Feeling Heat

HermitCrabby_LHC · Post by **HermitCrabby_LHC** » Mon Jul 01, 2013 10:41 am

I have been reading that hermit crabs can not feel heat. And if they can't, why does the tank have to be 80 degrees. I know the humidity is one thing, but if my tank is 70 degrees I am able to keep the humidity up in my tank. So, crabs cant feel heat, and we have to keep it up at about 80 degrees? To me that doesn't make much sense.

Geranium · Post by **Geranium** » Mon Jul 01, 2013 11:37 am

Feeling it and being affected by it in this case are likely two very different things. They don't feel the heat, as in be careful they could get burned or otherwise harmed but getting too close to a heat source that is too hot. They are affected by the heat, their bodies slow and they eventually die if exposed to heat that is too low or high in the case of being harmed by a heater that is too hot. I do notice that they do like to congregate by the heater in the winter so if it is true that they don't feel the heat, they must somehow know it makes them feel better. Maybe it's not so much they they can't feel it as they can't differentiate between what is good and what is dangerous in a man made environment.Some thoughts on the subject...Peg

HermitCrabby_LHC · Post by **HermitCrabby_LHC** » Mon Jul 01, 2013 11:55 am

So I should have my heat lamp? I didnt take it off but got very questiony lol. And is it ok for on side of the take to be 82 and the other 75? That wont hurt the crabs right?

Crabber85 · Post by **Crabber85** » Mon Jul 01, 2013 12:16 pm

Nope it wont hurt them to have a dual climate where one end of the tank is up to five degrees cooler than the other in fact it's recommended to have dual or multi-climates depending on the size of your enclosure to give the hermitcrabs a range to pick from much like they would find in the wild.I have a 129gallon aquarium and I have three different temp zones ranging from 86 on the heated end to 78 on the cooler with the middle of the enclosure reading a solid 80 at all times.Hermitcrabs are exothermic(cold blooded) meaning they can not regulate their own body temperature the way mammals can and so need an external heat source to keep them active.An unheated enclosure that stays below seventy-five degrees will be a death sentence because the degree of warmth needed for a hermitcrab to digest it's food and stay active is not there the hermitcrab can not function properly and will quickly slow down and stop all activity succumbing to a state of paralysis known as Hyper-Sleep where they appear to be sleeping and continue to sleep until they die.Hermitcrabs don't have the nerve endings in their exo needed to detect hot objects and so will burn themselves by sitting on a heat rock or right against the spot where a uth is mounted and burn themselves because they can not physically feel the pane from being burned this is what is meant by they can't feel heat.