HCA: Hermit Crab Association

This may be a super crazy question but has anyone had any experience with automating their crabitat? Regulating heat and temp, filtration and refilling of water pools, and feeding?

Heat and temp i think i saw a device for that a while ago, and filtration i know is a thing but has anyone experimented with automating feeding ?

Automating as in taking care of the tank without having to be present. It would come in handy with all my traveling.

Interesting question. I don't know that anything would survive inside a crabitat, with the humidity, heat, and the crabs climbing/picking.

I have this mental image of a sort of Rube Goldberg-esque machine in which crab food and the like goes along on a little conveyor and gets scooped into dishes.

Crabs can be left for several days if your conditions are stable. Dry food can be left out near the heat source and they also pick bits of moss and ee out of the sub to eat as well so it is unlikely that they would really go hungry if well provisioned before you left for a trip.

I plan to take a stab at automatic the humidity, temperature, and even night/day lighting heating etc at some point. I'll probably use on of the Arduino projects that are out there for fish tanks already. It's going to be a while of though and food will still be something I have to do. Of course I'm not planning on doing this to be a lazy crabber but more to keep their home perfect and not have to worry about it as much.

Yeah i usually go away for 5-7 days at a time and they are fine as long as i refill the water and put in fresh food as soon as i get back. The worst that happens is all the suction cups fall out and stuff has gone crazy but the crabs seem to enjoy that lol. any longer than 5-7 days and my mom usually takes care of them but that is not an ideal situation.

yeah i feel you. its not much of a lazy thing because I enjoy every aspect of crabbing but there are times where i have other responsibilities and i want to make sure they are taken care of and usually those other responsibilities include providing for them and myself lol

Definitely not a short term goal or anything and it will probably be another upgrade or two before this ends up being completed but i figured i could A. breed isopods to help with soil health B. get one of the zoo med hygrotherm humidity and temperature controller C. set up some kind of larger pools with a filter and some kind of drip to help keep it full and clean D. lighting is easy because of the window in my room and outlet timers E. use the acrylic rod liners with drilled holes to zip tie stuff to the tank instead of suction cups F. the food is really the one im stumped on, what i had pictured was a miniature version of those cat feeders where the food flows into the bowl from a container above it. But in order for that to work with hermit crabs it would need a way to dispose of the food and to keep it in a closed system so the humidity doesn't effect it. (yes i know how insane this all sounds lol just brainstorming)

The zoomed controller wasn't rated that great was it?

I have heard mixed reviews on it. Something tells me there is another version of it somewhere that isnt meant for crabs but will work for them. I still have to research it more.

Well many of the ideas from the reptile/fish keepers could be applied to us.
EG:
- timers
- overflows (used in constant water changes in fish tanks)

But I say, yes it could be done. The only thing I struggle to see being automated is humidity... A humidifier requires constant filling up at a certain level to function properly.

yeah as it is i use timers during the hot summer months for the heaters. The humidity though stays pretty stable as long as my heat stays stable, the pools stay full, and the substrate stays sand castle consistency. Its almost automated by itself. Only rarely do i have to manage that and only usually when the heat gets crazy or if i have to take the lid off.

I figured learning more about fish tanks would help with automating the waterpools

Any of the aquarium controllers should technically work, they generally are just on/off and variable power outputs and such.

And woops, also forgot feeding! The struggle to maintain a balanced diet would be hard, as crabs prefer a bit more variation compared to my fish - who will only eat one type of food and snub their noses at some livefoods... Even the balanced nutritional DIY crab food would be great for the first couple of days, but after a while I could see the crabs ignoring it. Not to mentions crabs don't eat as much as other animals and most of the time, it moulds before the crabs can even go through half of the food. So we would need a way to clean the bowl as well.

I figured most aquarium filters and what not would do the jobs for crabs.

But yeah, food is definitely the hardest. And not even crabs but a lot of small pets typically have a dish of food that you have to replace before it goes bad. I have managed to create a dry mixture that the crabs love that i just always have in there and then add in wet food every other night or so like most do. The question i keep asking myself is what if that dry dish could be dispensed into an accessible place for the crabs and then dispensed back out of the tank.

It would be great because then only a reservoir of food would need to be refiled which is much easier when it comes to traveling and what not.