HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Hi everyone

I have 3 PP's: a teeney, a small, and a slightly-more-medium-small.

I recently moved them from my 10 gallon tank for fear of not having enough room for either the crabs or the items I wanted to include in their crabitat. They are now in a large, clear-green plastic storage container (~30 gallons). Does anyone else use these for long-term habitation? I feel like I'm just being cheap, but I also live at school. Storage containers = handles for my semi-nomadic lifestyle. Are there any downsides to using these other than aesthetic?

Winter is Coming
And the heat doesn't usually get turned on until mid-November, meaning it gets down into the 60's at at night. :crybaby: In the ten gallon, my red reptile lamp worked well but now I'm struggling with this larger container. Finally got it up to 75 last night... UTHs seem to me the most efficient way to go from here, but are they safe for plastic containers or is there a melting risk?

I moved the container into my bedroom where there is only one small window so it stays warmer, but they also get a lot less natural day light. Could this be okay for a temporary winter thing?

Other projects
[*]Change crabby diet from commercial!
[*] Get a different bubbler? I try to use mine in their saltwater pool, but they go hiding when I turn it on... and it's kind of loud. Anyone else encounter this issue?
[*] Always need more shells...

Hello, welcome to the HCA!
Storage bin user here! I have one with a 5g tank attached to the top. I love mine, they're very convenient (and cheap, like you mentioned)
Pic,

Heat mats are safe on the plastic, no melting . If you insulate it with sytrofoam, cardboard, aluminum foil (or a mix of all of those) it will keep your tank warmer. I think it's also important to insulate the top as well, when using a tote. The heat can easily escape from the top. I've got my top insulated with styrofoam.
I've, for the most part, quit using air stones in my pools. It empties the water too fast. Since the humidity in my crabitat maintains itself without me doing anything I don't have any need for a bubbler pool.

hermitcrabdc wrote:Hello, welcome to the HCA!
Storage bin user here! I have one with a 5g tank attached to the top.

Hey, thanks a lot! Using the top tank upside down is an awesome idea! I may have found an idea for my ten gallon...

Hello! I am new to the site as well, but like you a long time lurker.

I currently have a tote for my crabs as well, but am switching over to a 55g tank for them soon, but it's only because I want to.

About heat mats. They can and do work well with totes. BUT, be careful on what ones you insulate as some will overheat and may risk fire. I personally use and recommend UltraTherms. Which are honestly not only the better mat, but the best value, especially when you start going up in enclosure size. They can be insulated safely.

If you want a mat, you want the biggest that can fit in the back of your tank, while still being above or mostly above your substrate.

One thing I also started to think about which is another reason I am moving them to a tank, they are easy to move! I have a small efficiency apartment, I found myself moving my crabs around to make room for this or that, and stopped one day when the thought of, moving then= risk of collapse of molt cave. So something to consider there.


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I'm going to go the complete opposite of the others here and play a little aquariums advocate.lol

I've always used glass aquariums because for me they have been the better and for me the safer alternative because I have to use a lot of extra help with heat lamps and such I could easily do damage to a plastic tote my house is kept pretty cold all year long around 72oF so that means my room usually stays in the sixties during the cooler/colder months hence the reason I need the extra help in keeping my hermitcrabs nice and warm.

I have used larger plastic totes in the past as temporary homes but never for a permanent enclosure and one of the bigger reasons is we really don't know what could be leeching from the plastic into the substrate through constant long term contact which is something to think about.

I do know that there are codes on all plastics that are usually found on the bottom or side it will be a number in the middle of a triangle and numbers 1,3 and 7 all have some serious toxicity issues and numbers 2,4,5 and 6 all have some minor toxicity issues http://articles.mercola.com/sites/artic ... c-use.aspx here is a link to a very helpful list.

The toxins that these plastics tend to leech often do so under the direct application of heat ie your heat lamp or uth pad and when it leeches it will first contaminant the substrate and then the food and water and will eventually build up in the crabs bodies often resulting in molt deformities, inability to molt and death.

