HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Hi I am getting my rescue crab, Hermione (golf ball size) set up in a 10 gallon, upgrading from the 5 gallon critter keeper I found her in. She molted in the critter keeper and just emerged a few days ago. The tank is complete, I attached pics. The sub is 5-6 inches of 5:1 sand/eco. I have salt and fresh water, hides, shells, climbs, a second level moss pit. I attached a 16watt reptitherm uth in the back and I've got a thermometer and hygrometer that I tested against a digital I keep in the house. Humidity is at 82 and the temp is at 74 (uth NOT plugged in yet) also I have an adjustable glass top and a screen over so I can adjust conditions. I plan on relocating her tonight once she becomes active. Any suggestions? Also, I know that 10 gal is still relatively small, I plan on getting another medium or small pal for her. Not starting a big colony, just starting out as a newbie crabber! I'm pretty happy with the setup, please offer any comments


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Hi! She is still going to need one or two species buddies. Hermit crabs are social and need friends.

Is your substrate moistened to sandcastle consistency? It is also a good idea to calibrate your gauges as well for accuracy. I will post a link below.



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Hey, Hermione, welcome to the HCA! Great job on being informed on on crabs before buying, and also for rescuing her!

You tank looks great, greenery always spruces everything up and the moss pit looks spectacular! One thing is just to make sure the entire ground is a constant 6 inches, from the pic (it might just be a trick of the angle) it looks a bit short of that, which is mostly a problem once you get her friend [which you should try to get soon! ] If you find you don't have enough space to hang the moss pit, you could always let it rest on the ground of the 'tat. Only other thing is to make sure Hermione can fully submerge in both of the water dishes, and possibly a bigger amount of shells, it's hard to see all of them, though, so maybe I am mistaken.


Oh, and I almost forgot, I'd recommend moving the humidity/temp gauges closer to the substrate where she will be for an accurate reading.

Great job on the crabitat, I think it looks very nice!

http://www.hermitcrabassociation.com/ph ... hp?t=92457

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http://www.hermitcrabassociation.com/ph ... hp?t=92540

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Thanks for the feedback! I will def calibrate the gauges and it looks like I will need one deeper water dish- I got some rigid plastic mesh so I can build one with a ramp- have not done it yet. She has 4 extra shells and I am always on the lookout for more.
Regarding her buddy- the whole lot I saw at Petco today were in "desert" conditions..... I want to adopt but maybe I just ought to buy one that I saw- I think it would save a life!!


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Awesome! The plastic mesh works very well, I drilled two small holes in a deep Tupperware container and used twist ties to attach mesh on. You can get a cheap back of turbos (usually preferred by PPs) @ Joann's or Michael's, I got at least 15 usable ones in a $5 bag.

It isn't a good thing to buy a crab to save them, it just gives the bad condition'ed store more money. I emailed 2 of the petstores in my area, w/ not perfect conditions. The Petsmart, w/ terrible conditions made no effort to respond, but the Petco called me back and told me they would raise the humidity. When I got there, the humidity was around 90%. I would try to a)find a good store in you area, and/or b) try to make a difference to bad ones. I don't recommend waiting for an adoption (unless you already have one in mind) due to the fact that your crabbie is currently alone.

If you end up emailing a store, make sure you are courteous, I'd recommend praising them on anything they did do correctly. Good luck w/ crabbing!

I calibrated my hygrometer and found it to be 15 degrees low!!!! No wonder I was having condensation probs! I have a high quality digital hyg/therm that I installed in the tat as an alternative and got great readings. I have added another inch of sub and a deeper dish using the mesh for a ramp. It is looking great but I have to stop or there will be no room for crabs. Excited to get another one or two. Thanks all for the advice and guidance.


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