HCA: Hermit Crab Association

So, our building manager is awful and we've been calling and calling to get someone in to clean our heaters, as we were told we shouldn't run the heat until they're cleaned (as our last building manager never did once) and we're getting no call backs.
While we fight with them, it's getting chilly. The tat was at 78F the other night, and I'm sure will drop more if this isn't resolved soon. I don't want to tape another layer on if I can help it, so was wondering about temp insulation. I have several old blankets we don't use, and have seen people saying they've had to put blankets on their tats on cold days. My concern is the fire risk in doing this. I know there's about four layers of tinfoil, cardboard, and coroplast over the UTH right now, but putting something fabric on there just doesn't sit right to me.
Any suggestions?

Emergency mylar blankets are amazing. Mine came in our first aid kit but I think they're only a couple of bucks.


Blankets do work. We had to replace our furnace in 10 degree weather a few winters back. Space heater kept the house around 50-60 and a sheet and a couple of blankets kept the big crab tank at 85 with a single heat light.

Did you wrap them around, or just place over top? I'll keep an eye out for those emergency blankets. Thanks!

There's a heat lamp under that emergency blanket, by the way. Boosted the heat 12 degrees, could have done more by covering all of it but that was their temporary until I got the first 30 gallon set up for them.

I thought I had a photo of the great hermit crab tent, but I couldn't find one.... I wrapped the tank like a burrito so there was no exposed glass. Glass will dissipate heat so anything that is not insulated is a giant gaping cold spot! A bunch of the cats crawled underneath to keep warm.

That's awesome hahaha I might get a heat bulb and swap out the night bulb on the second level then to help some. Hopefully they stop being jerks and send someone soon (still not returning my calls) but I will burrito it up this weekend!
Luckily it's in it's own room, so no kitties getting in there heh

If the night bulb is incandescent then it's acting the same as a daytime heat bulb would. There is only a slight difference in temperature between white, red and blue/black bulbs. It's the wattage and shape that make the most difference in how and how much heat it puts out,

It's a blue one I bought mainly just for a bit of light in the room at night. It's a very low wattage. Regular bulb shape too. Do you think the same type in a higher wattage would help much?

A bigger bulb produces way more heat. I can warm an entire 5x8 foot room with a 150 watt bulb, while my 135 gallon gets heated with a 75 watt (Flukers, in other brands it need 100w) and I used to heat my 30 gallon with a 40W.

Check your fixture though! It'll saw how many watts it can handle and never go more than that