HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Hello I would love to be able to build a diy hermit crab tank but I need help. I need to know what people that built crabitats did? What material they use and just some tips. I would love to go big with it. Any ideas my fellow crabby friends have can I use plexiglass as walls ?? And two by fours to screw the plexiglass in ? I'm not sure!! I love any advice anybody has. It will definitely help
Thank you my crabby Friends


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Any advice will help. Don't be shy


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How big? Feet and inches. Free standing, floor to ceiling? Width,height,depth? Will it be sat on the floor,a cabinet or frame?

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BigglesLeCrab wrote:How big? Feet and inches. Free standing, floor to ceiling? Width,height,depth? Will it be sat on the floor,a cabinet or frame?

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So I Was thinking like 5 foot long by 7 foot it would be floor and theire would be a foot in between the ceiling of my room and top of the crabitat. I'm not sure would it be better as a cabinet or a frame. Or just simply sat on the floor?

And thank you for responding!!!!


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Anything that size needs careful planning. Plexiglass can be fixed with batons etc,which themselves will need sealing. You need a sealant between glass and batons (2x4's). Think about what the overall weight may be,you'll need something that supports the tank,substrate,furniture not forgetting the weight of the water in the substrate.

You'll need to make provision for lighting the various levels you may decide to have in your crabitat. Heating is just as important, what's the ambient temperature geographically to your location. Such a large tank will need venting as well.

I found another another thread on here earlier of someone's large tank build. I think its under D.I.Y. and build projects. Its well worth a look, has photos too.

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If I was to start a project such as this, I would have a look at Kip's 1020g DIY tank build...
Before starting, make sure your house can support the "few" pounds of moist sand/EE! its going to put a lot of weight on your flooring, so it might be worth getting an engineer to inspect your house! And if you house isn't up to supporting such a tank - aka, don't place the crabitat upstairs! - then you might need additional support.
Remember whatever you build with, it has to be hermie safe and pretty much hermie proof! Probably to biggest cost would be to gather all the materials: a good quality pond liner isn't going to be cheap, and I imagine making a structurally sound enclosure would also take a bit out of the bank account! With some careful shopping, I imagine that it may set you back around $500, without interior furnishing!
In such a large tank the overall temperature and humidity should be relatively stable. But a nice ceramic heat bulb - a couple of the 100watt would be handy, even 200watt if you live in a colder area - and a nice running water feature, humidifier, moss pit and properly moist substrate should keep the humidity at the right level.

Hopefully this will become reality, I really enjoy living through large builds such as what your envisioning! Keep us posted (please!).

Thank you so much !! I would love to do this!! It may be a wile but if (hopefully when) I start this project I will keep everyone posted


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