HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Hello all. We are brand new to hermit crabs and I have gathered a lot of great info from this forum already, but now I have some questions. A little background first. Saturday my 8 year old daughter received 2 hermit crabs from a friend for her birthday. These, not surprisingly, came sporting painted shells and in a plastic kritter keeper with aquarium gravel. It didn't take too much reading online to find out that this wasn't a suitable home for our new little friends. So, a quick run out the store before closing got us a 10 gallon zoo med hermit crab habitat. http://www.zoomed.com/db/products/Entry ... oxOiIwIjt9 I got it home, wet (and rung out) the "hermit crab soil" (coconut fiber) and mixed it with the included sand. We didn't at this point have a heat source or the humidity regulated at all, but I figured it was a better set up than the little gravel filled critter keeper so I moved them over. They have a fresh water and salt water bowl, a food dish, a couple of plastic plants, and a piece of driftwood. I was sick yesterday so I couldn't get the store to buy a heater, etc. But, while we keep our house at 70 degrees, our daughter's bedroom (where the habitat is) is warmer. One guy (Paws) dug under yesterday after some exploring and the other one (Ninja) burrowed under this morning. I bought a hygrometer and a UTH today, as well as a couple of non-painted shells (VERY little selection where I live they were all too small or huge or with a slit like opening so I will have to order some online today). We also got some moss and a cork shelter.

So, in other words I am doing this all backward trying to correct mistakes instead of starting out right. Here are my questions but feel free to point out anything else you think we need to immediately address:

#1 substrate: I know different people use different mediums. But what is in there right now doesn't seem to be the ideal combo from what I have since read. There is a 5lb bag of Vita Sand (which I believe is kind of a no-no) mixed with a full brick of the coconut fiber. Guessing, ratio wise I would say it is 1 part sand to 3 (or more) parts fiber. So, once our guys come back up (assuming they do ) Should we ditch the substrate and start over or just add some play sand?

#2 cover: We have a wire mesh cover that I have mostly covered with press and seal to try to keep humidity in. I won't know for awhile what the humidity level is (since I just put in the monitor) but is press and seal ok and how big of an opening(s) should we leave for air?

#3 water dishes: I have read that the dishes should be big enough for the largest to submerge in but made so the littlest can get out safely. Maybe a stupid question but does submerge mean all the way under water (covering their entire shell) or just big enough for the whole crab to fit into?

#4 cork shelter: I bought a little cork hiding log thing (again from zoo med) today. Should it be washed in declorinated water and/or soaked before putting in the habitat?

I think I probably have more questions. But, I will bring them as I remember them. I will probably have a few, feeding specific questions to post on the appropriate board.

Thank you, in advance, for any help you can give us. Hoping we can make a happy home for the little guys (or girls)

kmaurine wrote:Hello all. We are brand new to hermit crabs and I have gathered a lot of great info from this forum already, but now I have some questions. A little background first. Saturday my 8 year old daughter received 2 hermit crabs from a friend for her birthday. These, not surprisingly, came sporting painted shells and in a plastic kritter keeper with aquarium gravel. It didn't take too much reading online to find out that this wasn't a suitable home for our new little friends. So, a quick run out the store before closing got us a 10 gallon zoo med hermit crab habitat. http://www.zoomed.com/db/products/Entry ... oxOiIwIjt9 I got it home, wet (and rung out) the "hermit crab soil" (coconut fiber) and mixed it with the included sand. We didn't at this point have a heat source or the humidity regulated at all, but I figured it was a better set up than the little gravel filled critter keeper so I moved them over. They have a fresh water and salt water bowl, a food dish, a couple of plastic plants, and a piece of driftwood. I was sick yesterday so I couldn't get the store to buy a heater, etc. But, while we keep our house at 70 degrees, our daughter's bedroom (where the habitat is) is warmer. One guy (Paws) dug under yesterday after some exploring and the other one (Ninja) burrowed under this morning. I bought a hygrometer and a UTH today, as well as a couple of non-painted shells (VERY little selection where I live they were all too small or huge or with a slit like opening so I will have to order some online today). We also got some moss and a cork shelter.

