HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Hello everyone,

I have been lurking on the forum for a few months, ever since my wife brought home "hermes" from the beach in August of 2021.

I have fallen in love with these creatures and now have 4 of them in a 40gallon tank, which I added 3 new guys in addition to hermes about 3 weeks ago. I am in the process of setting up a 20 gallon which I plan to put 2-3.

I have a couple of questions which I can not seem to find direct answers on and sometimes conflicting posts etc. Looking for someone to take me under their wing (or inside their shell ;p) and teach me the ways of the HC.

1. What is the ideal temperature that I should keep in the crabitat, right now I am running 83-84 during the day and 78-79 at night. Is this too hot?

2. What is the ideal humidity, right now I am at 90%ish. If I add a bit of air flow I can get this closer to 80% but lose a bit of heat.

3. One of my crabs which I just recently added 3 weeks ago, I have only seen him maybe 1-2 times. I do not see any trace of digging but he is no where to be found. Is he ok???

4. What is the best way to generate more activity, I love when they come out but it seems few and far between. Should I invest in a camera, are these guys coming out at night and sleeping most of the day? If so which camera would be a good selection for a noob such as myself.

Thanks in advance !

Hello everyone,

I have been lurking on the forum for a few months, ever since my wife brought home "hermes" from the beach in August of 2021.

I have fallen in love with these creatures and now have 4 of them in a 40gallon tank, which I added 3 new guys in addition to hermes about 3 weeks ago. I am in the process of setting up a 20 gallon which I plan to put 2-3.
Curly - Welcome to crabbing, and to the forum!

I have a couple of questions which I can not seem to find direct answers on and sometimes conflicting posts etc. Looking for someone to take me under their wing (or inside their shell ;p) and teach me the ways of the HC.

1. What is the ideal temperature that I should keep in the crabitat, right now I am running 83-84 during the day and 78-79 at night. Is this too hot?
Curly - Those are good temps. You do have some wiggle room for them to be a bit lower and still be safe.

2. What is the ideal humidity, right now I am at 90%ish. If I add a bit of air flow I can get this closer to 80% but lose a bit of heat.
Curly - There is no such thing as 'too' humid, so in the 90s is fine. But you could give a bit more air flow and have it in the 80s, that's fine too.

3. One of my crabs which I just recently added 3 weeks ago, I have only seen him maybe 1-2 times. I do not see any trace of digging but he is no where to be found. Is he ok???
Curly - Crabs back fill their tunnels, so it's very possible that he dug down and is de-stressing or molting. I wouldn't worry about it, they often go under as soon as they are brought home.

4. What is the best way to generate more activity, I love when they come out but it seems few and far between. Should I invest in a camera, are these guys coming out at night and sleeping most of the day? If so which camera would be a good selection for a noob such as myself.
Curly - Many crabs are more active at night, so you might be happier with a camera! Wyze cam is one that many people have.

Thanks in advance !

Curlysister,

Thank you so much!!!

I got into this hobby right about that same time you did. I set up two 29gal setups, each with 3 purple pinchers. If I remember right, within days, pretty much all of them dug down. I might catch a glimpse of one during the day and see one on my wyze cam at night.

Fast forward to today, I regularly see two in one of my tanks and 1 in another, even during the day. Some will continue eating with me gawking at them, others will flee the scene. They seem to become more tolerant (or maybe less timid?) after they go through a good molt in their nice new, low stress environment.

I see you are setting up two tanks. It's what I did and I kind of regret it. I wish I would have done one larger setup like a 75g for my 6 crabs.

JTKermie,

Thanks for the reply and that makes me feel a bit better regarding the disappearing acts LOL!

I may have to take you advice and update the size of the crabitat versus installing another one (if the wife will tolerate it). Wondering what your reasoning is behind this?

Most crabbers that have multiple tanks hate it as it increases maintenance. Multiple food bowls, water bowls (which one already has two!), cleans, hides, heat mats, plug sockets ect.