Lighting for hermit crabs

[giannaw]

Hello! I currently have a 25 gallon reptile tank with a screen lid (half is covered with plastic wrap for humidity) and I use a reptile dome for lighting. What lighting should I use (for day and night time), or should I get a daytime bulb and shut up the lamp at night? And what type of bulb should I get (UVB, LED, etc.). Please help, I’m extremely confused and I did a bunch of research.

[curlysister]

Personally, I don't use any light source. I have my crabs in a room with a window, so they get indirect light.
Have you had a look at the care sheet that is all about lighting?

[giannaw]

Yes I did, at first I didn’t understand but now I got the trick. I got the lightbulbs they need because the tank is behind my bed (indirect lighting source) and I use it as a way to heat the tank up.

[Jlmills525]

just be careful of your humidity using lights to heat the tank

[JTKermie]

Does your setup get a natural day/light cycle from daylight? If so, like said, no light fixture is needed. It's going to be tough to seal your screen top completely with plastic wrap and add a light over it. Things could melt and little light with transfer through anyway.

My crab tanks are in a finished room in my basement that gets zero natural light. I use LED strip lights over my glass tops. I have them plugged into lamp timers to run 12hrs on, 12hrs off.

[giannaw]

I have an opening so the plastic won’t burn. But I still need a light bulb for their cycle and heat. Eventually, I want to find other ways of heat so I wouldn’t have to use a bulb (like UTH), I’m afraid it would only heat the sand and not the air.

[Jlmills525]

you mount the UTH above the substrate level, like from the top down.. it's ok to have it intersect with the substrate.. but have most of it up in the "air" portion of the tank