HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Here is a closer picture. Should I just follow the pinned instructions for cleaning for food mites?


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I have these small pin sized bugs all over the top of the tank. I can see a few on one of the crabs as well. Are they food mites?


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Hello, again. The new crab is still down. Our other crab switched shells the other day. It is exciting to see them exhibit their natural behaviors. As I wrote earlier, the crabs got a 20G tank for Christmas. I know my wife was annoyed with me spending more money on them, but I really think they will...

Hello. Time for my almost weekly update. My daughter's crab died last week. There were no signs of life from him, so I picked him up and another leg fell out. Oh dear. I decided to call the time of death. I went out and bought another one. I made sure to carefully study the crabs at the pet store to...

Hello hermit crab friends....my son and I have 2 hermit crabs in a 29gal tank. We have live miss on the back wall, loose moss, and sand for the substrate. We also have 2 smaller heating pads one on the back and one on the side. We have a 100 watt heat bulb and a little humidifier. We cant seem to k...

We were using the commercial food which I know is bad. I had also been putting some chopped apple and peanut butter in there. Yesterday, I made a mix of tuna in water, chopped apple, and plain popcorn. I also put some oats and honey in a different dish. Those are in there now. For water, I am using ...

Hello again. Almost a week has gone by and everything seems to be going ok. I have gotten temp and humidity stabilized. However, I have noticed in the last two days my daughter's crab has lost a couple of legs. Her first crab lost a couple of legs and ended up dying, but we didn't have "her" in a go...

I hope this is a good meal for them.

One dish has a mixture of canned tuna, plain popcorn, and diced apple.

The other dish is dry oats drizzled with raw unfiltered honey.

Sounds like a great plan. Heat lamps have their place, but in my experience that place is not heating crabitats. I would suggest, when you’re shopping for a UTH, to get one that you can insulate. I bought a 10-20 G rated Zoo Med UTH yesterday. With it and the 1-5 G UTH on the tank, it has been stay...

I have decided to ditch the heat lamp. It was keeping the temperature the high 80s and at times 90. My wife first bought a UTH and we put it on the tank on Monday, but it wasn't keeping the tank hot enough, so I bought the heat lamp. Now the heat lamp is making it too hot. After doing some research,...

Hello again. Here is a picture of our improved crabitat. The substrate is a mixture of play sand and cocofibre. New climbing logs are in the back and there is a deeper freshwater bowl for them. I also have a digital hygrometer and thermometer. The hygrometer read 77% this morning after sitting in a ...

It's really ok that you seal the entire lid. They will get oxygen when you feed them every couple of days. When you mix the substrate, it has to be mixed with dechlorinated water to sandcastle consistancy so it can hold their caves and tunnels. What are you using as a dechlorinator. The most recomm...

Gunstreet, Thank you for your kind words and help. The humidity is still fluctuating greatly. Tonight, when I returned home, it was below 70 again. I misted and got it back up. The temperature is holding steady with the lamp, but as you and Curly said, the lamps also reduce humidity. We got my daugh...

Thank you for your replies. As I've done some research, I've come to realize what you said about the kits. Unfortunately, we were in a situation where we bought the pets first without proper research into exactly what's best for them. My wife went to the pet store, saw the kit, and bought it. Attach...

Hello, everyone. I am a new owner of hermit crabs, just trying to get it right! My kids each got a hermit crab at the beach over the Thanksgiving Break. They bought them at the tacky tourist shop, Alvin's Island. We didn't know the urgency of getting them in an appropriate environment, so they staye...