HCA: Hermit Crab Association

kornchaser wrote:Ugh the nearest Petco here is either 2 hours west or 2 hours east.
Edit: So I can wait for one to come up in auction or spend $90 on a 40g tank or $115 on a 40g mesh top terrarium. Even if petsmart does price matching, I don't have the $$. My grandpa is going to find me one at auction.


Hermie mommy of 10 PP babies: Octavius Flemming, Poseidon, Bruiser, Junior, Matty Pumpkin, Turbo, Kaylee Frye, Pepper, Flower and Adrian Shephard.

You can always check out craigslist in your area. Check listings under both "aquarium" and "terrarium" as the latter postings often include a screen lid; occasionally, the "aquarium" listings include a hood with strip light. Good luck!

Also tank, reptile cage or tank, and turtle tank, and terrerium (misspelled) yield some different results. I've also found listings in the pet forum under community--for some reason when I do a general search CL doesn't pull up community listings.


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Wow that's not going to work, my tanks dropped to 60° and 11% Thanks for almost killing my crabs I hope they're still alive in the morning. I fixed the heaters and put them UNDERNEATH where they're supposed to go been doing that for over a year without any trouble. Sorry by that information is wrong, deadly wrong.


Hermie mommy of 10 PP babies: Octavius Flemming, Poseidon, Bruiser, Junior, Matty Pumpkin, Turbo, Kaylee Frye, Pepper, Flower and Adrian Shephard.

kornchaser wrote: I fixed the heaters and put them UNDERNEATH where they're supposed to go been doing that for over a year without any trouble.

UTH really cannot heat well through all the deep substrate hermit crabs require. Plus, as I said, it will dry out the bottom layers of substrate which can be disastrous for molters. You really want to attach it to the outside back or side of your tank. It works best if you use the largest UTH that can fit there, mostly or completely above the substrate line. You'll probably also need to insulate it. A lot of crabbers use aluminum foil, cardboard, styrofoam, and/or insulation board. One highly recommended brand of UTH is Ultratherm.

What type of lid do you have? You may need to cover it most of the way with aluminum foil or plastic wrap to help keep heat and humidity in. Be sure your substrate is moistened to sand castle consistency as well. Other things that help boost humidity are larger water pools, bubblers in one or both pools, moss pits, misting (be careful not to over do it though), and of course fogger/humidifiers. It can take some fiddling around to get both temperature and humidity correct. Good luck.

I just couldn't see moving the uth to the side of the tank causing the temperature to drop. The substrate had previously been absorbing a large portion of that heat. Once it was moved to the side, it would only make sense that the temperature increase. I believe another factor must have contributed. Believe me, some of our most experienced crabbers use this method of heating, and they have kept crabs for many many years. The zap in humidity would only have resulted from an increase in heat as well. May I ask, what percentage of the screen top is covered? Was the sub completely dry? Even the ambient air in your house is well above 11%

Have you calibrated your hygrometer, kornchaser? viewtopic.php?t=98858

Both were reading accurately. It was just a bad idea to put them on the side and stress out my molting crabs. Tried it twice now with the same results. I'll stick to keeping them on the bottom. It works well with me and it's what my family and me has read is best for my crabs.


Hermie mommy of 10 PP babies: Octavius Flemming, Poseidon, Bruiser, Junior, Matty Pumpkin, Turbo, Kaylee Frye, Pepper, Flower and Adrian Shephard.

jarteta97 wrote:I just couldn't see moving the uth to the side of the tank causing the temperature to drop. The substrate had previously been absorbing a large portion of that heat. Once it was moved to the side, it would only make sense that the temperature increase. I believe another factor must have contributed. Believe me, some of our most experienced crabbers use this method of heating, and they have kept crabs for many many years. The zap in humidity would only have resulted from an increase in heat as well. May I ask, what percentage of the screen top is covered? Was the sub completely dry? Even the ambient air in your house is well above 11%

Well the UTH and the EE keeps the humidity up and with checking out something in another post/thread I found that the bottom layer of sub was soaked and gross, needing mixed with the drier but still wet top EE to reduce the earthy smell. The humidity is fine with no dry spots at all. With the heater constantly on and warm my tank does not dry out and in fact I had 99% humidity for weeks before this incident and water in my digital one so I changed over to a dial because the perfectly fine humidity won't break it. It's insulated with 1/2" styrofoam all the way around except the front and bottom. And 99% covered the top with just a slab of styrofoam on my metal mesh screen cover. And the humidity in my house gets Low LOW with dry coughs and having to constantly boil water because of our dry air heaters and winter being here not sure on exactly the % but less than 11% is completely possible.


