Newbie crabby mommy and to the site. Food allergy!

[CPRESTON]

Just got a little hermit crab named Sponge Bob the other day. I had no idea about the potential blood worm allergy, and so when I fed him, within 15 minutes I was having trouble breathing. I have severe allergic asthma and probably should have used my epi-pen but I chose to take benadryl and several breathing treatments instead. (Epi-pen use would automatically send me to the er). So I'm not touching the food again, but need other options for his main meals. I've read freeze dried shrimp is ok. Will it be ok to totally not include blood worms in his diet??

Also, anyone hear of any other crabby foods having similar affects on people? I need to know in case I shouldn't handle something I'm feeding him. I am new here btw. Very excited to be a newbie crabby mom too.

[Crabinski]

Sorry about your reaction to the blood worms. Freeze-dried blood worms bear the "do not touch" warning but it's in such tiny print as to make the warning virtually useless. I just shake a small amount from the container into the food bowl and make sure that, if there are any left over when I clean out the bowl, that I use a paper towel rather than my finger to wipe out the contents before washing. No other freeze-dried item should trigger an allergy attack but, if you're very sensitive, just use a small plastic spoon or reptile feeding tongs to take out mealworms, crickets, shrimp, etc. And blood worms are not necessary in a hermit crab's diet so don't worry about that.

Your crab will be fine with freeze-dried shrimp and can actually eat most things we do (without seasonings or sauces, of course). Read the Safe/Unsafe Food lists in the FAQS/Care Guides section and you'll be amazed how easy it is to keep a crab healthy with items from your pantry and 'fridge! A quick and easy source of both protein and calcium is to give the crab a half eggshell with raw albumin, basically whatever is left in eggshell after you dump the yolk and white into the pan.

And welcome aboard! Feel free to ask questions as we've all been newbies at some point .

[soilentgringa]

Crabinksi covered it but yeah, blood worms cause reactions for a lot of people.

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[KayedeeLove<3]

This is why i don't touch their food at all accept once (a dried piece of squid). This is one of my nightmares

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[CPRESTON]

Thanks for the advice. I'll admit that when I got my hermit crab, I really had no idea what I was in for, meaning that they're quite the complex little creatures and "needy", I guess you'd say. With that being said, I jumped in with both feet and started learning everything I could. I have severe allergic asthma, so when I handled the crab food, I knew I was having an allergic reaction. I hadn't eaten anything and the only things I handled new were his food and the sponge. I've handled sponges before, so I easily figured out It was the food. My reaction was so bad that I should have used my epi-pen, but didn't feel like a trip to the hospital, so I chewed a few benadryl And had to take several breathing treatments. Now I know to be extra careful. I'm terrified of anything like that happening again. I've now got my two crabbys set up in a ten gallon terrarium and they seem to be doing ok.