HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Newer to hermit crabs. Own 6 PPs, 29 gallon tank. I live in PA and winter gets cold. Already its in the high 40s and low 50s outside. I am using a 20 gallon zoomed UTH on the side of the crabitat and a 75 watt heating bulb on top of the wire cover. The humidity I keep at a constant 75-80 but the heat is at 62 at night and peaks at 66 during the day. What do I need to change?

Do you have another thermometer to check it? I'm surprised it's so low with both a UTH and a 75w heat bulb. What is the temperature in the room? Is the tank insulated in any way? How about the lid, is it open wire mesh or do you have it covered?

I don't have another thermometer I'm going out in about 10 minutes to the local pet store what kind should I buy I have a round one now with arms that point to the temp and humidity. The temperature of the room is about 68 degrees. The tank is not insulated and the lid is open wire mesh only no cover.

Hi the wire mesh lid u canwrap around 1/2 to 3/4 of saran wrap dont let it touch heat lamp if u have that on top, thats what I have on mind and it keeps it warm and humidity good, that should help.
Donna

I never recommend using a heat bulb on tanks smaller than thirty gallons because of the risks of overheating the enclosure so your temp reading definitely seems off because I'm using a 75watt infrared heat bulb on my forty gallon breeder and the tank temps are eighty five on the heated end close to the substrate and seventy-five on the unheated end and that's with no uth pad in use.

UTH pads are designed to only give your tank a seven to ten degree boost from room temp and to get that temp boost the pad needs to be rated for a tank three times the size of the one you want to use it on so for a ten gallon tank a thirty gallon rated pad would be sufficient and for a twenty gallon tank a pad rated for sixty gallons would be sufficient.

UTH pads need to be either side or back mounted on the rear or sides of the tank never bottom mounted because these pads were never designed to be used under the depth and dampness of our hermitcrabs substrate the substrate effectively becomes an insulating barrier trapping the heat generated by the pad right against the point of contact or glass where it can build up to in excess of one-hundred degrees cooking burrowed or molting crabs.

So for this reason its only ever recommended to side or back mount the pad and as this is a safer but less effective way of using the pad it has to be sized up accordingly to achieve the temp boost your looking for so a pad rated for a twenty gallon tank on a twenty gallon tank isn't really going to cut it as so much of the heat it generates will be lost off the back of the pad rendering it ineffective.

The fact that your tank thermometer is reading so low with the heat bulb in use suggests to me that it is defective and that's a common issue with analog units.

I prefer the digital dual thermometer/hygrometer's because they stay accurate for a lot longer than the analog versions.

Thank you everyone for the recommendations and tips!! I just purchased an Ultratherm to fit the backside of the crabitat and a new termo/hydrometer that is digital and connected to a control that will be used to control the Ultratherm and the mister I own hopefully getting my temp problem under control... I do feel also its a faulty reading from my current thermometer.