Is High Humidity Really Necessary For Crabs?

[Guest]

Maybe we're all getting a little too hyped up on humidity problems. My mom's friend has owned hermit crabs for years (she still has a few of her first ones) and all she does for humidity was put a damp sponge in the tank. The tank is like mine with the screen top. It makes me wonder if I should really go to all these measures and spend lots of money to keep the humidity up. She lives near me by the way so her climate isn't any more humid then mine. I don't know. Tell me what you think.

[Gaby]

I have often thought that what goes on inside a person's home affects the humidity of the crabitat - as well as the area you are in. I am a stay at home mom, and there are 5 of us in our family, and with all the showers we all take (with no bathroom fans that are ducted outside) and I usually boil water for something once or twice a day, and all the running water from hand washing, and crafts, and other kid projects, I definately think my home is always more humid than, lets say someone who only has 2 people in their home who both work all day, so there is no running water or boiling water throughout the day, and perhaps they live in a place with ducted bathroom vents. Even if we were neighbors the humidity in my home would have to be somewhat higher than in theirs. I don't know if it's enough to make a difference, but it's just something I have been wondering. Different species seem to tolerate/survive/thrive in different humidity ranges as well, or so I have read. I think that even though a crab might live a few years in 50-60% humidity that doesn't mean we should stop providing them with the humidity that they need to thrive and hopefully live a longer life. JMO.

[Guest]

I must admit, at times it seems we coddle out hermies a bit much.Really, think about it. These are wild animals, ones that have survived for an unknown but still impressive number of years, simply on their own durability. How often does it REALLY hit 80% humidity where they live? (And that is an actual question, as i live nowhere near the ocean now days)However, I know I at least must work hard to keep the humidity up. I live in AR (no kidding, huh?) and aside from certain parts of the year, the humidity never get higher then 60% on a regular basis (I actually had medical problems when I moved here because of it). And while slipping to 60% for a week probably wont kill non-molting crabs(my crabs are still-living proof of that), over the long run, it just might.I must admit, though, Gaby is probably correct. My house is generally drier then the outside air, because the only water we use is usually shower and teeth brush water, and their is only two of us in a decint sized home. But under Gaby's circumstances, I can see humidity being less of a problem.Please send all flames to my PM box if you vigorously disagree

[Guest]

I think a lot depends on the species too. From what I have seen, PP's require less care than some of the exotics. Living in Oregon, humidity is less of an issue. But, I do have strawberries, which seem to require a higher humidity. So I keep the humidity up. I have been trying to see exactly what the humidity and temperature is in their actual habitats, and try to similate it. From what I have found, at least for strawberries, the average temperature of their habitat is 75-85 degrees with a humidity of 79%-86%. The average being 83%.

[Guest]

Does she keep track of her humidity level with a gauge? Her house may hold a lot of humidity in the air, or just that room. Without a large bowl of water over the UTH, my humidity in the house and tank is in the 40's to 50's.

[Guest]

No, she does not have a gauge. She does let the wet sponge sit there o.o. It's just odd to me that's all.

[tnyfootprntz]

I guess being somewhat obsessive over things like temp/humidity is a way of at least feeling we're doing all that we know to do to help our crabs thrive. True, crabs in the wild don't have humidity gauges to tell them whether or not they can breathe safely, but this human prefers to have some numbers to look at, just to make sure their quality of captive life is as good as I can make it.

[Gaby]

CrablessinAr, I would definately say that the humidity in the lands where hermies are native and wild would always be at least 75%. I live very near the CA coast, and we frequent the beaches here, but I do live north of San Francisco, so it isn't very warm, not warm enough year round for hermies to live here. But when you get to the coast, you know it. The air is thick. It is like walking into a bathroom where the shower has been on for 10 min or so, it's just humid. Here in Northern CA, it's not a warm humid like other places, but it is still humid none the less. I don't know if we feel more "sea spray" because it is cooler, it has been a while since I have been down to Southern CA, where they do have hermies on their beaches. I imagine, like daisiem said, it depends on the species of hermie too. Some seem to thrive in higher humidities, and others not so high. I still think trying to replicate their natural environment as much as possible is best, it will be the hermie's best chance to thrive, not just survive. I do think if we are going to purchase (and in order to purchase these hermies they are taken from the wild from their beachy homes) these critters, we owe it to them to give them a good life, not just a so-so ho-hum life. JMO.

[Guest]

having lived within an hour of a beach my entire life, i have to say that it is indeed more humid near the coast (even 60 miles inland). it never got below 70% humidity where i previously lived, ever.i'm not sure if it's trust for california, but for florida, it's always extremely humid because of the gulf of mexico and the jet stream colliding. a lot of rain gets dumped there and when you're not on the coast and get the sea spray, it's muggy and awful. think of what disney world is like in august, if you've ever been. it's like standing in a kitchen in the summer where someone's boiling water.

[Willow]

My parents grew up in Panama (any other Zonies out there?), and my mom tells me that the humidity was probably close to 100% most of the time. She couldn't breathe when she came to college in South Dakota, and then when she went back to Panama to get married, she couldn't breathe again because she had gotten used to the low humidity here. In Panama it rained every single day at about the time they got out of school (LOL). She remembers seeing hermit crabs at the beach but she's not sure what kind (she wasn't paying attention to crabs at the time). She usually went to the Pacific side and she said the crabs there were pretty small. Based on what I know about hermie habitats, they were probably Es. But once she went to the other side and they were a lot bigger there--she doesn't remember if they had purple claws, but probably they were PPs. She says there were also a bunch of really big, great shells on the Atlantic side, but very few on the Pacific side. People used to go to the Atlantic side just to get shells off the beach. But back to the original topic: Yes, it is VERY humid in the natural hermie habitats.

[JediMasterThrash]

Just owning crabs for years doesn't mean they've been in their preferred conditions.Hardy animals can survive in poor condition, but it doesn't mean its ideal for them or that they are as happy and healthy as they could be.Take someone who grew up in souther Florida, and move them to the Great White Nort. I know several. They crank and moan about the cold all the time. They turn up the heat in their houses to 80 and boil water on the stove to keep from drying out. Sure they can survive up here, but they're not enjoying it.I had a friend who had just one hermit crab, and it lived for 3 years in an open tank with woodchips for substrate and pellet food. It did a couple surface molts. That crab would never come out for anything. It sat in the corner chuck up in its shell and made angry noises and claw movements if you picked it up. Contrast that to my crabs which are out and about climbing around 24x7 making rukuss and coming out of their shells to say high when you pick them up.Also, other conditions can affect the crabs health. I've found that heat can be just as important as humidity, and crabs with tank temperatures closer to 80o can survive better with less humidity than crabs in tanks around 70o.Also, humidity at ground level can be different from humidity at the top of the tank. If there is a decent supply of water, and a moistenable substrate like sand or FB, or if you mist 20 times a day (not recommended btw), the crabs may be able to dump enough water into the sand to keep the substrate moist and the surface humidity high. Moist substrate is a key part to successful de-stressing and molting.

[Guest]

I agree with you Jedi. When I first got my crabs, I didn't take good care of them at all. I'll admit that. I had a UTH, but nothing for humidity. I shudder to think how low their humidity was for the first month or so I had them. They were sluggish and didn't move around much. I didn't even have a temp gauge. But since coming to this website and learning more about them, I'm continuously trying to make their living conditions better. And bumping the humidity up to 75ish give or take a few percentage points after that, up to about two weeks ago. They were more active, but still not very. But after reading about bumping up temp and humidity to about 80 they are all over the place, although they didn't seem to like the heat, so I returned that to 75. But mine really seem to like the higher humidity.