HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Hi guys!! I have always come to this site for advice before, but this is my first time actually posting!!

I have 5 PPs in a 60 gallon tank with a screen lid covered in plexiglass. I have a 5:1 ratio of playsand to Eco-earth with 8 inches of substrate all together. My 5 PPs have been with me for roughly 4 years now and we have had many successful molts with no cannibalism! I also have 2 large pools (about 5 inches wide x 7 inches long) that they love to swim in before heading out for some fresh food, and a nice sized moss pit they like to chill in.

Anyway, I recently upgraded to this tank from a 40 gallon breeder, and although the temperature is perfect at 80-82 degrees, with a dip at night to 78 degrees, I notice in this much larger tank that the humidity often dips to around 70% and I like to provide them with around 80% humidity. I also run a humidifier in the tank for an hour in the morning and an hour at night. Do you guys have any other tips or tricks that you can help me with to keep the humidity levels at a more constant percentage?

Thank you all for any help you can give me!!

Did you mix your substrate with dechlorinated msw or dechlorinated fw to make it sandcastle consistency?

What type of light are you using? Heat lamps will make your humidity evaporate. If you have a heater and it is covering your substrate, that will make your substrate dry out.

If there are any gaps in your lid, cover them in Press-N-Seal, or cut open gallon sized Ziploc bags and tape them to the outside with packaging tape to help keep the humidity in the tank.

Bubblers definitely do help boost the humidity. Double dish bubblers: http://hermitcrabassociation.com/phpBB/ ... r#p1030806

You can also add moss pits to help. You would use organic moss (as well as moss that is on the safe list), and moisten it with dechlorinated fresh water. Then, put the moss in a shower caddy or a glass vase laying on it's side so the hermits can walk in and out of it. Glass tops also help keep humidity in.

I personally don't like humidifiers, I would be afraid of flooding.

Good luck!

Hi thank you for your tips!

When I mix their substrate, I use a mix of water dechlorinated with Prime and a bit of water mixed with Instant Ocean to make it that sand castle consistency.

I use a normal desk lamp for daylight - I have one UTH on the side of the tank and one on the back of the tank (made for 60 gallon tanks) on the back - both are above the substrate line.

I do have one sphagnum moss pit - maybe I will add another one and the bubblers!! Hopefully that will do the trick and I won’t have to use the mini- USB humidifier anymore!!