HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Crazy weather conditions in the Midwest has us without power... we tried putting blankets over the tank right away to preserve heat but it is down in the 60s and dropping. How prepared does my 7 year old (and lets be honest, me too) need to be for our crabs not to survive?


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Do you have any hand warmers? Those can provide heat in a pinch.

If the temperature is still dropping you could try putting the crabs in containers filled with moss and holding them next to you under your blankets or sleeping bag.


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I dealt with a power outage several months ago. Like Joe said. You can pull everyone out that is not dug down into the substrate and put them in some sort of sealable container. Add some moist Eco Earth to the containers for humidity. Then add a hand warmer to the outside of the containers. I found larger warmers with sticky backs for inside coats that worked too.

I also ran my car for a few minutes to get the heat going then took them in the car with the heat on to keep them warm.

When I had to go to bed I had a crab slumber party and put them under the covers with me. That kept them warm too.

I also hear of people using hot water bottles to keep heat up in the tank too.

Pretty much anything you can do to try and keep them at a decent temperature is better than nothing. Just think whatever plan you come up with will be safe for them.

I was paranoid when I lost power with my Strawberries. Everything I have read about them they do not do well with big temperature changes.

If the temperature drops for an hour or so I don't think it is a huge issue. If you loose power for an extended period 2.5 hours or longer I believe that is when issues will arise down the road with hermits. I tend to think even the tropics where hermits live may occasionally see below average temperatures from time to time. Not very often but I'm sure it happens.

We have power back and the temp is climbing, tank is currently at 85% humidity and 68 degrees one of our crabs (just came up from a molt less than two weeks ago) is very active! can we assume she will at least be okay? or does the damage from a huge temp shift happen later?


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It is hard to judge what damage could have occured to the crabs. From what other people said on here is that damage may not be apparent until they molt. It may not happen with their next molt possibly their second or third molt. That's why their care is so difficult. You can have a crab for a year or more and appears to be healthy then seems to pass for not reason.