Are these safe?

[Sassy]

I am cleaning out my hermit crab stuff. I have a number of large shells and some hemp twine. Are these safe for a grey?

 

Thanks

Sassy

[Doug]

It is awfully hard to completely clean out the inner parts of shells, so I'd be concerned about bacteria. And if you don't know that the twine has not been treated with chemicals, then it is better to just purchase new. (Twine is cheap...)

[Sassy]

Thanks. Normally when we get new shells they get boiled in salt water for 5-10 min. That should be enough to kill anything. Yeah I'll get new twine.

 

Sassy

[Doug]

Sterilization is about the combination of heat and time. According to the wikipedia article, "Boiling a sample for 30 minutes or more will kill virtually all vegetative cells present, but will not kill spores, which can germinate shortly thereafter and resume growth. Therefore, boiling is an insufficient method to achieve sterilisation."

 

Of course, life is a series of compromises. We can try to sanitize but it is very difficult to sterilize. Everything has risk. We all make our decisions which risks are acceptable and which are not. (If we didn't, we'd never ride in a car...)

 

Even reputable bird toy sellers have things that some people claim are not safe for parrots.

[Sassy]

Thanks for the info.