New from Northern CA

[LindseyW]

Hello,

I'm a new crab owner in Northern California. I never intended to have a hermit crab, but here I am! We were at a fair last month and my daughter was off with her dad and came back with a hermit crab that she won. I can't believe they give them away as prizes! I have been determined now to give him a good home. I would love to get 1 or 2 more soon so that he's not alone.

I'm having trouble figuring out heating. I have a 10 gallon tank (was a fish tank). I bought a few heaters, and currently have a Zoomed mini heater and a Zoomed small heater (which says it's for 10-20 gallon tanks), yet it's really not doing much. My house gets cold at night in the winter (and I don't want to run the heater...too much $$$), so I'm concerned about not keeping the tank warm enough. I feel like I keep spending money and not getting results. Any advice? Does making insulation really work? Do I need to get a heat lamp? (Darn, I was hoping to post a picture of the tank, but I don't know how at this moment)

Ideally I would have had this all figured out before getting a crab, but as you can see, it didn't work out this way.

My little guy has been hiding away mostly since we got him. I'm wondering if he's trying to molt. I worry about his health since who knows what he went through before we got him.

Thanks for reading, and I look forward to gaining more knowledge through everyone on here!

Lindsey

[broke669]

insulating really does help. just tape on aluminum foil (shiny side in) and then on top of that cardboard on three sides of the tank (just not over the heaters themselves, thats a fire hazard!). that's what i have to do with my tank in the winter. unfortunately i also bought zoomed heaters (thats all that was being sold my city's pet stores), and they are crap! its best to order one in from reptilebasics. that's what i'm going to do once i can get my bigger crabitat set up. what type of lid do you have on your crabitat? if its a mesh screen lid, you might want to tape cardboard onto that too. hope this helps!
also, your crab is probably just destressing/getting used to his new environment.

[LindseyW]

Thank you so much Broke669. I am going to do that now.

The top of my tank is plexi-glass I guess? There is a small opening at the top. I've kept a towel over it with just a small opening for air. I'll put some cardboard/foil up there too.

Thanks for the tip on where to get the heaters. Pet stores really don't seem to be equipped. I bought one of them on amazon, but just because I didn't really know what else to do.

The little guy came out last night for a bit, I was surprised.

Thank you!

[broke669]

the location of the heaters on the tank also affect how good they are. with crabitats you're supposed to place them on the sides of the tank, above the substate line (despite the fact the instuctions will say they need to be used on the bottom). but since you're using zoomed, you cant remove them once you've placed them (i made that mistake!).
and when you buy your new uth, just buy the biggest one available that will fit on side of the tank (without bending).
have fun with your new crab! they're lotsa fun to watch, and the more used to their new surroundings they get, the more active they become.