HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Hey guys! I’ve got a mesh screen top and a heat lamp mounted about 4 inches above it. I put plastic wrap over the over half of the top where the heat from the light isn’t intense. I’m wondering for the sake of humidity, if I can leave the plastic wrap over the entire top while the light is on. The plastic wrap I’m using is microwave safe and the heat lamp (75wat) is hooked up to a thermostat. Right now I have the thermostat set to 79 F and it turns on every few minutes for maybe 20 seconds. I tested how hot the screen felt just after the lamp had turned off and it was warm to touch but not uncomfortable. So I next tried putting the plastic wrap over it and did the same thing. It again didn’t feel uncomfortably hot and immediately started cooling off.

That’s the situation here are my options/questions

1) I’m wondering if this is safe for my crabbies, if there’s any known fumes to worry about.

2) Also wondering if I can get a clear silicone sheet that’s heat resistant up to 200F to cover the top. Just as a nicer thing to replace the plastic wrap.

3) if the plastic/silicone is unsafe I could get a glass top. Id rather not because I’ve already spent too much money on this for my budget. And I’d have to find a different way to mount the heat lamp so it’s far enough away from the glass. I DO NOT want any glass shattering.

4) what I’ll probably do is make a ball (don’t have room for a pit) of moss and just wet it every day so I feel better about humidity levels.

So if you made it this far through my lengthy post, thank you. I’d love advice as I’m very very new. This place has been so helpful in my research.

How are your humidity readings?

Plastic wrap is going to melt with a heat lamp.

Have you considered a heat mat that goes on the back of the tank?

Humidity has been a struggle with the heat lamp. I broke down and got glass panels to put over the top of the tank. Which helped but not completely. I misted frequently (I know that doesn’t actually help much) and put in a soaked moss ball.
Funnily enough our power went out for two days. After watching how much the humidity went up without the light on, I decided to order a Ultratherm heat mat from beanfarm. From my reading that doesn’t seem to dry out the tank as much correct? I payed for 2 day shipping so I’m hoping to just not run our air conditioner too much until it gets here.

Yes, a heat mat like that will provide heat but not drop humidity. You will be happy with it. And it can be insulated over top if your tank still isn't warm enough. They aren't cheap, but totally worth it, in my opinion.