Hermie mommy of 10 PP babies: Octavius Flemming, Poseidon, Bruiser, Junior, Matty Pumpkin, Turbo, Kaylee Frye, Pepper, Flower and Adrian Shephard.

Could you post pics of your crabitat so we get a better idea of what's going on?

kornchaser wrote:Both were reading accurately. It was just a bad idea to put them on the side and stress out my molting crabs. Tried it twice now with the same results. I'll stick to keeping them on the bottom. It works well with me and it's what my family and me has read is best for my crabs.


Hermie mommy of 10 PP babies: Octavius Flemming, Poseidon, Bruiser, Junior, Matty Pumpkin, Turbo, Kaylee Frye, Pepper, Flower and Adrian Shephard.

Just wanted to share: i used to have the UTH hit 3 inches below the line of substrate. In a week i dug my finger down to toss the sand a bit and it broke into a powdery crumble. The powder dry sand was also extra hot, over 90F when my tank was under 82F.
Perhaps it might help to check the temp of the sand way underneath in case the temps are super high deeper down. If the temps are too high below the crabs are potentially losing available tunneling space, causing more overcrowding behavior.


Crabbers unite!!!

I have ALWAYS had uth on the side, like everyone else here, and temps and humidity are perfect. I agree that something else is going on that you are not aware of yet.

The members here have YEARS of experience and would NEVER jeopardize your crabs with bad advice!

YYWW wrote: Just wanted to share: i used to have the UTH hit 3 inches below the line of substrate. In a week i dug my finger down to toss the sand a bit and it broke into a powdery crumble. The powder dry sand was also extra hot, over 90F when my tank was under 82F.
Perhaps it might help to check the temp of the sand way underneath in case the temps are super high deeper down. If the temps are too high below the crabs are potentially losing available tunneling space, causing more overcrowding behavior.


Crabbers unite!!!

I don't have sand and my eco earth (soil type stuff/ EE) is completely wet underneath. And they just work better underneath. This post was originally about my crab digging. It's been solved. It's slightly over crowded, that's all that's wrong with how I run my tank and my crabbies home. Thank you for the chart that helped me figure that out. Maybe my heaters don't run that hot?? Idk but they're fine. I've explained everything and nothing seems to be wrong with the actual conditions of the EE or water or anything and I'd rather not grasp at straws with a system that isn't broken just different.


Hermie mommy of 10 PP babies: Octavius Flemming, Poseidon, Bruiser, Junior, Matty Pumpkin, Turbo, Kaylee Frye, Pepper, Flower and Adrian Shephard.

I would think that the fact that one crab molted in the moss pit, and the big guy Hasn't molted in nearly 2 years might give you pause and wonder why. But whatever works for you. It just always makes ME wonder how 99.9% of us use the uth on the side and have successful underground molts.

I wish you all the best.

Sorry about that, i have a habit of just reading updates. I will need to be more thorough!
Thanks for pointing out your difference in sub, that must be what makes your system work so well.


Crabbers unite!!!

hermieluv1 wrote:I would think that the fact that one crab molted in the moss pit, and the big guy Hasn't molted in nearly 2 years might give you pause and wonder why. But whatever works for you. It just always makes ME wonder how 99.9% of us use the uth on the side and have successful underground molts.

I wish you all the best.

now that you brought it up tbh it does, but the one who hasn't molted til now is almost a jumbo so he wouldn't molt for a year (I believe I've only had him one year or less) or so anyways. And the littler guy molting in the moss does worry me but he's fine now ( Matty has molted underground before in EE) and I've had 3 other successful molts that were underground. I think they're just picky choosy.


Hermie mommy of 10 PP babies: Octavius Flemming, Poseidon, Bruiser, Junior, Matty Pumpkin, Turbo, Kaylee Frye, Pepper, Flower and Adrian Shephard.