So, in other words I am doing this all backward trying to correct mistakes instead of starting out right. Here are my questions but feel free to point out anything else you think we need to immediately address:

#1 substrate: I know different people use different mediums. But what is in there right now doesn't seem to be the ideal combo from what I have since read. There is a 5lb bag of Vita Sand (which I believe is kind of a no-no) mixed with a full brick of the coconut fiber. Guessing, ratio wise I would say it is 1 part sand to 3 (or more) parts fiber. So, once our guys come back up (assuming they do ) Should we ditch the substrate and start over or just add some play sand?

#2 cover: We have a wire mesh cover that I have mostly covered with press and seal to try to keep humidity in. I won't know for awhile what the humidity level is (since I just put in the monitor) but is press and seal ok and how big of an opening(s) should we leave for air?

#3 water dishes: I have read that the dishes should be big enough for the largest to submerge in but made so the littlest can get out safely. Maybe a stupid question but does submerge mean all the way under water (covering their entire shell) or just big enough for the whole crab to fit into?

#4 cork shelter: I bought a little cork hiding log thing (again from zoo med) today. Should it be washed in declorinated water and/or soaked before putting in the habitat?

I think I probably have more questions. But, I will bring them as I remember them. I will probably have a few, feeding specific questions to post on the appropriate board.

Thank you, in advance, for any help you can give us. Hoping we can make a happy home for the little guys (or girls)

Hi and welcome!

1. I would ditch the Vita-Sand and start over with fresh. The ideal ratio is 5 parts sand to 1 part Eco Earth. For a 10 gallon tank, 1 50lb bag of playsand with half a brick or so (doesn't have to be exact) of compressed EE would be just about right to get the ideal 6" of substrate.

2. Press and seal is fine; foil also works. There just needs to be a small opening for airflow, or you could install bubblers into your water dishes and bring in fresh air that way.

3. Ideally, they need to be able to go completely under. Plastic food storage dishes from the dollar store work great, and you can use something like needlepoint canvas as an easy way in and out.

4. The cork can be put in as is, but if you want to be safe you can soak it in dechlorinated salt water to inhibit mold growth.

Oops, I forgot to add: The 2 conditioners that come with the kit aren't actually suitable for crabbies. Their saltwater needs to be marine grade, made with a mix like Instant Ocean - I think a box that makes 10 gallons is about $9-10 and will last quite a while. Their dechlorinator (used for both fresh and salt) needs to remove ammonia, heavy metals, chlorine, etc. Some dechlorinators don't remove ammonia so be sure to check the label. A lot of us use and recommend Prime. A small bottle should last a long time.

Thank you! I had bought some play sand today. I am assuming I should wait until both guys are topside to mess with changing out the substrate, correct? I forgot to add that I had bought instant Ocean today. I will check out a different declorinator, though. I was thinking the zoo med one was on the ok list here in the FAQ, but I may have read wrong. I will attach a picture or two of our current set up so I can get some feedback, as well.

I know I need deeper water dishes as well as more shells. Any other thoughts? Is it too crowded with "stuff" We can't really go to a bigger tank right now but I can edit the items in it or rearrange.

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You're good on the dechlorinator! I just double-checked myself and it treats everything you need. Sorry about that, I should've checked before I posted about it.

If your crabs have only been down a couple days, I personally would go ahead and get them out of there and switch out the sand. Vita-sand is calcium sand, and when moistened it will clump and can potentially hurt a molting crab. You can mix the playsand and EE with dechlorinated saltwater to help prevent mold from growing, and get it to the perfect sandcastle consistency so they can dig down and molt safely.

Other than needing deeper substrate and deeper dishes, your tank looks fine to me. It's definitely not too crowded with stuff. Crabs love to have things to climb and hide in, and the more hiding spots they have the more active they'll actually be because they feel safer. If anything, I'd be sticking in some more things for them to climb on! You can use branches from outside as long as no pesticides have been used; small pieces of cholla can be bought at Hobby lobby; fake vines and/or bigger fake plants are great for them to hide in (either from a pet store or a craft store as long as there's no glitter or anything). An easy/inexpensive way to give them something else to climb on is to get a shower caddy and fill it up with moss, or put extra shells in it.

Don't worry about the size of your tank - as long as your crabs aren't huge, a 10 gallon is fine for now. Some of use are just crazy and go all out, but it's absolutely not necessary.

