Nearly a year ago my best friend took my daughter to the beach and she came home with 2 hermit crabs. When I read about the fact they typically live for a year in captivity compared to 30(!) years in the wild, I was shocked and heartbroken. Since then I’ve read just about everything I could get my hands on about how to give them the best life I could. Now we have 6 crabs in total because I wound up adopting ALL the crabs my bestie bought for her kids and their friends.
Below are pics of the habitat I created. Some are labeled, some are not. Hopefully it makes at least some sense. I missed photographing some hiding areas, but I’m sure I’m already posting too much, so I’ll spare you.
Everything that’s not specifically for aquariums has been coated in rubber to make it safe for the crabs.
There is 8” of sand/substrate over a 2 inch tall false bottom made with a screen window kit. Under the screen there are tubes with multiple small holes punched in them. The tubes then join and connect to a shop vac attachment. I’m able to both remove any excess water from human and crab accidental spills and from days with excess condensation dripping down. I also use the tubes to gently remove sand and excrement that falls through the screen. I slowly suck out about 1/2” of sand per week from under the screen and replace with new sand on top.
I grow plants in a tabletop greenhouse and rotate them in as needed. It’s currently about 75% fake plants and 25% real plants. Hoping to make that 50/50 real/fake. Also planning on adding some tadpoles and aquatic plants to the fresh water pool.
The temp and humidity hover around 80 degrees and 80%. It’s achieved by heated water being pumped through tubes throughout. Both pools of water are heated and continuously bio-filtered. I also use 1 heating mat on the outside of the aquarium (behind the triple coconut huts) and I use 1 grow lamp to keep the plants happy as well.
The crabs are fed a rotating diet of over 50 of the items on the safe food list. In every meal I offer at least 1 protein, 1 calcium source, 1 food item from the area they were bought, 1 fresh fruit and 1 fresh veggie. I also have a live moss pit (moss grown by me onto chipped coconut shells) micro greens (grown in a earthworm casing and coconut substrate mix) and a calcium pit (mussel shells, oyster shells, egg shells and starfish.) Every thing they eat is either sourced from My Organic Market stores or grown by me and my kids.
