Do Crabs Need Warm Substrate to Molt?

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sun Jun 10, 2007 6:06 am

i'm having a debate with a crabber from a different forum.i was discussing with him why i thought heating lamps and such are a more natural source of heat for the hermit crabs. he disagrees, and says that hermit crabs need warm substrate in order to molt, and that heat lamps cannot heat the substrate as well as a UTH does. i was always under the impression that the earth is would be cooler then the air, and that hermit crabs tunnel to escape the heat of the day. i figured, if they're fine burrowing in cooler substrate, they're probably fine molting in it as well, and don't hang very close to the surface in order to molt in warmer temperatures.other crabber:quote:but it will not heat the bedding at the bottom so when a crab molt as you might all ready now they dig and if the bottom of the beading is cooler then the top it could make it hard on them . yes yes what we got here is a little debait thank you stand up and be heard we need me people like my response:quote:ah, but out in the wild hermit crabs don't have heated earth to molt in, infact, digging is how they escape the heat of the sun. other crabber:quote:very true the sand is still heat 3to4" deep from the sun. so they still get the warmth . but in a crabitat the the heat from the lamp can not heat the beading because it heats the air and the warm air will only heat the surface it would take 24 hours of the lamp to properly heat the whole thang. un like the pad heater witch heats from the bottom up . me:quote:the sun only heats three to four inches worth of sand? where did you read that? how do you know the hermit crabs stay at that depth to molt in the wild, and not deeper? other crabber:quote:ouch! that hurt. as fas the sand goes do you ever put your feet in the sand at a beach and notice that it getts cooler the far down you go . molting they have to stay warmto make it easier on them to shed there exo. me:quote:i hope you're not offended because i'm asking questions. i'm wondering how you came to certain statements, that's all.yes, i do notice that the sand is cooler as it gets deeper. i don't think hermit crabs would molt that close to the surface, however, for fear of being dug up/tunnels collapsing from people sticking their toes in the sand i was wondering if anyone had any thoughts pertaining to the topic. do hermit crabs need warmed substrate? do they seek warm substrate to molt in the wild?

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sun Jun 10, 2007 7:46 am

I was always scared of putting the UTH on the bottom of the tank, because of molters. The UTH is made to heat a proportionately large amount of sand, and if a molter were to dig down to it and molt on top of it i think it would harm him, especially right before and after the actual molt, when he would be too weak to get away from it. I side mount my UTH just for that reason, so a tunneler can feel the direction the heat's coming from and dig closer to it or farther away, depending on preference.

Willow · Post by **Willow** » Sun Jun 10, 2007 4:14 pm

Tammy at The Crabbage Patch has been answering questions about her outdoor crabitats. She says that the large PPs will dig down to the bottom of her enclosures, which are 3 feet deep, and she thinks they would go deeper if they could. And the ground that far deep is really cool, maybe 60 degrees. I think I read somewhere that the hermies prefer to moult in cool substrate. I've had better success with heat lamps than I ever did with UTHs.

Nicole · Post by **Nicole** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 3:56 pm

If anything, the UTH could counteract the effects of the damp substrate if placed on the bottom and the crabs were molting near it. Crabs need humidity and darkness to molt properly. A warm environment is essential to their health, yes, but crabs wouldn't dig to an area where they would feel it is unsafe to molt. They are looking for quiet, moisture and lack of light for a month or more, all which are much harder to find at surface level.

Post by **JediMasterThrash** » Tue Jun 12, 2007 9:42 am

The biggest issue is that the UTH dries out the substrate around the UTH, making that area unsuitable for molting. It also bricks sand, which could be dangerous if you have the UTH on a timer or rheostat.Plus relative humidity rises as temperature decreases, so the crabs will have higher relative humidity digging down into cooler, damp substrate, which should help their molting process.100's of happy molts in cool, damp substrate can't be wrong!

Willow · Post by **Willow** » Tue Jun 12, 2007 4:39 pm

quote:Originally posted by tnyfootprntz:I didn't think to ask about soil temp, she lives in southern Florida, so I guess it's not much of an issue there. I was basing my "really cool down there" statement on the times I went to the beach (in San Diego) when I was little, and digging a deep hole to sit in. After a while, I'd get really cold and have to come out. Now, I didn't have a thermometer with me (I was 5!), but I figure for me to get really cold, it would have to be about 60.