HCA: Hermit Crab Association

I have been trying to increase the humidity in my tank. It usually stays around 69-70% but drops down at night. Misting doesn't seem to help for long anymore. When I first add new substrate, the humidity is perfect at 75-80, but it tends to drift down as the substrate dries out. So, I attempted to add a bubbling pool--but, my 10 gallon tank is too small to accommodate it, and the bubbling pool tended to spray water all over--I was afraid it would leak and my crabs would drown. The smallest waterfall that is sold also doesn't look like it will fit well. I want to get a bigger tat, but I cannot just yet.

So I kind of came up with an alternative bubbling pool, and the humidity did go up a bit. I put some saturated sponges in a small plastic bottle (mouth of the bottle is 1 inch diameter), and ran an airstone under the sponges. There is not enough water to spill out and drown anything, the sponges are wedged in tight, and the crabs cannot fall in because of the sponges. But I wanted to get the humidity up a little higher still.

Is there a hygrometer that people like better? I am wondering if this one (simple analog gauge that came with my hermit crab "kit") is not registering well. Is there a digital one that people like?

My hygrometer is located at the top of the tank, next to the hole where the heat lamp sits. Do you think the humidity is actually higher down low where the crabs are?

You might wanna move the humidity gauge down at crabby level to see what the humidity is down there. Have you ever calibrated it??? There is a link about that under Crab Care FAQ over there ----->>

I have a dial hygrometer, and it works fine for me =]

Another way you might wanna add humidity is by a moss pit. Just get some moss from home depot or someplace. Then get it wet with salt water and squeeze the excess water out. You can place it in a little bowl if you want and then put it in your tank =] Your crabs will probably love to crawl around in it and maybe eat it!! =]

The humidity is probably much better ground level. Calibrate it, and then move it down and wait a bit to see what it says before doing anything(cause you don't want the humidity to be too high like mine was )
If you really want a digital hygrometer, Wal Mart has a digital combo for around $7. It works quite well and the battery lasts a while. It does have some metal on it, but it's rather easy to remove.

I am going to calibrate it. Thanks.

I moved the lid around so the open area is on the opposite side of the hygrometer (which is stuck to the top of the tank.) And, I am going to move the think closer to the substrate.

thanks.

You can always try moss, crabs love it and you can use it to help with humidity.