The easiest hide is an overturned margarine or yogurt tub: just cut out a doorway and there you have it!. Since crabs love to hide and climb, plastic and fabric plants can be had on the cheap at thrift stores and dollar stores.

Ok. Thanks again! I won't be able to get more EE until tomorrow. So, the soonest the substrate could be changed out will be mid afternoon tomorrow. Will it still be safer to dig them up (assuming they don't come up on their own) at that point? Then when I do change it, since I don't have another temperature/humidty controlled tank to put them in (it will have to be the critter keeper or a rubbermaid tote) Do I just put them back into their 10 gallon tank as soon as I get the substrate mixed and their stuff re added or should I wait until the humidty and temp get back to ideal levels? Sorry, I know this is a million questions. Just want to make sure I get it as right as possible. Adding to the stress is the fact that we have a vacation planned that will have us gone for a week. I have someone who can come do at least minor care most of the days but so far they are going to be on their own the last 2-3 days. (Sorry, I know that's a topic for another post, just minor stress venting. If we had purchased the crabs on our own we would have waited until after vacation.

Right now the habitat is sitting at 77 degrees with 86% relative humidity. I would like it a bit warmer, but going to see what it levels out at by tomorrow before I make any major changes. The hygrometer hasn't been calibrated so that reading may not be accurate. But, I wanted to make sure I wasn't cooking or freezing them now that I have an UTH on there before I pulled the meter out for the multiple hours required to do that.

kmaurine wrote:Ok. Thanks again! I won't be able to get more EE until tomorrow. So, the soonest the substrate could be changed out will be mid afternoon tomorrow. Will it still be safer to dig them up (assuming they don't come up on their own) at that point? Then when I do change it, since I don't have another temperature/humidty controlled tank to put them in (it will have to be the critter keeper or a rubbermaid tote) Do I just put them back into their 10 gallon tank as soon as I get the substrate mixed and their stuff re added or should I wait until the humidty and temp get back to ideal levels? Sorry, I know this is a million questions. Just want to make sure I get it as right as possible. Adding to the stress is the fact that we have a vacation planned that will have us gone for a week. I have someone who can come do at least minor care most of the days but so far they are going to be on their own the last 2-3 days. (Sorry, I know that's a topic for another post, just minor stress venting. If we had purchased the crabs on our own we would have waited until after vacation.

That should be fine to wait until tomorrow. You don't want them to molt in calcium sand if at all possible. They can go ahead and go right back into the 10 gallon, but keep a close eye on them for a while - on the off chance that one was already getting ready to molt, there's a chance they may pull a surface molt. I had that happen recently myself, and it was a scary situation but worked out fine. If one of them happens to be mid-molt, the easiest thing to do at that point will be to stick him and his exoskeleton in a tupperware container with a lid that has a couple holes punched in it, and then set that in the 10 gallon so he stays in the proper conditions. Another isolation technique would be to cut the bottom off a 2 liter and place the bottle over the crab, sunk all the way into the substrate so he's safely surrounded. This is all worst case scenario - just trying to prepare you and cover all bases so you don't panic! I'm sure everything will be fine.

77 degrees isn't bad. 80-85 is ideal, but anything about 75 is safe. Definitely calibrate your hygrometer, and in the meantime you can just do some heavy misting to keep the humidity high and not worry about the reading as much. The good thing about a 10 gallon tank is it's usually easier to keep warm and humid.

As far as your vacation, 2-3 days shouldn't be a problem as long as your conditions are okay. I would just change the water before you go, leave out a mix of dried food (calcium source, maybe some dried bugs/shrimp, etc.) and as long as your temps are pretty stable the person coming over shouldn't need to do much other than maybe mist for humidity. Take a deep breath; everything will be fine!

They might not have even been molting, they could have just been destressing. But, these other people have given you great advice and I commend you on taking the initiative to do your research and getting everything as perfect as possible for those babies. Good job.


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What is ee?

Eco Earth. It's coconut fibers


Mama of 4 PPs (Ganesh, Akasha, Vulcan and Bruiser) and a pup named Smurf.

amcniel94 wrote:Eco Earth. It's coconut fibers


Mama of 4 PPs (Ganesh, Akasha, Vulcan and Bruiser) and a pup named Smurf.

Thank you

No problem!


Mama of 4 PPs (Ganesh, Akasha, Vulcan and Bruiser) and a pup named Smurf.