HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Hey everyone, I haven't been on here in so long. My crabs are doing really well, but I am a busy college student now. I go home for holidays now, and I don't know anyone who stays around here during the holidays so I was wondering if there is some kind of automatic watering system I can use?


I am just concerned about them being able to breathe and be okay while I'm gone, as well as not be in danger of being forgotten during finals. :/ I've had them for about 10 years in all, (some came in later) so I can take care of them, I just want to make it a little easier on them and me.



Any suggestions?

Maybe a small fish tank pump on a timer inside a large water tank? Dunno, best bet is to wait for the reptile people.

It would need filled regularly, and any kind of rain system would end up flooding your substrate.

Hmm.. Thanks guys!

So, I'm trying out this temporary system for watering by poking a needle sized hole in a large jug (after treating it with declorinator) so it slowly drips constantly. Hopefully that will work until I figure out a more permanent solution.. Testing it out tonight!

A very tiny cat water bowl with the water bottle that uses gravity to keep the dish full. I went to Florida first week of November. I was gone 10 days. I didn't trust my old man to measure my salt water right, so I got two of them one for fresh one for salt. I got them from the dollar tree, they were about 5 inches in diameter and about 7-8 inches tall. I stocked there dishes with dry food, littler there tank with leaves and flowers that were dried. And kept picked out food for the hubby to drop in as needed. It seemed to work really well. The water obviously doesn't stay super fresh but it's better then no water. As for humidity depending on how long you will be gone I would suggest a wet moss pit. Like soak the crap out of some moss and leave it in a solid bowl so the water stays around the moss. Once again it will be sort of stagnant but if you will only be gone for a little while then you can clean it up when you get back. I did this as well while I was gone. My humidity didn't drop while I was gone the hubby watched over it. But even as the moss started to dry the bottom still stayed pretty damp and I would think if the humidity in your tank were to drop overall that the crabs could burrow in the moss itself and still be able to breath well. Also a tank cover is helpful to keep the humidity in. Not sure how your set up is but this worked for me while I was on vacation. Hope it helped some