HCA: Hermit Crab Association

I appreciate all of the feedback on the weird substrate that was in there before from the previous owner and that the placement of the heaters was wayyyy wrong. With my one crab that has surface molted and then lost his shell, and my other 5 that I had not seen in a few weeks, I bit the bullet tonight and decided to dig everyone out and replace the sub.

150 lbs of play sand and 3 bricks of EE and lots of DCWater, I think I have it "right". Please critique me and let me know if this is better. Yes it is sandcastle consistency.

40 gal breeder tank, 1 large heater for a 30-40 gal on the back (above sub) and 1 small heater for a 10 gal on the side.


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Looks great. Make sure logs are not pine. Pine is dangerous for hermits. Also, when you are able to, I would replace the analog thermometer & hygrometer with a digital one. $8/$9 for an Accurite one from Walmart. . Also, is lid screen? Make sure you cover so humidity stays in cage. You can use press n seal or plastic wrap. Some people have bought plexiglass and cut it to fit. (Lowe's/Home Depot will cut for free).


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When you were adding water to the sand/ee mix, did you add any diluted salt water? Doing so can help keep mold at bay - which as you can imagine, is something you want in a warm, humid tank!

There is a mesh screen, but I have a clear plastic sheet that lays on top to keep in the moisture. It just not on in the picture. My digital thermometer and hygrometer is currently on my emergency 10 gal ISO tank for one of my hermies. Its on my Xmas list.

LadyJinglyJones - I used Salt Water to rehydrate the EE bricks. I use regular DCWater to water the sand. Did I do that right?


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Sounds aces!

Looks good!

Can I ask the measurements of your tank I M going to be setting one up for Christmas and am not sure how much sand and EE to buy


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I also have a 40 gal breeder. It's measurements are 36x18x16 (lwh). For 7-8 inches I used 6 bricks of EE. (or 2 24 liter loose bags)

I've been using straight EE for 6 yrs with no probs. I have no clue how much would be needed for sand/EE mix. Hope this helps

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Mine is the first one. As posted on the guidelines, make the sub 3 x as deep as the biggest crab (on my tank, half of it is filled with sub so that takes up a lot of room of the tank. So mine works well for ping pong sized hermies. But I believe if you have bigger ones, you may want to look at a higher tank.
40 Breeder = 36" L x 18" W x 16" H
40 Long = 48" L x 12" W x 16" H
40 High = 36" L x 13" W x 20" H


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Looking good, Bomshelter!!


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Yay! Thank you!


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looks great the only thing is get the meters out of substrate and put them high on tank glass for more accurate temp and humidity measuring. Also. Spread exrta shells around. I have a 70 gallon tank and I put them around salt water dish being that they wait for them to wash up on shore to find new ones. If that makes sense I try to keep the habitat as natural as possible to keep them happy and healthy.

StarGirlxo wrote:Also. Spread exrta shells around.

Actually, creating a shell shop is something many crabbers like to make. The crabs seem to be able to dig through to get the shells they want, sometimes even throwing the others out of the basket, so there really shouldn't be a problem. The main idea is to keep them off the substrate so they don't get dirty/buried.

Hmmm. Interesting. Ill give this a try.