HCA: Hermit Crab Association

I'm just getting back into hermit crabs after a few years staying away from them to further my freshwater aquariums. I have been reading up on a few websites and in several books, and found that on a few sites it talks about the "hole" method. This is when you poke a hole in the corners of the tank and pour water into them, therefore making the substrate and air moist. I'm worried about bacteria/mold/mites growing in the substrate and harming the crabs. Do any of you guys have thoughts on this?

I'm not fond of this method. Just make sure the substrate is nice and sand castle consistency when you add it to the tank and it should stay that way. You can even leave 1 inch at the bottom fairly dry because water will just naturally sink to the bottom making it very wet down there. If the tank is setup properly it shouldn't dry out and if it does, there's a way to just moisten the top by just some spraying.

Thanks for your input! I'm going to do some more research before buying and might have some other questions I will post here. Thanks again.

We have a couple of members who do use the hole method and they do it very carefully as this method can quickly and easily lead to flooding.What you'll want to do is first make sure your hermitcrabs aren't down then use your finger to poke a hole in each corner going down to your second knuckle and then slowly pour a just a little water into it.When your done with all four holes you should have only used one cup of water.Based on what type of substrate you have might not be able to do this method as it really only works with sand as ecco earth doesn't have the same wicking properties you'll only get pooling of the water.Sand will naturally wick the water out to the center of the enclosure causing the entire layer of sub to be uniformly damp.

it's always better to pre-moistent he substrate with half salt solution water, but careful not to put too much. I would also suggest mixing sand and cocofiber together as it's less acidic and will hold caves wonderfully.

Thanks again! I am going to mostly shop at Petsmart and Petco, and will have $120 to spend. I have some Live Sand from some of my aquariums. Do you think the micro organisms will harm them? It said safe for Fiddler crabs and Marine Hermits. I was planning to use this as a substrate for a 10-15 gallon tank with 2-3 small or medium hermits. Does this sound good?

You won't be happy with a 10 gallon since you'll need a minimum 6 inches of substrate, moss pit, shell shop, 2 water dishes, hides. It quickly makes a 10 gallon look like a 1 gallon tank.I always suggest starting with a 29 gallon. It has the same foot print as a 20 gallon long but it's got 6 inches more height. Then you can have 8 inches of substrate for medium to large crabs and have lots of room for a second level moss pit and shell shops. I would also suggest getting a low watt UVB that the crabs can't get close than 6 inches too. Good luck!

Live sand has been on our no-no list for quite some time now because it is loaded with bacteria meant to completely cycle an aquarium in a few days which is not the kind of bacteria we typically encourage to grow in our substrate which means the water borne bacteria will quickly die and foul up the enclosure as it can't survive outside of the water for very long.

I was actually thinking about four dishes, one for saltwater, one for freshwater, one for dry food, and one for treats. The only problem is my parents are barely tolerating my many fish tanks and don't want the crabs outside of my room. My room is full of fish tanks and I maybe have room for a tall (maybe 24"x18"x18" if petsmart/petco carry that size) but that seems to just add more substrate room. Also, do you think I can buy the moss at petsmart/petco? Another thing (sorry for all te questions) can I use sponges that I found on the beach after drying them in the sun? Thanks!

Yes, you can buy moss at Petco/Petsmart, just be sure not to buy any type of Spanish or decorative moss as these are harmful to crabs. About the sponges, you don't need them for water dishes, as the crabs can't drink from them and they simply serve as a harbor for bacteria. You can put them in the tank dry, as some crabs will munch on them for the cellulose they provide, but I'm not sure if I would be a good idea to give them sponges from the beach, because you don't know what has come in contact with them. However, there may be a way to sterilize them, possibly microwaving, but I'm not a hundred percent sure on that, so don't hold me to it

I use java moss in my hermit crab tank. I grow it in my fish tank. It's nice because it never runs out. You might want to consider giving it a try.

Thanks for all the help, I've heard that the smaller crabbies can drown in deeper dishes so I wanted a way for them to get out if needed ( but not small rocks in case they tip the dish over). I still haven't gotten them yet so still plenty of time to sort this all out for me. I will get some from the store as that should be safer. Thanks!

You can use the sponges from the beach but your going to need to soak them in the crabs dechlorinated salt water for two hours then rinse in fresh water and then allow to sit in dechlorinated fresh water for thirty minutes.The last step is to let the sponge dry throughly as you will be putting in the microwave to kill off any residual bacteria and a sponge that is even light damp will quickly shrink to nothing in the microwave.Microwave the dry sponge for three to five minutes as this will ensure that all of the bacteria have been neutralized.

If you don't want the crabs to drown in the dish, you can use needlepoint mesh/canvas (the plastic stuff you can get at craft stores) and make a ramp out of it. Or you can put a large decorative shell in there.

Thanks so much! My room stays at a constant 80 degrees year round. Do you think I still need an UTH? My dogs and cat are kind of accident-prone and I don't want them to catch on fire...