I'd strongly recommend checking the code on the plastic totes before use.

I know that some of your pro-toters will say that you have been using totes for a long time with no visible ill effects on your crabs but that doesn't account for whats happening to them internally over the long term those hidden effects wont manifest in most cases until its too late to do anything about it.

PVC has been long known to be a very toxic plastic to hermitcrabs and unfortunately its being mixed with other softer plastics more and more frequently these days as a hardening agent, the FDA/EPA released a report around 2010 citing that PVC is the most toxic plastic used in the construction of new homes and they have been waging what seems like an endless war against the plastic for several years in an attempt to get it removed from new construction sites but the plastic is still being used because it is so cheap and durable.

Crabber85, you make some really great points. I have not looked at it that way before. Makes me kinda glad I am planning on moving over to glass here in the next month or so...


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Interesting. I could only find the number for my lid, I can't lift the tote to look at the bottom. The lid is a 5...
This leads me to wonder what all the plants in our tanks our made up of. Just about everything in mine is plastic.
How long do you think they'd be okay in the totes? I don't have the money (or space) to move them into a tank right now

I have had crabs in totes for years at a time. As long as I was on point with my upkeep, I had no issues.

I made the choice to move them to a glass tank only because petco had the $1 a gallon sale and I kind of would like to see them a bit better. My crabs are in a ghetto-fide 50g tote currently while I work on the 55 glass.


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@hermitcrabdc, since you don't have the money or space do what you can as you can the tote should be okay for a little while longer but I would not recommend letting it be your crabs permanent home as it would be more beneficial and safer for them to be transitioned over to a glass enclosure at some point.

This was a topic of intense debate over at the old LHC.com forums and after several members including myself started doing the research we learned a lot about the potential issues from the plastics leeching, there was one account on a marine fish keeping forum where an enthusiast in the hobby decided to try and make a sump tank for filtering his 200 gallon aquarium out of a 75 gallon tote he'd sourced from his local home improvement store and after only two weeks of running the new DIY sump he lost all of his fish to acute water toxicity the tote was leeching phthalates into the water and wiped his whole tank out he lost over two hundred dollars in fish and another hundred in live corals.

Since we don't really know how much of the phthalates are being released through leeching its really tough to say how long is too long for the crabs to be exposed, its like JMT says anything can be toxic in the right amounts and its more about over saturation/exposure than it is about the what in most cases.

As for the plants if your buying silk plants that are listed as aquarium safe then you really don't have to worry because the plastics used are typically very low in phthalates which is why they tend to be so flexible, other silk plants that are not rated for aquarium use can pose a risk to your crabs if they are eating on them on a regular basis.

I've had plastic silk plants from the arts and crafts isle that bled their color out and got nasty very quickly because they broke down in the high heat and humidity of my enclosure in less than two weeks and then on the other side I have had aquarium safe plants that have lasted years with no visible discoloration or wear.

@crabber85

Thanks for bringing this topic to light. Bizarre cancers in my family have made us health-conscious of environmental (incl. dietary) pollutants. I mention this to point out my own hypocrisy on this issue, since we've become ultra suspicious and aware of plastics in our own lives. But here I was thinking, "Well, I wouldn't use it for a heated aquarium, but I think they will be fine. Other people do it." Ugh. I mean it's one thing to not know/have any other choice/or not believe the whole "plastics are carcinogenic" hoopla without more research, but I actually do. And I shoved those thoughts to the back of my head because they were inconvenient for me.

Well, there, I confessed my bad crabber sins. lol

Good thing is that school is almost over. Maybe a career in my near future. $$

Getting some great ideas from DIY section on some other options though!

@Lelu, it's cool I just thought I'd shed a little light on the topic, I've been crabbing since 92' and made my fair share of noob mistakes and what I would consider to be personal blunders and I feel that if I can impart some crabby knowledge and save others from sharing in my headaches then why not.lol