HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Hi all.... we're new....
We picked up some hermit crabs for my son's 9th birthday. A standard 'Krabooz' enclosure, food etc, 4 crabs.
I've kept aquariums a lot in the past, and feel the enclosure is too small for 4 crabs, so we are going to replace it with a bigger tank soon....

Anyway - the Krabooz 'Saltz' - I've made some up to their kitchen-style directions, and it seems very dilute, nowhere near seawater, with an SG of 1.012 at best. Using it at a normal seawater concentration, ie approx 30g/L and it seems good in my hydrometer.
Should we persist with this, or just go and get some marine tank mix? I actually threw a bag of this away ages ago, as I was no longer using it.....

The Krabooz stuff doesn't seem to come off too well I've noted!

Thanks for any advice.....

I would switch to marine salt... Krabooz is just plain WEIRD, and I would not support them in any way. Plus, a lot of their products are misleading and NOT up to hermit crab standards. Instant ocean is most commonly used, but there are tons of other safe ones. When I looked it up the Krabooz salt there was almost no information about it at all... But maybe someone else has actual experience with this product. That's just me

Good luck!

Thanks, I'm getting that vibe about the Krabooz stuff..... we just picked up a bag of Red Sea Salt, so will whip up a new batch of salt water for them now.....

Red Sea is the brand of marine salt I use because I couldn't find Instant Ocean in anything smaller than a 5gal pail a few months back.

Assuming your crabs are small, you could make a nice crabitat for them in a clear-ish large storage tote. I wouldn't go any smaller than a standard 29gal tank.

Read up on all the proper keeping techniques here. It's kind of a lot initially. Way more than the store selling the hermit crabs will tell you.

JTKermie wrote: ↑

Sat Nov 27, 2021 7:08 pm

Red Sea is the brand of marine salt I use because I couldn't find Instant Ocean in anything smaller than a 5gal pail a few months back.

Assuming your crabs are small, you could make a nice crabitat for them in a clear-ish large storage tote. I wouldn't go any smaller than a standard 29gal tank.

Read up on all the proper keeping techniques here. It's kind of a lot initially. Way more than the store selling the hermit crabs will tell you.

We went out today with the objective of getting some more heating pads for the Krabooz thing, but came home with a 20 gal 2' tank and a pair of heating pads and thermostat, and 6" of sand substrate..... we'll keep the Krabooz thing as an emergency isolation tank, but I fear it probably isn't even up to scratch for that....

Awesome! I wish I had gone all in at the beginning. I tried to save money by “stepping” up the enclosure , but that just costs more in the long run. Vey smart of you and a really nice enclosure


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lee7 wrote:
We went out today with the objective of getting some more heating pads for the Krabooz thing, but came home with a 20 gal 2' tank and a pair of heating pads and thermostat, and 6" of sand substrate..... we'll keep the Krabooz thing as an emergency isolation tank, but I fear it probably isn't even up to scratch for that....

This tat is looking pretty good. 3 piecies of advice:

1, Most stuff labeled "for hermit crabs" is unsafe, inappropriate, or both. Don't ask me why, I just live in this topsy turvey world.

2, The pools should be deep enough that your crabs can submerge fully. I made my pools out of takeout containers with some plastic mesh zip tied to it for easy entry/egress.

3, If you really want to step up your game, take advantage of all that aerial space and give the crabs something to climb on. HCs are EXCELLENT climbers. Really, you can put just about anything I'm there for this purpose. I reccomend branches as they are free, natural looking, and good eats for crabs. No baking or cleaning required. Just don't use evergreen, that is a cabbie no no.