HCA: Hermit Crab Association

For reference, the Help Request Q&As are included below this message

Hi Crabbers,

So all 4 of my adopted Crabs have been transferred from a Krabuze, to their new 15 gallon tank (yep, too small, aiming for larger asap).

They’ve been in there for roughly 10 days exploring etc and I usually hear at least some noise in the tank at night (it’s next to my bed), but it’s been very quiet the last 48 hours and I’m assuming they’ve all gone down to molt.

My questions are:

FOOD: Can I just feed them as normal every few days?

FOOD NEEDS DURING MOLTING?:The Molting Info Page says they require a lot of protein & calcium during molting time, on the off-chance they do come up for food. I also want to leave a good variety on offer in case someone isn’t molting & just being “vewy vewy quwiet” ?

CAN I MOVE FOOD DISH?: I’ve accidentally left the food dish without anything under it, so I’m unsure if there’s a molter down there? It’s a very light weight food saucer thingy so maybe I could gently lift it? I’d like to get it out so the food doesn’t rot. Ideally I’d then use it as the base & put another food dish on top.

LIGHT: The crabitat is in a well-lit room, away from direct sunlight. To keep the heat and humidity right, the back & top of the tank are mostly covered. I try to move the covers back as far as possible during the day, but I worry they’re not getting a correct 12hr day/night cycle.

NB: currently the lid of the tank is cling wrap and bubble wrap taped down/around the lid.

CORRECT ME IF I’M WRONG…I feel like from now until they return to the surface, I should have as little to do with the tank as possible, outside of food & water changes & temp/humidity monitoring (and fixing that darn food saucer situation without disturbing any molts!)

Thanks y’all! I love it here


Help Request Q&As

1. What kind of substrate is used in your tank and how deep is it?

5:1 mix of play-sand & peat-moss, 6” deep.

2. Do you have gauges in the tank to measure temperature and humidity? If so, where are they located and what temperature and humidity do they usually read?

I only have the Krabuze thermometer/hygrometer. It’s at the back of the tank, roughly 2” from the glass & 2” above the substrate

I’ve wrapped the tank in 2 layers of alfoil and then in my electric blanket & have managed to slowly get the heat up 22-24.

Humidity drops to about 60% when I open the door for water/food, but I spray it with lukewarm spring water and it gets back up to 80% pretty fast.

3. Is a heat source used in the tank? If so, what?

21w 10” x 20.75” seed starter heat mat that covers most of the back of the tank, just above the substrate. It’s been insulated with alfoil, clingwrap, bubble wrap and some foam board.

4. What types of water are available (fresh or salt) and how is the water treated (what brands of dechlorinator or salt mix and what ratio is used to mix it)?

Fresh water (treated with Seachem Prime)
Salt water (treated with Seachem Prime + Redcoral Marine Salt)

Ratio as per instructions

5. What kinds of food do you feed and how often is it replaced?

I feed them a variety of foods from the Safe Foods List on here. Fresh fruit, fresh veg, oats/other grains, nuts, baby food,
cuttle fish & I’ve just started adding crushed eggshell.

There’s also a few Mung Bean Sprouts. growing in a bit of the substrate. Most of the seeds got dug up right away, but a few sprouts have made it through.

Food is changed every 3 days

Water is changed every week but monitored daily for substrate, water levels etc .

6. How long have you had the crab and what species is it, if known?

I’ve had them about 3 weeks now. All 4 appear to be Australian Hermit Crabs, which would make sense as I don’t think any other types are allowed here?

7. Has your crab molted, and how long ago did it happen?

All 4 have shown signs of molting. Because they were all in a Krabooz when I got them, it wasn’t possible for them to dig deep enough to molt. One crab in particular showed aggression/harassment towards the others and then consumed a ton of food.

8. What type of housing are the crabs kept in, what size is it and what kind of lid is on the housing?

75L (20 g)
600 mm across (23”)
365 mm high (14”)
320 mm deep (12”)

The lid is a combination of cling film (Saran wrap), bubble wrap & duct tape.

