HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Would holding a UBV above the tank when its open for maintenance do any good for the crabs? I've got to ask my dad what the lid is made of exactly, but it probably filters out UBV. SO I was wondering if holding one above the crabitat during maintenance 9about 20-30 minutes long) would help/improve anything? Thank you!


Wow I've been asking alot of questions!

It's not going to do much if they're only being exposed to it for short amounts of time. UVB light isn't nessecary so if your tank lid does filter it there is no need to worry.

The tank will filter a small amount of it - roughly 20% - however take into consideration how far away the light will be from the tank. The further the distance, there will be lesser rays coming into the tank.
UVB isn't necessary, like hermitcrab101 said, however if it something you would like to try then I would go for it. I heard that it does help with colour & activeness - they will become more active during the day - however I wonder if it improves on there overall health and well being.
If I had the money, a UVB light is something i would love it add to my tank!

To answer your question, I don't see the point of having it on for a small amount of time - like 30min. I think to see some results you need to have it on for a while for it to show effect otherwise you're just wasting energy IMO.

Every little bit helps! We don't know much about vitamin D production in hermit crabs, but in humans it can take as little as a few minutes of direct exposure to produce enough vitamin D. Please remember that if cost is a factor, UVB not a requirement at this time for hermits. Glass and plastic will filter out enough UVB to make it worthless, and screening will also filter out a huge amount. Direct exposure is the best way to get them what they need, and you also have to take into account how far away from the light source they are as too close and they could burn and too far away and it's useless.

I started to give my frog a few hours of UVB exposure once a week - she 'suns' on Sunday - and she seems to do much better. There isn't a lot on the subject when it comes to amphibians either, so I went with my gut. She had begun to look pale and sickly, and it was obvious something was going on which reminded me of MBD in reptiles, and so I explored the UVB route. I worry about sunburning her since she is a frog which is why it's not on all the time (she gets scary dark if it's used more than one day in a row) but with just one day a week her color has improved dramatically and she physically looks better because of it. Within two weeks of starting the UVB therapy she was back to being her punky self. I'm still trying to figure out a way to make UVB work in my hermit tank since it did such good with her.

My strawberry LOVES the UVB lamp. He "basks" under it for a few hours a day. The PP's don't seem to care one way or the other however. I just cut a hole in my screen top big enough for the lamp to rest on top and no UVB would be blocked.

I have two small uvb lights on my tank and they sit on a screen but my crabs seem to be verry active and not even stressed and I just got them in the mail iv been feeding them all organic food like honey and nuts fruit and som worm castings too I was worried that the screen would block out alot of the rays so I git the 10.0 bulbs instead of the 5.0 and I think it definitely helps crabs do better

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teardrop wrote:I have two small uvb lights on my tank and they sit on a screen but my crabs seem to be verry active and not even stressed and I just got them in the mail iv been feeding them all organic food like honey and nuts fruit and som worm castings too I was worried that the screen would block out alot of the rays so I git the 10.0 bulbs instead of the 5.0 and I think it definitely helps crabs do better

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You can cut a small hole in the screen to let more of the UVB rays through. That's what I did with mine!

I am afraid the 10.0 without the screen would burn them but im not sure they are the mini cfl type bulbs

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teardrop wrote:I am afraid the 10.0 without the screen would burn them but im not sure they are the mini cfl type bulbs

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How big is your tank? How far away is the substrate from the light?

right now I only have a 10g tank and light is around 6-7 in away from sub but im in talk with someone selling a 125g for cheap

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