HCA: Hermit Crab Association

After moving my hermit crabs to my mom's house, I discovered that I cannot use any kind of heat source that runs off of the wall socket. Doing so causes the electricity to go out completely. So far, we've noted that the temperature in the evening is about 70° F, and when we checked it this morning it was down to 60° F. I'm not sure how much it's going to go up today due to having whatever sunlight is shining through the blinds on it, but just in case I might need it, does anyone know any way I can keep the tank heated? My mom did a little bit of research and is trying to use heating pads you throw in the microwave on top of it. Maybe if I insulate it?? I'm not sure.

//EDIT: The humidity levels are at, if not above, the desired amount. They've been ranging from 80-90.//

Do you know where the breaker box is or what all is plugged into and running off of that particular switch? Sometimes breaker boxes will be labeled with what switches run what outlets. It may be a combo of the things currently running on that switch that are pulling too many amps... For example, I have a window air conditioner in my living room and if I plug in anything that pulls a large amount of electricity it will trip my breaker...so I have to shut the AC off when I vacuum or plug it into an outlet that runs off of a different switch. Just a thought.....


Sent hastily from my iPhone....

Cortnilin wrote:Do you know where the breaker box is or what all is plugged into and running off of that particular switch? Sometimes breaker boxes will be labeled with what switches run what outlets. It may be a combo of the things currently running on that switch that are pulling too many amps... For example, I have a window air conditioner in my living room and if I plug in anything that pulls a large amount of electricity it will trip my breaker...so I have to shut the AC off when I vacuum or plug it into an outlet that runs off of a different switch. Just a thought.....


Sent hastily from my iPhone....

I can try to find an outlet that might work, but I'm not sure if I will. I can try though.

I'm surprised because i have that issue in my apartment where the power goes out of to many things are plugged in. The ultra them pads don't put out a lot of power so I'm surprised. Is there anywhere else you could move the tank in that house where you can plug it in ? Cos 60 and 70 are pretty low temps for crabs i would act fast. For now maybe buy some hand warmers and wrap them around the tank in a blanket possibly fill a water bottle with warm or hot water not hot enough to melt plastic and put it in the tank and wrap it until you find somewhere to plug in the heater

Sent from my SM-G360T1 using Tapatalk

8snip* For now maybe buy some hand warmers and wrap them around the tank in a blanket possibly fill a water bottle with warm or hot water not hot enough to melt plastic and put it in the tank and wrap it until you find somewhere to plug in the heater

Great minds think alike! Took away my suggestion.

Is there appliances thats not really needed to be turned on? Maybe unplug/turn off things like the TV, kitchen appliances, lamps and what not? If needed, you could always unplug the heater of the crabitat for a short amount of time to use those appliances and tie a string around your finger - or a constant reminder on your phone - that the crabitat is unplugged...? Just try and keep the temp from not falling dramatically, so check the temps regularly.

aussieJJDude wrote:

8snip* For now maybe buy some hand warmers and wrap them around the tank in a blanket possibly fill a water bottle with warm or hot water not hot enough to melt plastic and put it in the tank and wrap it until you find somewhere to plug in the heater

Great minds think alike! Took away my suggestion.

Is there appliances thats not really needed to be turned on? Maybe unplug/turn off things like the TV, kitchen appliances, lamps and what not? If needed, you could always unplug the heater of the crabitat for a short amount of time to use those appliances and tie a string around your finger - or a constant reminder on your phone - that the crabitat is unplugged...? Just try and keep the temp from not falling dramatically, so check the temps regularly.

Thanks that's the best ideas i could think of i was thinking what i would do if the power went out I'm still planning my emergency kit for this reason. I'm even toying with the idea of a battery powered plug thing to plug the heater in if the power goes out.

Sent from my SM-G360T1 using Tapatalk

isadoraisacat wrote:I'm surprised because i have that issue in my apartment where the power goes out of to many things are plugged in. The ultra them pads don't put out a lot of power so I'm surprised. Is there anywhere else you could move the tank in that house where you can plug it in ? Cos 60 and 70 are pretty low temps for crabs i would act fast. For now maybe buy some hand warmers and wrap them around the tank in a blanket possibly fill a water bottle with warm or hot water not hot enough to melt plastic and put it in the tank and wrap it until you find somewhere to plug in the heater

Sent from my SM-G360T1 using Tapatalk

aussieJJDude wrote:

8snip* For now maybe buy some hand warmers and wrap them around the tank in a blanket possibly fill a water bottle with warm or hot water not hot enough to melt plastic and put it in the tank and wrap it until you find somewhere to plug in the heater

Great minds think alike! Took away my suggestion.

Is there appliances thats not really needed to be turned on? Maybe unplug/turn off things like the TV, kitchen appliances, lamps and what not? If needed, you could always unplug the heater of the crabitat for a short amount of time to use those appliances and tie a string around your finger - or a constant reminder on your phone - that the crabitat is unplugged...? Just try and keep the temp from not falling dramatically, so check the temps regularly.

Thank you both, I've actually been using a method similar to the hand warmers. It's a heat pad you throw in the microwave incase you have an injury, except we took off the cover so it emits more heat. It's been getting the tank up to about 80. I've been trying to figure out what all is connected to the same string of outlets, but with 7 people in one house it can get kinda hard. I'm hoping that since this method is working temporarily, that in the winter since we won't be using things like an AC so that way I can keep their temps up using an Ultratherm.

Well that's good to hear I'm glad you got your temps up to a safe level. Hopefully you get it all figured out

Sent from my SM-G360T1 using Tapatalk