Safe up to 95oF (35oC)

Post by **JediMasterThrash** » Sat Jul 07, 2007 3:53 pm

A tidbit I gleaned from the greenaway article. Crabs should be safe in temperatures up to 95oF (35oC). Above that, they instictively bury under to cool down. 68oF (20oC) is the lower bound. Another article suggests that they can die from temperatures well above or below these limites in as little as 6 hours.Hermit crabs are very poor at thermoregulation, and use their shell water for thermoregulation the same as they use it for osmoregulation. At high temperatures, the water evaporates very fast and runs out, their internal body temps rise, and they overheat (or dessicate from the loss of water). I'd guess the overheating death would be similar to heat stroke. At cold temperatures, their bodies go dormant, but they can't get out of it (must have lost the ability after a million years of evolution left them in warm climates). So similar to hibernating, only it's a one-way trip.

Willow · Post by **Willow** » Sun Jul 08, 2007 4:34 pm

Yeah, my crabitat got up to 95 degrees one summer (for hours at a time on a regular basis--the AC was out), and the hermies thought it was great. And they can obviously tolerate higher temps for shorter periods, as one of my Straws used to like to sit directly under the heat lamp, where the temp was 115 degrees. He hasn't done it since he moulted, though.