HCA: Hermit Crab Association

We've had a problem with ants in our apartment and we have all kinds of any traps laid out. But today k saw a TON of ants in the tank with our hermit crabs, they are all in the substrate. None of my crabs are buried right now, so I feel lucky in that and my husband is picking up new sand and eco earth on his way home from work, but I only have a 13 gallon iso and 5 crabs. What do I do until tonight??

Thank you so much.


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They should be fine in there until tonight, make sure they each have a hiding spot to reduce the risk of them getting testy with each other.

It is amazingly awesome they are all up! It could have been so much worse, I speak from experience. Try to move the tank to a new safer location as the ants may come right back if their primary nest wasn't destroyed. It's messy, but creating a ring of vaseline around the outside of the tank and any cords/tubes leading into the tank will also keep them from climbing in again.

Thank you! He is bringing home another 3 bags of sand, and I already have 2 bricks of eco earth. I'll be able to work on moving the tank earlier today and boiling everything!

Oh man! I am so sorry you are going through this! I had an ant infestation 2 years ago. The vaseline didn't work for me - I don't know what I did wrong. Mine were sugar ants if I remember their name correctly...They lived on trees. Primarily oak. Came in through the window. Luckily they didn't live in the substrate. They made a "home" in my shell shop - I just scooped up the top layer of my substrate and boiled all of my shells and they were gone. It was terrifying though. Happened overnight.

Good luck!!

GotButterflies wrote:Oh man! I am so sorry you are going through this! I had an ant infestation 2 years ago. The vaseline didn't work for me - I don't know what I did wrong. Mine were sugar ants if I remember their name correctly...They lived on trees. Primarily oak. Came in through the window. Luckily they didn't live in the substrate. They made a "home" in my shell shop - I just scooped up the top layer of my substrate and boiled all of my shells and they were gone. It was terrifying though. Happened overnight.

Good luck!!

That's about how mine happened! The tank was okay last night, and this morning there were a TON of them! I think they are coming in through our backdoor (a small crack underneath it). I took the food dishes out this morning and alot of them left, and we are going to move the tank to another area in the living room. I'm praying a deep clean will help, and if sprayed the heck out of the back door with raid (it's in another room)

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Ankutchey wrote:

GotButterflies wrote:Oh man! I am so sorry you are going through this! I had an ant infestation 2 years ago. The vaseline didn't work for me - I don't know what I did wrong. Mine were sugar ants if I remember their name correctly...They lived on trees. Primarily oak. Came in through the window. Luckily they didn't live in the substrate. They made a "home" in my shell shop - I just scooped up the top layer of my substrate and boiled all of my shells and they were gone. It was terrifying though. Happened overnight.

Good luck!!

That's about how mine happened! The tank was okay last night, and this morning there were a TON of them! I think they are coming in through our backdoor (a small crack underneath it). I took the food dishes out this morning and alot of them left, and we are going to move the tank to another area in the living room. I'm praying a deep clean will help, and if sprayed the heck out of the back door with raid (it's in another room)

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Good luck!! I hope it helps!!!

Update: I completely redid the tank, set them back up and sealed the tank better than before. We have set up some traps and haven't seen many all day, so I'm hoping the problem is solved! Thank you all for your help

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