HCA: Hermit Crab Association

I have a 20 gal. long. I have a 100 w Night red heat incandescent bulb. a water bowl with 1/2 salted water & 1/2 regular conditioned water. ( side by side type bowl )I have a flat lid type food dish. I have a castle,some extra shells,a basket type thing with moss it`s suctioned to the side of the tank. fake plants a thermometer & humidity gauge & sand.
I had my hermits for 2 days now. I live in a basement & it is pretty much cold down here. I am first time owner to these. & I bought them big. I can hold them still right? There pincher is really big & I have not held a big one like this before. It seems if I hold my hand flat it will be able to clip onto my skin easier since it is really big lol.
My tank does not look like it is moist in there. My moss is drying up & the sand is not staying moist. I had some Florida sand from a year ago that I brought back about a gallon jug worth.. I added & I bought some hermit crab sand & i bought aquarium sand.I did soak the moss & keep some water in there, is this only because it is cold here in the room? & it is not producing enough humidity.

I can not find shells big enough that I feel they need. I bought a bag from pat catans. I will add a photo. I am not for sure if those can be used. I went to pet shop and bought a few but I think those are going to be small for them. I can not find bigger shells.

I seen some on ebay but I can not determine the size mine needs. they seem to be really big for the shells they are in now. On my hood I have 1/2 wrapped in saran wrap thick. On the other side I have some wrapped too. The screen lid that I have is not for this tank. it is for a longer tank. But it works. How do I keep moss & sand moist. Thank you

I`d like to add a few pictures, But I can not figure out how. Does anyone know?

Welcome! If you haven't already, I strongly recommend you check out our basic care sheet: http://hermitcrabassociation.com/phpBB/ ... 51&t=92457

How big are your crabs? If they're really big, 6 in a 20 gallon is probably overcrowded.

Most of the time, we recommend not handling your crab unless absolutely necessary until after they've molted once with you. They're generally pretty stressed, and it's better to just leave them alone until they've settled in.

Hermit crab sand is usually calcium sand, which is no good..it doesn't let them molt safely and is super expensive. Most of us just just playsand from a place like Lowe's or Home Depot, mixed with some coconut fiber and then wet to sandcastle consistency with dechlorinated water.

What is your humidity gauge reading? Have you calibrated it? Your pools should be deep enough for your crab to submerge in, and you could install bubblers in them. You can also mist daily, which is a pain, or make a DIY humidifier (http://hermitcrabassociation.com/phpBB/ ... 39&t=26260)

Your crabs are probably purple pinchers (PPs). They typically prefer shells with round openings, like turbos - striped/Mexican turbos are popular and so are tapestry turbos. You'll want to have a variety of sizes available, and about 5 extra per crab to reduce the risk of shell fights. The best place to get them is online - a lot of people like http://www.hermitcrabpatch.com and http://www.naplesseashellcompany.com Naples has good instructions for measuring: http://naplesseashellcompany.com/sizematters.html You can get cheaper shells at places like www.deltonaseashells.com but they're usually less accurate on their opening sizes.

For instructions on uploading and posting pictures, check here: http://hermitcrabassociation.com/phpBB/ ... =8&t=87783

i don't have any solutions to the humidity, but i thought i should point out that your hermies need two bowls of water, one fresh and one salt; not a bowl mixed with both.