New crab owner, habitat help - adopting 5 small hermit crabs Monday

[timeleviathan]

Hi! So we are adopting 5 hermit crabs from my son's 1st grade class on Monday. I think they are pretty small. I need help in deciding what equipment we need to buy and setup before they come home. I have experience in keeping fish so I know how involved and detailed his type of thing can be. I've read guides and have a general idea. I know experts and people with experience can be found on these kind of forums so here I am.

Would someone be able to provide some kind of list of what we should get? If you were to start fresh with 5 small hermit crabs what would you get? I want them to have room to grow and have a nice setup. If we can buy it online (amazon is good) that would be great but it doesn't have to be online, we have the usual petsmart, petco, hardware stores, etc. around.

I'd really appreciate any specific items/things you can recommend. Tank type/size?, lid?, heater/light/both?, substrate?, water dishes?, tank stand?, climbing stuff/hideouts/extra things?, extra shells?, food?, etc etc.

Thank you in advance!

Jerod

[curlysister]

Have you looked at the care sheet section? The HCA is the only place I have gotten information, and I have had my crabs for almost 9 years. The basics are all covered in this sheet:

http://www.hermitcrabassociation.com/ph ... 0&t=119273

This one covers water:

http://www.hermitcrabassociation.com/ph ... 27&t=92553

This one covers tank sizes and how many can be in a tank:

http://www.hermitcrabassociation.com/ph ... 26&t=92541

Everything else is covered on various sheets for food, lighting, heating, etc.

http://www.hermitcrabassociation.com/ph ... .php?f=120

As for where to buy stuff, playsand can be found at hardware stores. EE (coconut fiber) from most pet stores. Many of us use Rubbermaid type containers for pools/ water dishes (need to be deep enough for crabs to submerge but have a way for them to climb out). I order shells online, from Naples Sea Shells. I order dry food from Hermit Crab Patch. I have found my tanks on local swap and shops, as well as some of my climbing items. UTH's I have ordered online from The Bean Farm.

Motorcrab has a section of links for shopping:

http://www.hermitcrabassociation.com/ph ... 2&t=119315

If you have specific questions after reading all this stuff, just let us know! We are here to help!

[timeleviathan]

I really appreciate you putting this together. Thank you!

[timeleviathan]

What kind of container/jug/bucket do you use to mix your water (both dechlorinated and salt water)?
And do you store it or mix as you need? I'd probably prefer to mix in advance and use as needed if possible.

Could I use something like this to mix and store each type or is there a better way?

https://www.amazon.com/IRIS-Nesting-Air ... ies&sr=1-1

[Oliviet#1]

I just use water bottles for the waters. It helps the saltwater to stay dissolved when I shake it. The container in the link should be fine.

[timeleviathan]

I ordered some food from hermit crab patch!

Assuming the crabs are like 1-1.5" what type of shells should we get? I'm looking at Naples sea shells under 'small shells' and I have no idea which ones to get. I don't know the exact type of crabs but assume they got them at Petsmart or something similar since they were in my son's 1st grade class.

http://naplesseashellcompany.com/small-seashells.html

[timeleviathan]

I just use water bottles for the waters. It helps the saltwater to stay dissolved when I shake it. The container in the link should be fine.

Ok cool maybe I'll just buy plastic gallon jugs of water at the grocery store and use those. Seems like a better/cheaper idea.

[timeleviathan]

Ok I'm confused at what kind of heater I'll need. Assuming I get about a 30g tank, can someone recommend a specific heater? Thanks!

[timeleviathan]

Also, is there a heater that can automatically shut off at a certain temperature?

[Oliviet#1]

If you want it to shut off on its own at a certain temperature you should look at (I think it is called this) heat mat controllers. You plug them in the wall and you plug the heat mat into the controller. Most of the people on here recommend ultratherm (with insulating) but I used an UTH from amazon (the biggest size) for the 20 gallon tank. For the one I use it is usually around2 degrees F hotter in the back of the tank (closest to where it is) than the front of the tank. In the spring/summer (now basically) the temp is around 84-88 F (I kinda hope to get a heat controller soon), and in the fall/winter it is around 78-83 F. I also forgot to mention I use declorinated tap water for the water bottles. Here is a link to the UTH I have
https://www.amazon.com/iPower-7-Inch-Re ... th=1&psc=1