HCA: Hermit Crab Association

How do I raise the humidity in my habitat? Right now it is showing 50 percent.

A couple of questions:
How large is your tank and what is on for a lid/ cover?
What is the temperature?
What type and how deep is your substrate?

I have a 10 gallon tank. Temperature is 75. I have a mesh lid, and I have one side sand, one side gravel. It's about 5 inches deep

Yiu definitely want a solid lid, not mesh. You can put a towel on top to prevent the humidity f om escaping the tank, otherwise you'll need to humididy the entire room.

Gravel doesn't really do much for crabs as they need to dig into sand. Some more experienced crabbers could comment on this. Most also have a 5:1 ratio of sand : coconut fiber. It helps to retain moisture, and makes a sandcastle like consistency.

There are a few other ways to humidity like air bubbles in the water containers, adding a humidifier, misting, adding a sphagnum moss pot, etc. Check out the care sheets. There's one on humidifying your crabitat.

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Please definitely read the care guides. Mesh lid should be covered with press n seal or plastic wrap to retain humidity. IMO glass lids are the best. You cannot use any heat lamps with glass lids though, they will crack.

Substrate should be 6 inches or 3 times the height of your largest crab (whichever is deeper). It should also be mixed with dechlorinated marine saltwater or dechlorinated freshwater to make the substrate sandcastle consistency. Gravel should not be in the substrate. It could get into their shell.

You can use "bubblers" (Air stones in the pools), moss pits and glass lids to help boost humidity. IMO smaller tanks are harder to regulate.

I have a heat lamp now, the lady at Petco said I could use a 50 watt bulb. It is keeping my crabitat at 75 so is it okay to use or should I drop to 25 watt? I will take note on the gravel! I did not know that. I have made the sand much deeper now. When you say sandcastle consistency, do I mist the sand to keep it moist or will that make it clump up?

Homie_Hermie wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 19, 2019 8:05 am

I have a heat lamp now, the lady at Petco said I could use a 50 watt bulb. It is keeping my crabitat at 75 so is it okay to use or should I drop to 25 watt? I will take note on the gravel! I did not know that. I have made the sand much deeper now. When you say sandcastle consistency, do I mist the sand to keep it moist or will that make it clump up?

If all your crabs are above ground, you can temporarily move them to a large plastic container while you fix the substrate. Mix the playsand and eco earth with dechlorinated (using Prime) fresh water or dechl salt (usine Instant Ocean) water. Mix enough water to hold its shape but not so much if you squeeze it it will drip. Sandcastle consistancy. And using plastic seal for the lid you also cannot use a heat lamp. It will melt the plastic. You can put an under the tank heat mat on the back of the tank, big enough to cover entire back, from top of substrate to top of tank.

You need to remove the gravel.
Are you using play sand? You will need to add water and mix it up to be sand castle consistency. The water needs to be dechlorinated fresh or salt water. Then if you need to mist/ add more water later, it should be dechlor fresh water. Many of us use the added EE because it helps with humidity (5 parts play sand to 1 part EE is most common, but other ratios can and have been used). Play sand won't clump, but other sand could, so is not recommended. A towel won't do as much for the humidity as Saran Wrap over the lid. Many of us use UTH's (under tank heater - but never under the tank, always on the side or back) because they don't zap the humidity like a heat lamp does.

I went out and got crab island jungle bed. Sprayed some mist on it and my humidity is up to 80!!

Did you cover the lid? If not, the humidity will not last.
Crab Island Jungle Bed is cypress bark. I know that Cypress is on the safe wood list, but from what I have read, it is not a good substrate.
Do you plan to remove the gravel and do moistened play sand? EE would be a better addition than what you have used, IMO.