HCA: Hermit Crab Association

My tank has a wire lid where heat and humidity easily escape. Any advice on how to keep it in the tank? I tried putting tin foil across it but it crinkles up so easily.

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AML wrote:My tank has a wire lid where heat and humidity easily escape. Any advice on how to keep it in the tank? I tried putting tin foil across it but it crinkles up so easily.

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I wrapped mine in Saran Wrap (from the top, not inside)...then wrapped foil over that. Mine has been doing fair since!

I bought a piece of glass from Home Depot that I put on top of my wire lid. When I need to adjust the humidity, I slide the glass over to cover more or less.

http://m.homedepot.com/p/18-in-x-24-in- ... /202984294

I was going to recommend replacing the wire lid with a hinged glass top, but I know you've been hit with a lot of expensive upgrades lately.

I like the idea of getting a piece of glass or Plexiglas and putting it over the top of the metal lid. If you get the exact same size, you'll have to slide it over a few inches to leave a vent hole. You can also regulate the heat and humidity by how much of the top you cover/uncover.

Home Depot and Lowes both carry several precut pieces of real glass or Plexiglas that might work. They will also custom cut a piece or you can get the cutter and try it yourself.

Before I switched ours to a hinged glass top, I used duct tape! Covered vast majority of the screen top leaving a strip for air circulation.

I ordered lexan/plexiglass from Amazon fairly cheaply. I place it under the wire lid.

I recommend keeping the wire lid since my crabs love crawling on theirs and hanging from it. Consider keeping it and tape saran wrap across it on the outside (when I say that, I mean tape the edges to the lid). That way, you'll keep heat/humidity in and give them a fun hangout area; a wired lid is essentially another floor. If you do this, make sure to leave areas uncovered to allow fresh air flow - basically just fold back the wrap. I think the rule of thumb is to leave 10% uncovered, but that's just most of the time; you'll have to adjust with changing conditions.

If you end up using duct tape, make sure the sticky side isn't facing down or just make sure the crabs can't get to the top of the tank - you probably would have to tape it from the inside since it's kinda hard to keep crabs from climbing.

The Franckinator wrote: If you do this, make sure to leave areas uncovered to allow fresh air flow - basically just fold back the wrap. I think the rule of thumb is to leave 10% uncovered, but that's just most of the time; you'll have to adjust with changing conditions.
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Here I go again. . . but, if you have bubble pools, you don't have to leave any uncovered area of the lid. The bubble pools are pumping in fresh, humidified air into the tank at substrate level, which eventually escapes through any small opening (gaps around the lid, the gaps around the hole where the tubing comes into the tank, etc.), promoting air exchange in the tank. The only reason you might need to uncover bits of the lid would be if your humidity gets too high, which is, among the many problems of crab-keeping, a "good problem" to have!

I use gallon ziploc bags on my 10g and 20g. I have them taped to the tank frame on the sides only, where the tape acts like a "hinge" so I can flip the bags out of the way to access the screen lid, or partially vent if the humidity gets too high. My 20g lid is a slider so this works particularly well for it, but if you have a lift-off lid you could tape bags directly to the lid.


I'm going to try glass lids for my 65, but if I decide to go back to a screen I'll upgrade my ziploc bags to the 2-gallon size!



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Thanks for all the advice! I put plexiglass over the top and my heat is now at 80 degrees

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