HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Last night I spent two hours cleaning out the old calcium sand out of my tank and putting play sand/Eco Earth in there instead, also making salt water and getting it nice and wet. I also stuck a digital thermometer and hygrometer inside on the back wall where I can see them easily. I also got a heating pad but it hasn't really been necessary yet as the thermometer read 76.6 degrees before I left home this afternoon. According to the hygrometer humidity was at 72%, seems to have gone down a little from last night even though I still have the damp washcloth on top. I'm wanting to bring it up more, maybe misting with salt water or getting some moss would help? And when/how often might I need to add more water to my substrate?

congrats! My crabs will also be getting the bigger cage and more fancy things once i get back from my trip! The digital guage is a more accurate reading, so as you know the washcloth doesn't bring the humidity up to 90, but it keeps it up to above seventy for at least a couple of days. Yeah moss would be great! And you don't need to add more water or spritz, the washcloth will keep the substrate sand castle constistency by dripping, but won't swamp the substrate like a misting bottle. Swamping the substrate leads to a terrible smell, mold, and unhappy crabs. But yeah happy for you!

Depending on the size of the enclosure you should only need to add more water to the substrate once every couple of months, you definitely need to get a good humidity retaining lid like a glass lid this will help to keep the humidity trapped in the tank and will slow down the evaporative process in the substrate so you'll be doing less re-hydrating as a result.For a ten gallon tank you should only be using about half a cup a of water, make hole with your finger in each corner and then slowly pour in just a little of the water and go around to each hole doing this until the half cup is used up the sand has a wonderful natural wicking property which will draw the water down and out evenly distributing it across the tank so pouring the water slowly and gently will help to prevent flooding on the very bottom of the substrate and will also help to mitigate tunnel or molt pocket collapse as a large amount of water dumped suddenly from very high up will cause the sand to pack down on itself which you don't want to happen.If your using a screen lid you can do a cheap alternative to the glass by covering the top with Saran Wrap or Glad's Press and Seal to about ninety percent this will help make the lid better at retaining humidity and will keep the tanks humidity level stable around 80% as well so you wont get such massive swings anymore.

I have a plastic lid which also seems to be good at holding in the humidity when it's closed, but my problem is if I open it for like a minute to change the food and water, the humidity drops quickly. I manage to get it back above 70 though afterwards. I will take your suggestion of making holes in the corners and pouring a small amount of water into them when I do nee to rehydrate. Also I have been trying different foods to see what they like best. Last night I tried scrambled eggs and Miz Biz at least seems to really like them. Renegade I haven't seen since Saturday night when I put them back after changing the sand, so she's probably underground. I hope she comes out soon though, I miss her.