Day and Night Heating

[Crab beginner]

I am new to crabbing and recently acquired two new crabs. They are heated by an 8 watt UTH on the side of their tank. The warm side stays around 79 and the cool at 72. Do I need to leave the heater on at night, or turn it off for a good temperature drop? Does it even matter?

[wodesorel]

They don't do great at temps lower than 72, so no night drop would be recommended in this case.

[curlysister]

I try to keep my tank at the same temp night and day, or at least as close as I can get it.

[GreatVegetable]

I am new to crabbing and recently acquired two new crabs. They are heated by an 8 watt UTH on the side of their tank. The warm side stays around 79 and the cool at 72. Do I need to leave the heater on at night, or turn it off for a good temperature drop? Does it even matter?

Hermit crabs are cold blooded which means they rely on their environment for body temperature regulation, so ideally you want to keep your habitat in the mid 70s to low 80s range, emulating their native habitat.

However, I'm sure that in the wild they do experience these slightly below average temperatures during the colder months of the year, but trying to emulate would be unnecessary, because these would obviously be months of "survival" for the crabs, making them less active, and probably more likely to burrow to "hide" or regulate warmth.


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[GreatVegetable]

I am new to crabbing and recently acquired two new crabs. They are heated by an 8 watt UTH on the side of their tank. The warm side stays around 79 and the cool at 72. Do I need to leave the heater on at night, or turn it off for a good temperature drop? Does it even matter?

Hermit crabs are cold blooded which means they rely on their environment for body temperature regulation, so ideally you want to keep your habitat in the mid 70s to low 80s range, emulating their native habitat.

However, I'm sure that in the wild they do experience these slightly below average temperatures during the colder months of the year, but trying to emulate would be unnecessary, because these would obviously be months of "survival" for the crabs, making them less active, and probably more likely to burrow to "hide" or regulate warmth.


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Just to clarify, they do not do well with heat stones or powerful heat lamps directly overhead.
Your best option for heat in my opinion, is an UTH (under tank heater) placed along the side of your tank.
DO NOT place UTH under the tank for crabs, because of the risk of overheat during molt.

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[piratetoothgir]

I used to keep my UTH off at night, back when I was a inexperienced crabber.
Now all the heat sources never get turned off, ever.