Category: Crabitat | The Crab Street Journal

Acurite Temperature and Humidity Monitor for Hermit Crabs

Tagged: hermit crab, humidity, tank, temperature

To successfully keep land hermit crabs as pets owners must provide a tropical environment that is both warm and humid. In order to maintain the proper heat and humidity gauges are required. The most popular product among hermit crab owners is the Acurite Temperature and Humidity Digital Monitor. This unit has proven to be reliable and a great value for the money. Most gauges don’t last long in the high humidity of a hermit crab tank but the Acurite out performs other more expensive gauges. Your Acurite Temperature and Humidity Monitor should be located inside of the tank but not touching the substrate or directlyRead More →

A Guide to Land Hermit Crab Pools

In: Caresheets, Crabitat

Tagged: bubbler, crabitat, drink, filter, hermit crab, pool, swim, tank, tap water, treatment, water

Welcome to Hermit Crab Pool Boy Training 101! We hope the following information will cover hermit crab water pools from a-z. If we didn’t cover something here please feel free to comment or contact us. Let’s dive right in, the water is fine! Your tank should have two types of water bowls or pools: ocean water made from marine-grade salt and freshwater. Tap water contains beneficial minerals and metals so we discourage the use of distilled or otherwise purified water. Tap water must be treated with a product like Seachem Prime to make it safe for use. Prime also binds ammonia. In our testing, ammoniaRead More →

Managing grain mites in the crabitat

In: Crabitat, FAQ

Tagged: crabitat, food, grain, hermit crabs, mites, tank

Written by Anne Grady Food mites, more properly called grain mites are something that can be found in any tank at any time. The first thing to understand is that they did not come from the crabs, having hermit crabs does not cause you to have food mites. Food mites come into your home through the everyday things you buy at the grocery store. Anything that contains grain can have food mites. Oatmeal, grits, breakfast cereal, noodles, flour and rice are a few examples. In general you won’t see them and they are harmless, but that box of corn meal or pancake mix that getsRead More →

Hermit crab's gills are sensitive to airborne irritants

Airborne Irritants and Hermit Crabs

In: Caresheets, Crabitat

Tagged: air, air freshener, breathing, candles, crabitat, essential oils, gills, hermit crab, hermit crab care, insecticides, irritants, perfume

Land hermit crabs breathe through a modified gill. It is important to protect the gills from strong fragrances, essential oils, candles, household cleaners, chemicals, smoke insecticides and other airborne irritants. Be mindful of what you spray or use near the crabitat even if your tank is fully sealed. Residual product may still be in the air when you open your tank. If you are forced to have your home sprayed for insects ensure your tank is fully sealed with saran wrap or something similar. Allow the house to air out at least 24 hours before unsealing your tank.Read More →

In 2009 we introduced isopods to our crabitats.

FAQ-Are there other pets that can live with hermit crabs?

In: Crabitat

Tagged: bugs, cleaning, crabitat, fish, frog, hermit crab, isopods, lizard, millipede, safe, snail, snake, tank mates

The list of critters that can safely exist with hermit crabs is fairly short. Yes Isopods – beneficial tank cleaners Springtails – beneficial tank cleaners Food/soil mites – harmless No Fiddler Crabs/Halloween Crabs – aggressive diggers and are likely to eat molting hermit crabs. Earth worms, beetles, centipedes, crickets, praying mantis, roaches: May stress each other, over populate, disrupt/harm/ kill/ eat molters. Crabs may harm /kill them. May carry/spread disease/parasites, especially with over population. Centipedes – venomous Millipedes – poisonous Snails – Hermit crabs can kill snails Frogs/Lizards – could harm each other, different habitat needs Fish – inappropriate water for a fishRead More →

Updated method for treating water with Prime

In: Caresheets, Crabitat

Tagged: ammonia, hermit crab, prime, treatment, water

A member of HCO on FB (not affiliated with LHCOS/CSJ) raised an issue regarding the use of Prime. After doing some research of our own we are in agreement with their conclusion regarding Prime treated water and pre-mixing. Please note: As we do not have the necessary information to determine how land hermit crabs are affected by ammonia build up in the water and to what degree we err on the side of caution and treat our water as we would for fish. All information regarding Prime is based on the assumption it is being used in a stable fish tank. Our use is muchRead More →

Removing hard water stains

In: Crabitat

Tagged: build up, clean, hard, hermit crabs, remove, residue, stains, water

You finally scored that awesome tank at a killer price but now how do you clean it?? If the tank is simply dirty but no actual build up on the glass, the cleaning process is pretty straight forward. A mild detergent can be used with hot water to wash away dirt and grime. Use a mild bleach solution 1:10 ratio to sanitize the tank in case of parasites or disease. Follow up with a thorough rinse with water and then white vinegar. Allow to air dry 24 hours. Dealing with stubborn build up on the glass is more challenging. Some stains may never come off.Read More →

Where is all of the water coming from?

In: Crabitat, General

Tagged: bacteria, crabitat, ecoearth, false bottom, flood, hermit crabs, water

A couple years ago when we created our Facebook group to go along with our website I was shocked to find so many people with flooding issues and bacterial blooms in their crabitats. The response to this was a false bottoms. In 14 years of crab keeping I’ve never encountered this, so it’s on my mind all the time…where is all the water coming from? I think I may be on the path to the root cause – overly wet substrate at the beginning. When you take sandcastle wet sand, add wet ecoearth, add bubbler pools and heat and it’s no wonder the humidity inRead More →

Photo Credit: Mary Milhorn Trichoderma outbreak in spaghnum moss

Substrate method update – moss

In: Crabitat

Tagged: hermit crabs, moss, trichoderma

We are amending our recommendation regarding moss. While moss is safe and should be offered in your crabitat we no longer believe it is safe to MIX the moss into your substrate or to layer it under your substrate. In the video below you will see a newly set up crabitat (not the owners first crabitat, she was upgrading) with moss layered under the substrate to test a natural false bottom, as was previously done on All Things Crabby. It rapidly developed an out break of Trichoderma that went all the way through the moss to the other side of the tank in one week.Read More →

DIY crabitat 3D background

In: Crabitat

Tagged: 3D, background, crabitat, DIY, hermit crab, vivarium

by Pam Liberatore This is my little diy on a 3D crabitat background. Please remember this is how I did mine and in no way the only way or the correct way. I really don’t know if there is a right or wrong way. I think it comes down to what works for you and good planning of the whole process. I used the instructions at NEherp and studied them over and over again. Here is the link: Custom Backgrounds That being said let’s get started. Step 1: First, you need a tank, mine is a 40 gallon breeder tank. Now I only did oneRead More →