What to do with my crabs during vacation

[jjcooper1598]

This May I'm going on a two week vacation to Florida, and my concern is what do I do with my hermit crabs during that time? I don't have anyone who can look after them, so should I take them with me? or would that stress them out to much? Need some advice.

[StarWarsHermitCrab]

If you can bring the whole enclosure, take your hermit crabs
with you.

[aussieJJDude]

I've gone for a 2 week vacation without problems. All the crabs need is:
- A reliable heat/humidity source
- Food
- Water

IDK how big your tank is, but do you have water pools? So long as the crabs can't "track" that much debris into the pools, they should be ok (just don't expect it to be overly clean). A better solution would be to have filters, but I understand not everyone can have them.
For food, I just give them dry food. Things like musli, coconut flakes, dehydrated foods.. Anything (thats safe).

Is it possible for a neighbour to check up on them? If so, you could premake the water in jugs/bottles and the food in baggies (make sure you label: eg food, day 4 or SW/FW) and just tell them to clean out the bowls and just "refill" them.

[soilentgringa]

While I was house sitting, I put my "day" light on a timer and set the timer to come on a couple hours after sunrise and go off an hour or two after sunset, around 10 hours of lamp time but set so they kindof have like a dawn and dusk as well (since they are by a window but not directly in front of and my apartment is pretty dark during the day if I'm gone). I set dry/dehydrated foods, nuts, seeds, and honey close to the UTH wall so they stay relatively moisture free and didn't mold. My humidity and temp are pretty consistent always so I wasn't worried there. Made sure they had fresh water and asked a neighbor to check on them every few days. If you don't have cycled pools two weeks may be a little long without fresh water so you may want to get some help with that. Have fun on your vacay!

[jjcooper1598]

Thanks ya'guys, now I got some ideas of what to do.

[Lburns]

There is a lady at our vets office (where our dog goes) that does in-home boarding care. We recently went away for a week. I had her come once while we were gone. Felt I could go about every three days before the crabs needed a water/food change and a mist. Maybe you could call around to the vets nearest you and see if they have any vet techs willing to do a home check??