I got my first hermit crab like two weeks ago from the beach. I moved it into an actual glass tank with all of the things it needed, and it buried itself under the substrate like 30 minutes later. The one thing wrong with my tank for sure is that the temperature ranges from about 68 - 72 inside the tank and the humidity is usually higher than it should be(I bought a zoo med 10-20 gallon heating pad which doesn’t heat the tank very much at all; after that, I bought a screen lid and a heat light fixture that heats up the tank a little bit but also dries out the substrate quickly so I can’t leave it on that long). So, I read that if it is too cold inside the tank the crab might bury itself under the substrate sort of like it is hibernating but not really. I have a few questions:
1. How can I tell if my hermit crab is molting or it has dug under because it is too cold?
2. What would be a good way to have my tank heated so that it will be the right temperature and not dry out the substrate?
3. If I can manage to fix the tanks temperature will my crab come back out if it is not molting(I don’t want to dig it up in case it is molting)
Thank You in advance for all the help, and any other tips would be helpful too, because I am very new to this.
Is my crab hibernating or molting
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TorpidDuck
Topic author - Posts: 2
- Joined: Thu Jul 02, 2020 5:04 pm
Re: Is my crab hibernating or molting
http://hermitcrabassociation.com/phpBB/ ... 4d9c4dac5c
Link above is to all the care sheets. You’ll find everything you need there. I still review them.
Although in the care sheet section I’ll reiterate here about heating. A lot of people here use UTH (under tank heater) but placed on the back and or sides of the tank. It should be sized so it is placed from the top of your substrate to the top of the tank. They can also be insulated over. I used a foam board taped to the tank. I insulated the entire back and entire sides of my 55 gal. That may not be necessary for you. I got my UTH from reptile basics online. It was about $35.
I also have a thermostat that the UTH is plugged into so it only turns on when the temperature falls below my set temp.
And you say You got your crab at the beach do you mean on the actual beach or at a store? A lot of times the crabs found on the beach are marine crabs Unless you were in a sub tropical area like the Caribbean or south Florida. Marine hermit crabs do not live on land. If it’s marine it needs to be in a saltwater aquarium or returned where you found it.
When I first came home With my crab I had to use a space heater to heat the area the tank was in and I also had to seal the top of the tank with plastic or glass to hold in the humidity. I also started out with analog gauges that I calibrated but now I have digital and those have to be calibrated as well just to make sure they’re working properly.
I know it’s fairly typical for crabs to dig down and burry as soon as they have a chance after being kept in conditions where they can’t. From what I’ve heard here and from putty purchases of my own a lot of them don’t survive. I’ve only had one crab survive his first molt and several molts after. He came from a beach store while on vacation. The other crabs I bought at pet stores and none survived after their first molt. I had faith in one because I had him for 8 months and he became active but he just recently molted and died soon after resurfacing.
That’s about as much help that I can offer.
The experts here are very helpful and can help more.
They may ask you to fill out the emergency template so be prepared just in case.
Link above is to all the care sheets. You’ll find everything you need there. I still review them.
Although in the care sheet section I’ll reiterate here about heating. A lot of people here use UTH (under tank heater) but placed on the back and or sides of the tank. It should be sized so it is placed from the top of your substrate to the top of the tank. They can also be insulated over. I used a foam board taped to the tank. I insulated the entire back and entire sides of my 55 gal. That may not be necessary for you. I got my UTH from reptile basics online. It was about $35.
I also have a thermostat that the UTH is plugged into so it only turns on when the temperature falls below my set temp.
And you say You got your crab at the beach do you mean on the actual beach or at a store? A lot of times the crabs found on the beach are marine crabs Unless you were in a sub tropical area like the Caribbean or south Florida. Marine hermit crabs do not live on land. If it’s marine it needs to be in a saltwater aquarium or returned where you found it.
When I first came home With my crab I had to use a space heater to heat the area the tank was in and I also had to seal the top of the tank with plastic or glass to hold in the humidity. I also started out with analog gauges that I calibrated but now I have digital and those have to be calibrated as well just to make sure they’re working properly.
I know it’s fairly typical for crabs to dig down and burry as soon as they have a chance after being kept in conditions where they can’t. From what I’ve heard here and from putty purchases of my own a lot of them don’t survive. I’ve only had one crab survive his first molt and several molts after. He came from a beach store while on vacation. The other crabs I bought at pet stores and none survived after their first molt. I had faith in one because I had him for 8 months and he became active but he just recently molted and died soon after resurfacing.
That’s about as much help that I can offer.
The experts here are very helpful and can help more.
They may ask you to fill out the emergency template so be prepared just in case.
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TorpidDuck
Topic author - Posts: 2
- Joined: Thu Jul 02, 2020 5:04 pm
Re: Is my crab hibernating or molting
Yea I bought it from a store. Thanks for the help. I do have one question though; when you say you have a thermostat for the UTH that only turns on when it falls under a certain temperature, do you mean when the tank falls under a certain temperature, or the actual heater. If you mean the heater how hot do you have the heater to keep the tank at the right temperature?
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GotButterflies
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Re: Is my crab hibernating or molting
The thermostat keeps the heater from making the tank too hot.
IMO hermit crabs do better if their tank is at least 80 degrees.
IMO hermit crabs do better if their tank is at least 80 degrees.
Truly blessed to have incredible creatures, wonderful friends and my amazing family in my life!! I'm very thankful & grateful for all of them! www.thehealthyhermit.com
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GotButterflies
- Administrator
- Posts: 7242
- Joined: Wed Aug 10, 2016 6:56 pm
- Location: Florida
- Contact:
Re: Is my crab hibernating or molting
Truly blessed to have incredible creatures, wonderful friends and my amazing family in my life!! I'm very thankful & grateful for all of them! www.thehealthyhermit.com
Re: Is my crab hibernating or molting
https://www.zenhydro.com/ipower-digital ... ewing.html
I can’t remember which thermostat I got lol. It’s either this one on the link above or it’s vivosun. I think I got it from amazon. I actually purchased both because the first one I had to return. It would turn off when it reached the set temp but it wouldn’t turn back on when temp fell below set temp. It’s basically an automatic switch for your heater.
I can’t remember which thermostat I got lol. It’s either this one on the link above or it’s vivosun. I think I got it from amazon. I actually purchased both because the first one I had to return. It would turn off when it reached the set temp but it wouldn’t turn back on when temp fell below set temp. It’s basically an automatic switch for your heater.