HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Sooo, it's been about 5 years since I've had hermit crabs. Before that I had a 75g with 22 pp's and 2 e's. I grew my tank for about 8 years. Unfortunately, I started when I was 14 years old and once I started moving all over for college and life was getting to hectic, I felt the right thing to do was give my crabs away. It was the hardest and one the most regrettable decisions I've ever made and has been weighing heavy on my heart ever since but I felt it was the right thing to do at the time since I wasn't available to give them the proper care and attention they deserved.

Now, I'm 29 and I have a stable life and home and I'm ready to start a new, forever tank. So for my birthday, my boyfriend got me two hermit crabs from the beach. (From here on out I will only be adopting since I hate giving boardwalk stores any business for selling live animals. But I also know the end of the season is coming up and they all get thrown away at the end of the summer. So I ended up bringing home 2, and I won't be giving them anymore business).

Their names are Bada and Bing. Like, Bada-Bing! Lol. I will be getting one of my old 40g breeder tanks this weekend from my mom's house but for now they are in this temporary 10g for a few days and I was too excited not to post pics yet. The 40g will be set up this weekend by Sunday and will have a much deeper fresh water dish, along with a deep salt water dish, moss pit, more shells, climbs, & hides, etc. Again, this is only made for a few days but I wanted to re-introduce myself & the crabs.
(PS.- That is a regular bulb on topof the tank. It is not a heat lamp and there is a ceramic heat emitter in the light fiture next to the light)

This is a pic of Bing. (Bada was sleeping in the cave).









I'm so excited to get back into tank building. I remember always feeling a need to upgrade so I'm going straight to the 40g.
Q: Since heat lamps are now realized to be bad for hermit crabs (I do remember them drying out the tanks so fast), does anyone have any recommendations for how to keep a larger tank at 75-80+ degrees? TIA.

Looking good!
Invest in a large heat mat, one of the brands that can be insulated over top (Ultratherm, Reptile Basics). Heat lamps aren't bad for hermit crabs, they just zap the humidity - some people use them very successfully, depending on the climate where they live.

curlysister wrote: ↑

Sat Aug 03, 2024 11:57 pm

Looking good!
Invest in a large heat mat, one of the brands that can be insulated over top (Ultratherm, Reptile Basics). Heat lamps aren't bad for hermit crabs, they just zap the humidity - some people use them very successfully, depending on the climate where they live.

Thank you for your reply! I have been kinda starting to go a little crazy over this heat lamp thing because I can't think of any much better ways to properly heat a larger tank. From my experience, the UTHs can only do so much.
I kinda figured the "issue" with heat lamps was due to creating relative humidity problems. I am installing an automatic "rain" mister into the new tank that will go off at least once an hour, so as long as that can maintain proper humidity levels, I'm hoping I can still use a heat lamp for a few hours a day since I live in the North East and need some extra heat sources in the Winters.

So I appreciate the explanation!

Oh yay! So adorable. I tried heat lamps and it was way too drying, like you mentioned. I ended up removing them and placing a heat mat on three sides. (Back, left and right). Temp and humidity stays consistent 80/85.

LOL, I'm on the Canadian prairies, so I hear ya! It can be -40C in winter and +40C in summer! My crabs are in a room upstairs where the air conditioning doesn't reach, and where there is a baseboard heater for heat. We live in an old farm house - not sure if there was electricity when it was built, but for sure there was no running water, it was added afterwards. I have always had multiple heat mats - I check the temp at least once a day, and can plug/ unplug heat mats as needed. My current tank has one on each side that are insulated, and one on the back that cannot be.

Okay that gives me some hope at least. I'm going to try the heatpads on all sides and see how that works. And at least I know I can use a heat lamp if I really need it. One thing I definitely remember is how difficult it was to keep 80% humidity and 80 degree temps simultaneously but it makes sense that the heat lamps would dry up the humidity, so I'll give the heating pads a try

I have my first setup for our hermits and I used a flower cabinet that's vertical. I had a hard time reaching 80° because I keep it cold in my house and it's a larger cabinet with some air leaks. I put three heat mats inside the tank and then used the silver flexible insulation and insulated two sides of my tank and now I am able to hold 83°.

Your tank looks great!,

Randy2747 wrote: ↑

Sun Aug 18, 2024 9:26 am

I have my first setup for our hermits and I used a flower cabinet that's vertical. I had a hard time reaching 80° because I keep it cold in my house and it's a larger cabinet with some air leaks. I put three heat mats inside the tank and then used the silver flexible insulation and insulated two sides of my tank and now I am able to hold 83°.

Your tank looks great!,

Your mats are INSIDE the tank? Like you ran the power cords inside and attached the mats to the inner surface?
If so, this is dangerous, as your crabs can and will chew them cords and/or mate eventually.

Yeah but there is no the hermits can get to those wires

Maybe I am not understanding....how can they not get to the wires and heat mats if they are inside?