9. How many crabs are in the tank and about how large are they?

4 Crabs - ranging from 1”-2.5”

10. How many extra shells are usually kept in the tank, if any?

There’s currently 8 turbo shells, 4 random big(ish) shells & 2 Krabooz painted shells. The turbo shells ended up being too big as I was basing the sizing on the largest crabs shell. After I ordered he then changed into the smallest shell available at the time The Krabooz shells I only put in as they were familiar or recently used. Will take them out as soon as I have a better variety of sizes.

11. Have there been any fumes or chemicals near the crabitat recently?

Nope, not since I’ve had them.

12. How often do you clean the tank and how?

It’s a freshly cleaned tank with new substrate. All food and water containers are washed with dechlor water every 3 days -1 week. Same for any and all hides/plastic vines etc. Shells are boiled for 5 mins then rinsed with dechlor & air-dried before going in to tank.

13. Are sponges used in the water dish? If so, how are they cleaned?

Nope

14. Has anything new been added to your crabitat recently?

1 week in to using Seachem Prime and Redcoral salt (prev. Bottled water and Krabooz saltz )

1 week since I added a ReptileOne climbing vine along the back and side wall (washed thoroughly in dechlor, air dried)

1 week since adding 2 small cholla wood (washed thoroughly in dechlor) then baked on low for 30 mins.

you still need food in the tank because they could be sneaky and coming up when you don't see them or, alternatively, you don't know when they will come back up from mold.

If you have any good dry options you can leave that in longer than fresh food to save on time and money.. Def keep the eggshells in for calcium, they shouldn't spoil/rot.

other than that.. yup, sit back and just maintain.

Oh... you can gently smooth the sub around the food dish to look for little foot prints too

Hi Crabbers,

So all 4 of my adopted Crabs have been transferred from a Krabuze, to their new 15 gallon tank (yep, too small, aiming for larger asap).

They’ve been in there for roughly 10 days exploring etc and I usually hear at least some noise in the tank at night (it’s next to my bed), but it’s been very quiet the last 48 hours and I’m assuming they’ve all gone down to molt.

My questions are:

FOOD: Can I just feed them as normal every few days?
Curly - Yep. As mentioned by J525, dry food will last longer than fresh. When both of my crabs are underground, I leave food in until it's fuzzy, LOL.
FOOD NEEDS DURING MOLTING?:The Molting Info Page says they require a lot of protein & calcium during molting time, on the off-chance they do come up for food. I also want to leave a good variety on offer in case someone isn’t molting & just being “vewy vewy quwiet” ?
Curly - Many of us leave a calcium source in the tank all the time - things like egg shells from hard boiled eggs, cuttle bone, etc won't go moldy and can therefore just be left in all the time. I have never really paid attention to what types of food they need when, or even whether they are acting differently or 'preparing to molt'. I just put in a variety of foods (dry only if nobody is up, and a combo of fresh and dry if someone is up) and figure they will take what they need.
CAN I MOVE FOOD DISH?: I’ve accidentally left the food dish without anything under it, so I’m unsure if there’s a molter down there? It’s a very light weight food saucer thingy so maybe I could gently lift it? I’d like to get it out so the food doesn’t rot. Ideally I’d then use it as the base & put another food dish on top.
Curly - Oh yeah, you can for sure move it, unless it's buried deep in the sub (which it doesn't sound like at all).
LIGHT: The crabitat is in a well-lit room, away from direct sunlight. To keep the heat and humidity right, the back & top of the tank are mostly covered. I try to move the covers back as far as possible during the day, but I worry they’re not getting a correct 12hr day/night cycle.
Curly - I also have my tank in a room with a window but no direct sunlight on the tank. I have never added or purposefully prevented light from getting to the tank. I live on the Canadian prairies. Some times of the year, they get much more than 12 hours and sometimes less - our longest day on summer solstice has 8 hours more daylight than our shortest on winter solstice! I have had my crabs for almost 12 years!
NB: currently the lid of the tank is cling wrap and bubble wrap taped down/around the lid.

CORRECT ME IF I’M WRONG…I feel like from now until they return to the surface, I should have as little to do with the tank as possible, outside of food & water changes & temp/humidity monitoring (and fixing that darn food saucer situation without disturbing any molts!)
Curly - If nobody is on the surface, there won't be much to do. You can add substrate if you need to, but don't pack it down or drop it in. You can move things around, but not anything that is dug down into the substrate. But other than the food and water, and monitoring temp and humidity, you will find it pretty boring for a bit LOL.
Thanks y’all! I love it here


Help Request Q&As

1. What kind of substrate is used in your tank and how deep is it?

5:1 mix of play-sand & peat-moss, 6” deep.

