HCA: Hermit Crab Association

HELLO MY CRABBY FRIENDS!!!!

I hope everyone is doing well! We are quarantined and furloughed from work, so of course I've been finding stuff around the house to do, and what else than upgrade some hermit crab stuff!

So, here's the set up for new pools I'm thinking about using.




Basically I drilled a couple holes into the handle pieces of the bowls to zip tie the craft mesh. I made a bridge for them to hang out on. It was simple.

But HERE IS MY DELIMMA!
I dont know what to do about getting in and out! Unlike all my previous pools, these will be above sub. They're so big I dont want to waste precious molting space.
I had this idea with the craft mesh, but I'm not sure how sturdy it is?


I don't want to drill anymore holes into the bowl. I can drill holes into the mesh bridge and zip tie to that, or some other way.

(IF ONLY @Mary Akers had some pool bridges I could get my hands on!!!!!!! Of course I pass them all up when they're available because "I dont need them" but when I DO NEED THEM, they're sold out! They're just so perfect and wonderful!)


I'm looking for long term ways that are easy with maintaining. I know craft mesh gets nasty after a while and I ended up having to remove it from my current pools, so I dont particularly want to use it in the water if I dont have to, but I will if need be. It's super cheap and easy to work with so ehh, no biggie.

Anyways, if anyone has suggestions, I'm all ears!!!!

Stay safe everyone!!!!!! Sending all my love!

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

Silicone stones on the inside of the bowls? Would that work?

RiNiKy506 wrote:Silicone stones on the inside of the bowls? Would that work?

I was just discussing that with my honey! I didnt really wanna mess with silicone a bunch but it's an option!! I gotta find some stones though... I'm sure there's a bag somewhere in that closet of aquarium stuff
If I do that, should i go All the way around or just halfway? Whatcha think?

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

I think the whole thing would probably look the best. There are so many options for stones you can use, fish stones or craft stones.

RiNiKy506 wrote:I think the whole thing would probably look the best. There are so many options for stones you can use, fish stones or craft stones.

Yeah, we've got some cute stones I bought from Petco for fish tanks. They would be perfect! I'm not 100% sure if I want to do all that work, but if I do I'll post some pics!

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

I know I had bought some silicone and rocks to do my 2.5gal pools but I never did them, I was too scared to mess it up. Lol! I think the crab mesh up to your bridges would be really cute and probably the easiest option. It shouldn’t get too bad I’d you clean then with a toothbrush when you change the waters, that’s what I used to do with mine.

you could use the existing holes and put a 'reverse bridge' of craft mesh - like bend it so it goes down one side, accross the bottom, and up the other side. Or use the silicone to glue the craft mesh in the same manner, but opposite was from the bridge.

Just thinking off the top of my head. You could probably cut pieces of mesh that wrap around the outside of the container. Slightly bigger just so it fits under the lip of the container. Think of what you do for the inside of a wheel only on the outside.

It looks like bottoms of the pools are a lot smaller than the top. If you are worried about crabs getting between the bowl and mesh you could cut a base out of mesh or use the lid to it to add a base.

If you heat the mesh with a hair dryer it will hold it's shape!

I did see Mary posted on her Instacrab the other day she was making more ceramic ladders. I'm sure they will be ready soon.

I know what you mean with the mesh changing color. I have been experimenting with the algae that grows in the pools since October.. I've been letting it grow. When I change the water I just rinse all the debris out. My thought process is if it is green it's alive and healthy. Algae grown in aquariums all the time and you don't completely scrub them weekly when it grows. I think it adds a bit of a more natural element to the water. I even added some bio stones to the pools to promote it. I haven't noticed a big difference in water activity. I should also note that these are non filtered with no bubblers.

Motörcrab wrote:Just thinking off the top of my head. You could probably cut pieces of mesh that wrap around the outside of the container. Slightly bigger just so it fits under the lip of the container. Think of what you do for the inside of a wheel only on the outside.

It looks like bottoms of the pools are a lot smaller than the top. If you are worried about crabs getting between the bowl and mesh you could cut a base out of mesh or use the lid to it to add a base.

If you heat the mesh with a hair dryer it will hold it's shape!

I did see Mary posted on her Instacrab the other day she was making more ceramic ladders. I'm sure they will be ready soon.

I know what you mean with the mesh changing color. I have been experimenting with the algae that grows in the pools since October.. I've been letting it grow. When I change the water I just rinse all the debris out. My thought process is if it is green it's alive and healthy. Algae grown in aquariums all the time and you don't completely scrub them weekly when it grows. I think it adds a bit of a more natural element to the water. I even added some bio stones to the pools to promote it. I haven't noticed a big difference in water activity. I should also note that these are non filtered with no bubblers.

Thanks! I love your ideas.

I ended up throwing together some craft mesh zip tied to the bridge. It works for now, until Mary has some ladders ready.

The problem is, I still cant get humidity up. I closed up all the holes in the seran wrap so theres nothing escaping, and my humidity is still 60s. The new bubblers are in the pools and it raised it about 4%... I'm not sure how to get it where it needs to be.
Any suggestions?

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

Is your gauge maybe off somehow? If it is kinda out of the blue, maybe the batteries need changed? Not really sure but maybe.