HCA: Hermit Crab Association

It's getting colder and I'm having a hard time keeping my crabitat's temperature up. I have two UTH each covering the back half of my tank. When it was warmer I only needed one insulated and maintained 77-85 degrees. Now it's dropped to 69-79 and I've already insulated both sides I have a moonlight lamp for reptiles that I turn on, but I keep it 6 inches away from the lid and use it more for lighting than for heating. What else can I do to raise the temperature?

You can wrap one of these mylar blankets around the tank to help keep in the heat: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Coghlans-1.5 ... t/23543585

I just drape a small velour throw around the back, sides and halfway over the top to help trap the heat in the winter.

What do u use for insulation? I have reflectix practically on all sides of my tank right now- usually only need it on back and both side walls but I figured with the cooler weather coming in pretty quickly I could bump up the heat a bit more, so the front side is about 2/3rds covered .


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I find deeper substrate holds temps and humidity better. I was struggling at 4.5"-6" sub. I added more so ive got between 5.5 and 7" and both heat and humidity are up and stable. A light towel draped over tank is helping w heat since i cant insulate my repti therm uth. Good luck and keep us posted.

I'm definitely going to try the blanket and adding sub. I'm so glad the suggestions are cheaper than I thought they'd be.

I insulated the UTHs with aluminum foil, styrofoam, cardboard, and duct tape.

Mareece wrote:I'm definitely going to try the blanket and adding sub. I'm so glad the suggestions are cheaper than I thought they'd be.

I insulated the UTHs with aluminum foil, styrofoam, cardboard, and duct tape.

Just a word of caution: only Flukers and Ultratherm can be safely insulated. If you have ZooMed, All Living Things or another "store" brand, adding insulation can cause an electrical hazard. If the UTHs cannot be safely insulated, you can still use the blanket and sub suggestions.

I recently bought an uth from reptile basics and I also used reflectix ~ works great! The zoomed was a lot different and was more money.


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I have an ultratherm stretching the length of the back of the tank with cardboard taped over it, as well as 2 smaller store brands on the left side-- I was struggling with temps and was concerned that the 3 of them weren't warming it up enough. Eventually got a new hydrometer/thermometer (only because they knocked it into a water dish though ) and realized it was constantly in the upper 90s and my thermometer had been wrong the whole time. Unplugged the two smaller ones and the one big one has done the trick (other than dropping to 78/79 a couple times during the night). We may have to plug in a smaller one at some point now that it's getting cooler, but otherwise it's been fine since probably March or so.
It's not the typical cause for temp issues but double checking with a separate gauge *might* help you find a solution? good luck!

the moon light bulb edmits low to no heat for its watts. i traded mine out for a red light bulb. also just mentioned using coco matting you get to line plant boxes to try and insulate my tank with. i know that is cheap as well.

Crabinski wrote: Just a word of caution: only Flukers and Ultratherm can be safely insulated. If you have ZooMed, All Living Things or another "store" brand, adding insulation can cause an electrical hazard. If the UTHs cannot be safely insulated, you can still use the blanket and sub suggestions.

This should be shouted from the rooftops! My (bigger) new crabitat is too cold this fall, and winter starts soon. I guess I should wait for UTH shipping if I can't find a Flukers or Ultratherm locally. Thanks!

Nutcracker wrote:

Crabinski wrote: Just a word of caution: only Flukers and Ultratherm can be safely insulated. If you have ZooMed, All Living Things or another "store" brand, adding insulation can cause an electrical hazard. If the UTHs cannot be safely insulated, you can still use the blanket and sub suggestions.

This should be shouted from the rooftops! My (bigger) new crabitat is too cold this fall, and winter starts soon. I guess I should wait for UTH shipping if I can't find a Flukers or Ultratherm locally. Thanks!

Ultratherms are sold only online. ReptileBasics.com has the best prices and lowest shipping rate but BeanFarm.com (also sold through Amazon) has a wider variety of sizes. The reliability and overall lower cost of an Ultratherm just can't be beat.

Crabinski wrote:

Nutcracker wrote:

Crabinski wrote: Just a word of caution: only Flukers and Ultratherm can be safely insulated. If you have ZooMed, All Living Things or another "store" brand, adding insulation can cause an electrical hazard. If the UTHs cannot be safely insulated, you can still use the blanket and sub suggestions.

This should be shouted from the rooftops! My (bigger) new crabitat is too cold this fall, and winter starts soon. I guess I should wait for UTH shipping if I can't find a Flukers or Ultratherm locally. Thanks!

Ultratherms are sold only online. ReptileBasics.com has the best prices and lowest shipping rate but BeanFarm.com (also sold through Amazon) has a wider variety of sizes. The reliability and overall lower cost of an Ultratherm just can't be beat.

I totally agree after going through 3 zoomeds when I first started crabbing. Such a waste of money for me!! I'm very happy with the Ultratherm!!


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