2. Do you have gauges in the tank to measure temperature and humidity? If so, where are they located and what temperature and humidity do they usually read?

I only have the Krabuze thermometer/hygrometer. It’s at the back of the tank, roughly 2” from the glass & 2” above the substrate

I’ve wrapped the tank in 2 layers of alfoil and then in my electric blanket & have managed to slowly get the heat up 22-24.

Humidity drops to about 60% when I open the door for water/food, but I spray it with lukewarm spring water and it gets back up to 80% pretty fast.

3. Is a heat source used in the tank? If so, what?

21w 10” x 20.75” seed starter heat mat that covers most of the back of the tank, just above the substrate. It’s been insulated with alfoil, clingwrap, bubble wrap and some foam board.

4. What types of water are available (fresh or salt) and how is the water treated (what brands of dechlorinator or salt mix and what ratio is used to mix it)?

Fresh water (treated with Seachem Prime)
Salt water (treated with Seachem Prime + Redcoral Marine Salt)

Ratio as per instructions

5. What kinds of food do you feed and how often is it replaced?

I feed them a variety of foods from the Safe Foods List on here. Fresh fruit, fresh veg, oats/other grains, nuts, baby food,
cuttle fish & I’ve just started adding crushed eggshell.

There’s also a few Mung Bean Sprouts. growing in a bit of the substrate. Most of the seeds got dug up right away, but a few sprouts have made it through.

Food is changed every 3 days

Water is changed every week but monitored daily for substrate, water levels etc .

6. How long have you had the crab and what species is it, if known?

I’ve had them about 3 weeks now. All 4 appear to be Australian Hermit Crabs, which would make sense as I don’t think any other types are allowed here?

7. Has your crab molted, and how long ago did it happen?

All 4 have shown signs of molting. Because they were all in a Krabooz when I got them, it wasn’t possible for them to dig deep enough to molt. One crab in particular showed aggression/harassment towards the others and then consumed a ton of food.

8. What type of housing are the crabs kept in, what size is it and what kind of lid is on the housing?

75L (20 g)
600 mm across (23”)
365 mm high (14”)
320 mm deep (12”)

The lid is a combination of cling film (Saran wrap), bubble wrap & duct tape.

9. How many crabs are in the tank and about how large are they?

4 Crabs - ranging from 1”-2.5”

10. How many extra shells are usually kept in the tank, if any?

There’s currently 8 turbo shells, 4 random big(ish) shells & 2 Krabooz painted shells. The turbo shells ended up being too big as I was basing the sizing on the largest crabs shell. After I ordered he then changed into the smallest shell available at the time The Krabooz shells I only put in as they were familiar or recently used. Will take them out as soon as I have a better variety of sizes.

11. Have there been any fumes or chemicals near the crabitat recently?

Nope, not since I’ve had them.

12. How often do you clean the tank and how?

It’s a freshly cleaned tank with new substrate. All food and water containers are washed with dechlor water every 3 days -1 week. Same for any and all hides/plastic vines etc. Shells are boiled for 5 mins then rinsed with dechlor & air-dried before going in to tank.
Curly - Maybe I misunderstood, but you don't need to clean the decor every week. I'm not sure I've cleaned anything other than right before I put things in the tank.
13. Are sponges used in the water dish? If so, how are they cleaned?

Nope

14. Has anything new been added to your crabitat recently?

1 week in to using Seachem Prime and Redcoral salt (prev. Bottled water and Krabooz saltz )

1 week since I added a ReptileOne climbing vine along the back and side wall (washed thoroughly in dechlor, air dried)

1 week since adding 2 small cholla wood (washed thoroughly in dechlor) then baked on low for 30 mins.
Curly - Your tank sounds awesome!

