepers find it necessary to use materials in their hives to combat mites and other arthropod problems. These materials can build up in wax. Enough to affect a LHC? No one can say for sure, but the things are designed to affect other arthropods, and used improperly can certainly harm the bees (some would argue that they harm the bees even when they are used carefully but that is a different discussion). Since crustaceans share certain physiological mechanisms with insects, caution would be prudent.


Keith

I do buff the natural shells with a tiny bit of olive oil that I wipe off when I am done.
I am not concerned about it going rancid. I clean my shells (rinse/boil/buff) every now and then and olive oil takes a while to go bad! Last year I found an opened bottle of olive oil on my husbands work bench that I bought when we first moved into our new house 6 years ago. It smelled just fine, no sign of being rancid. (No clue why he had it )
You do have to be careful when it comes to the Beeswax!
I get mine from my kids classmates father who is a Beekeeper. I know for sure that his Honey is Organic and that his Wax is free of pesticides.

BUT I would never get any Oil or Wax on the inside of my Shells!