HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Hi,

starting my crabitat and I'm wanting a vining plant to put in it (plus also to harvest food from). I did see that peas were safe in the safe foods thread, but I was wondering if the vine is also okay? I do know they will tear it to shreds if they can get it, but I plan on having this at the highest point of the crabitat. It's the Snap Pea 'Cascadia' - Pisum sativum. Thanks!

Yes, the sprouts are edible, for humans too. They get fibrous quickly though - not a problem for the crabs but unpleasant for us!

It probably won't grow well at all in a crab tank. Peas are a cold weather plant. In temps over 80 they tend to shut down.

Thanks for the reply! I didn't think they were cold weather, but thanks for letting me know! I'm trying to figure out a vining plant thats safe for my crabs. What about a passionflower vine?

TigerLily wrote:What about a passionflower vine?

Passiflora is toxic. How about pothos or lipstick vine (aeschynanthus radicans)? Both do well in a warm, humid environment. My question is, how will you grow plants in a hermit crab medium?

I'm wondering if plants deemed safe for omnivorous reps also work for hermit crabs. If not, please disregard my suggestions.

** Just double checked the "do not feed" list and golden pothos is listed. Pothos is not a philodendron (which is toxic) nor are they related. For some reason the two have been labeled interchangeable and so people believe pothos to be toxic. It could still be, but I've had no issues with pothos consumption by tortoises (but again, don't know if hermit crabs are different) for almost 3 years. Just curious and always learning. Sorry if I threadjacked.

Many crabbers have planted pothos in their crabitats with no issues, as far as I recall.

The unsafe list is mostly made up of things that are known to be toxic to other animals (not necessarily hermit crabs) or things the crabs seem to avoid (like lemon). Over the years some things have been found to be safe after all and moved over to the Safe list. However, this requires someone willing to take the risk and a lengthy food trial.

As far as I remember others posting about it, the crabs like to hang out in the pothos but do not eat it. I've never tried myself because, unlike most, I have a knack for killing pothos.

Thank you! I've done a headache-load of research on "animal safe" plants and have grown a wide variety of them in my short indoor gardening career. It's a shame that it seems more trouble than it's worth to put live plants in a crabitat.

Yep, it's on the list because they won't eat it, not because it's toxic. We don't actually have a "toxic" list, because as far as we know, no crab has ever died from something poisonous that they ate. (Not talking about things treated with chemicals, fertilizers, and pesticides - that's a different discussion.)

nepenthes wrote: How about pothos or lipstick vine (aeschynanthus radicans)? Both do well in a warm, humid environment. My question is, how will you grow plants in a hermit crab medium?

No worries about threadjacking! I don't mind at all, I need to learn as much as I can!

So, the crabitat setup I'm planning will have some branches secured to the top of the tank in the top corners. I plan on attaching barnacles and other decorations, along with air plants and bromeliads to the wood/around the top. So I wanted a vining plant to give it a little jungle look, as I'm not too into fake plants. If I end up doing a vining plant, it will be planted in an organic soil filled pot (the hanging basket type ones). Non of the crabs will have access to the very top where all the plants will be (other than some pineapple plants on the bottom, heard they're too tough to chew through). I guess I will be doing a pothos then! Thanks for the help!! Can't wait to set it up!

Be careful with those pineapple plants. Hermit crab conditions (warmth and humidity) are almost ideal for growing them. I have 9 kona sugarloaf plants that are starting to take up too much space. The only reason they aren't as big as they should be is the lack of sunlight. And moving them hurts!

I have no idea how destructive hermit crabs are with plants so let me know how it goes. I, too, am not a huge fan of fake plants but I know how disappointing it is to grow something for 3 months only for it to get eaten down or trampled in 3 hours.

I'm not sure if this is what you are looking for TigerLily, but the spiderplant (you may have classified it as a 'air-plant' (?)) will grow super well in the tank. It won't grow upwards like a vine would, but it might work if you stuck it up the top of the tank somehow and as the runners spread downwards you could weave them into something...

I'm hoping to make a "green house" type thing to set on top of the crabitat and grow stuff upwards more. By air plant I mean Tillandsia, but spider plants are on my plant list (din't name all, but I have live sphagnum moss and spanish moss on it also). Weaving the runners is a great idea! I will post some pictures later when it's setup. Right now it's a little too cold to get plants, so I'll have to wait for them to pop up in the stores. Thanks!

If you lived close by, I'd say that I have plenty of extra non-toxic/not-so-toxic plants that you could have.

I wish I live near you, but I'm pretty faraway from you! What kind of plants do you have that are non-toxic?

I take lots of back up cuttings of wax begonias, spider plants, and wandering jew. I have two pots of pothos outside of the enclosure that I try to keep multiplying. I have a few pots of opuntia cactus. I'm trying to make room for seedlings. So far there's evening primrose and snapdragon growing ever so slowly. I also have the 9 pots of sugarloaf pineapple. I have several cuttings of nepenthes but I keep them out of reach of the torts. Apparently, nepenthes isn't really toxic, but I'd rather keep my carnivorous plants safe. I have other types of plants, but the ones listed (except the seedlings) are the best plants to replicate.

I found a varigated spider plant and a pothos, but the pothos does have some gold/yellow streaks and blotches... Not sure how to id it from a golden pothos, any tips? These plants didn't have a thing in them that said they are organic, so they will have to be washed quite a bit and won't go in the tank for about a month after switching to organic stuff. But I may just end up taking a cutting and making that the one I put in the tank.

Sounds like you have quite a collection! Almost all of my plants are either toxic or aquatic, so that doesn't really help when I'm trying to plant in a crabitat. I actually almost picked up a wandering jew from the store also (along with a prayer plant), but decided against getting them.