Thanks Jlmills525 & Curly! You gave me the courage to leave my tank alone while I visited my family for 5 days. Got home, raced to the crabitat and…literally nothing has changed

In other news, I noticed that one crab (“the aggressor”) actually hasn’t gone down to molt like the others. She’s hiding in the corner of the tank behind a hermit hut.
There have been no signs of food visits in the past 5 days (smoothed out the substrate as per Jlmills525 suggestion ).
I gently picked her up coz I thought maybe she’d left the shell but she’s still in there - moving a tiny bit but nothing else. I gave her a bit of a mist of dechlor as she seemed somewhat dry, despite the humidity in the tank (80%) and put her back in her spot. Heard her move around in there a bit but nothing else. Do y’all think I should be worried? Or is she just in ‘low power mode’ coz there’s no one to play with?

Hi Jen! Your conditions seem good based on your answers. I can't speak to the temp because I'm guessing it's in Celsius? But you probably know tats should be in the 80 F range, ideally now lower than 75 F.

I noticed when you talked about their food, I didn't see any meat ot insects being offered. You may have left this out but just thought I'd mention make sure you're offering plenty of protein. I'd get a variety of freeze dried insects/shrimp/worms from the reptile and aquarium sections of the pet store as well as freeze dried meat such as salmon and turkey from the dog treat section. Hermies also love plant matter like leaves, sticks, grass, and flowers. Don't forget to offer as much of a variety of sea vegetables/kelp as you can.

For calcium, I literally sprinkle eggshell right onto the sub every so often. Sometimes I throw a fresh eggshell in there as well. They love the bonus egg white.

I have noticed that my crabitatt goes through phases. For weeks at a time it will be a never ending crab party, then for a few weeks I'll hardly see anyone out at all. I think crabs feel more comfortable when there are other crabs around so when a few of them start molting, they all either go down or just hide. Just like curly said, make sure there is always food available. I like to change mine every 2 days if it's going uneaten. Crabs can definitely eat moldy food but I've noticed mine seem to have a strong preference for the fresh stuff.

Regarding your questions about day/night cycle, my personal belief is it doesn't matter too much as long as they get some light/dark time every night. I really wouldn't sweat this too much.

Hi ROSIEonFIRE,

Thanks very much for your input! Yep, I was talking in Celsius, lol, but yes my tank sits between 77-80F and 80% relative humidity

THANK YOU FOR THE INSECT TIP!! I’ve been giving them tuna in spring water but no one seemed keen. I will definitely be ordering in some freeze dried stuff. Have seen suggestions of it here and there but didn’t give it enough thought! I’m hella excited to try this out! Will also throw a used eggshell in whole to see if they’re into the egg white.

Re ORGANIC MATTER, do you order stuff online or gather from the backyard? Kelp/sea veg from beach? I’m so nervous putting in anything from the outdoors!

I’ve got a lot of dried food out rn, which I change weekly and have been putting tuna, fruit & veg in a separate dish that I change out every 48 hours (seems to be the sweet spot between “Fresh - Furry” for my tank).

That’s a huge relief about the lonely crab’s behaviour. COMMENCING Operation-Tempt-Lone-Crab-With-Insects-and-Seaweed. I believe we will bond during this time. Then he can tell the others how great I am when they come topside again.

In the meantime, I found me a bigger tank on gumtree and am going to get to work on a brand new tat for when everyone’s up. And then the current tank can be a topper. Sharing half my bedroom with 4 hermit crabs - not even mad

Re plant foods, I gather all kinds of stuff from my yard. Hermit crabs can eat most stuff. I used to check the safe food list a lot but by now I mostly know what I can feed them. If I lived near the beach I'd definitely be harvesting seaweed for them. I also order for things I can't get like almond leaves and flower petal medley. I get my seaweed dried from a local health food store.

Keep us posted on the upgrade

I’ve seen almond leaves and flower medley packages on Etsy. It wouldn’t have occurred to me they’d like petals but I’ll for sure try it out.

RE SEAWEED - Would I need to ‘treat’ the seaweed in anyway before giving it to the crabs? I’m imagining I’d rinse it with some dechlor salt water, but is there anything else I should look out for? Sea lice??? And should I dry it, or give as is? Does it need to be removed from the tank at some point?

My parents place is near the beach so I’ll be doing some seaweed collection there asap!

I imagine anything you get out of the ocean would be fine as is. The only reason I can see to rinse it is if you are concerned it will smell in the tank.

Sweet, thank you!


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