Friday, April 27, 2007

Swordfern

Swordfern (Polystichum munitum sometimes known as "western swordfern") is a hermit crab favorite! Every time the fronds are fed, my crabs devour every bit. No adverse affects. We are very anxious to harvest more of these and incorporate them into a dried food product for sale soon.
click here for swordfern slideshow

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Is Boston Fern considered a sword fern? We don't have sword ferns per se in this area (south eastern US) but we do have Boston Fern.

Jedi_sena said...

That is a great question! Boston fern (Nephrolepis exaltata)is known by the common names: Boston Fern, Sword Fern, & Wild Boston Fern. But it is a different plant than the one refered to in our food trial. At http://www.practical-pet-care.com/article_view.php?ver=3
They are considered non-toxic to lizards, but not edible. How a crab would react is unknown, but if you conduct a food trial on Boston fern or if any of our readers have any experience with this plant, please post your results here!

Anonymous said...

Western swordfern was a big hit in both my crabitats. The Straws ate it overnite and my PPs took two days to eat it. Will give them some next week.
nora