HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Hey everyone. I have been lurking around this board for over a month, but this is my first post. I have a 10gal glass setup with play sand. My husband and I will be leaving for 5 days around christmas and I have no one to care for my hermies. (I have 4) I already have to use UTH and a heat lamp to keep my temps up, but my husnand is concerned about leaving the heat lamp on while we are gone...I'm afraid they will get too cold...Any suggestions?Also what do you reccomend for their food and water? Any advice is greatly appreciated in advance!

I leave for 3 of 4 days over weekends frequently... I have a 20L which is only heated by my apartment's central heat and a regular 60W bulb... the light is on a timer so it's on in the day and off at night - my temp stays quite stable... I have a big reptile dish for fresh water and a smaller one for salt water then a big shell for dry food (commercial food and trail-mix type food) and two smaller shells with different kinds of baby food in them... I make sure all of these things are filled up, give the tank an extra spritz of water just in case and then head out... I've never had a problem doing this and then I clean/fill up/check everything when I get back... I'd say as long as your house/the room the tank is in is going to stay relatively warm you should be ok with heat... anything longer than 4 days though and I take them with me... in fact, they just got back from thanksgiving at my parents (They're still chowin on turkey bones!)

We go away quite a bit in the summertime, and I found these dishes to be invaluable for water:Reptile Waterers I use one for fresh water and one for salt water, and they are never close to being empty, even after 6 days away. I always leave popcorn, Crab Island food and assorted dried fruit in a large food dish when we leave. Nothing too stinky or stuff that would really mold if thrown into the substrate.