Category: Crabitat | Page 2 | The Crab Street Journal

Setting up a proper crabitat

Tagged: crabitat, habitat, hermit crab care, home, house, how to, mandatory, needed, proper, requirements, right way, tank

Let’s look at how to set up a proper hermit crab habitat, which we refer to as a crabitat. Basing your tank set up on what you saw at the petstore or mall cart where you may have purchased your hermit crabs is a recipe for disaster. Kritter Keepers and wire cages are death boxes and should never be used. Listed below are the primary components of a proper set up and we will discuss them in detail. If you are not willing to equip the tank properly you should return your hermit crabs or rehome them, they will not thrive without a properly set upRead More →

Emergency temporary housing for your hermit crabs

In: Crabitat

Tagged: bin, budget, crabitat, emergency, evacuating, hermit crab, household items, housing, macgyver, moving, temporary

Land hermit crabs require a properly set up crabitat to survive and thrive in captivity. Sometimes we may not be able to provide that right away or we need a temporary housing set up because we are moving to a new home or we are faced with evacuating our current home. Perhaps you just bought your first hermit crabs and have discovered that the Kritter Keeper you were sold is NOT a sufficient home but can’t afford or don’t have immediate access the proper supplies. In these circumstances you can set up a temporary crabitat. The MacGyver crabitat (ideal for emergency short term housing whenRead More →

Standard Tank Measurement Gallons To Inches

Standard tank measurements and weights

In: Crabitat

Tagged: common, empty, measurement, size, standard, tank, water, weight

COMMON AQUARIUM SIZES & WEIGHTS 5 GALLON L x W x H 16″ x 8″ x 10″ Weight (empty) 7 lbs Weight (water-filled) 62 lbs 10 GALLON LEADER L x W x H 20″ x 10″ x 12″ Weight (empty) 11 lbs Weight (water-filled) 111 lbs 10 GALLON LONG L x W x H 24″ x 8″ x 12″ Weight (empty) 16 lbs Weight (water-filled) 116 lbs 10 GALLON HEXAGON L x W x H 14″ x 12″ x 18″ Weight (empty) 12 lbs Weight (water-filled) 110 lbs 15 GALLON L x W x H 24″ x 12″ x 12″ Weight (empty) 21 lbs WeightRead More →

Deep cleaning your crabitat

In: Crabitat, FAQ, General

Tagged: annual, clean, crabitat, deep, hermit crab, hermit crab care, home, tank, terrarium, thorough

The information in this article is somewhat outdated in that we generally no longer do scheduled deep cleanings. If your tank is set up properly it can be self cleaning, self sustaining. However if you have a flood or a bacteria outbreak or some other emergency situation you may find this information beneficial. written by Michele Stephens You’ve set up the perfect crabitat, the hermit crabs have been roaming happily about the place for weeks, even months. You change the water and the food but now, the substrate just isn’t looking as fresh as it use to and you suspect that it might be timeRead More →

FAQ Can I put ladybugs in my crabitat?

In: Crabitat, FAQ

Tagged: hermit crab, hermit crab care, ladybugs

Question: Craboza asked: I want them to eat the bad things. Will they eat aphids and other bad bugs in there? Or anything that is not the crabs? I want them to keep all possible parasites out. If I can use ladybugs, how many can I put in? Where do I get them? Thank you. Answer: Bugboy (aka King Arthur-Pod) answered: Don’t…..lady bugs are toxic, that’s the reason for the orange and black coloring. If one should die and the crabs eat it, could be harmful. Put one on the tip of your tongue, you’ll no how nasty they really are(OK so I’m anRead More →

Creating second levels in your crabitat

In: Crabitat

Tagged: crabitat, hermit crab, hermit crab care, second level, tank

Hermit crabs are tree climbers by nature so maximizing all the vertical space in your tank will provide them with a more enriching and stimulating environment. Making use of all four walls of the tank will give your hermit crabs more room to roam and explore. Also if you use overhead lights you can provide your hermit crabs a way to get closer to the lights and warm themselves as needed. You can get very creative in making second levels with a variety of materials. Just be sure the materials are safe before placing them in your tank. Avoid metal that can rust, paint thatRead More →

Tips for cooling off

In: Crabitat

Tagged: cooling, heat, hermit crab, hermit crab care, high, overheated, temperature, too hot, unsafe

Our beloved hermit crabs are ectothermic creatures, which means they depend on the environment to regulate their body temperature. This means maintaining their crabitat at proper temperature and humidity is literally a matter of life and death. With warm summer temps comes the risk of a too hot crabitat, below are some tips to help cool down your crabbies on a blazing hot day. First remember that hermit crabs are tropical creatures so they can handle brief temperature spikes and be okay. A prolonged heat wave will be too much for them to handle. If you cool your home by opening windows and using fans,Read More →

How do I clean my hermit crab tank (crabitat)?

In: Crabitat

Tagged: clean, crabitat, hermit crab, hermit crab care, tank

Originally posted on AllThingsCrabby.com this is an updated version A total tank tear down for cleaning is no longer considered necessary. If set up properly from the beginning your tank can be kept up with minimal effort. The information below can be applied when purchasing used items that you wish to clean before set up or if you have an emergency (flood, bacteria, insect invasion) situation and need to do a tear down to deal with it. You will need to set up a temporary house for your crabs in advance of cleaning your tank to establish proper temperature and humidity. 10 gallon tanks are inexpensiveRead More →

Which types of moss are safe for my hermit crabs?

In: Crabitat, FAQ

Tagged: beaked, cypress, hermit crab, hermit crab care, hiawatha, moss, safe, sphaghnum, terrarium

Hermit crabs love moss! Not only is it a great way to create and maintain humidity but your crabs will burrow in it and even eat it. They key is to select safe moss. This page should give you a starting pointing for determining which types of moss are safe for your hermit crabs. There are over 1200 types of moss so it would be impossible to address all of them. Listed below are the most commonly encountered types. In all instances you are looking for 100% natural, chemical free, dye free moss. When collecting your own live moss, know what you are collecting andRead More →

Safe and Unsafe Wood

In: Crabitat

Tagged: bark, hermit crab, hermit crab care, limbs, safe, stumps, toxic, trees, unsafe, wood

Written by Julia Crab (Kerie Campbell) Wednesday, 28 September 2005 Here follows a list of woods that can be used safely in a hermit crab environment. These are non-toxic woods that won’t hurt them if eaten. This list, as all the others, is not in any way complete, and will be expanded as new information is received. Ash Aspen Birch Cholla or Choya wood Cork bark Cypress (swamp variety, taxodium species) **not a suitable substrate! Grape vine Mangrove Manzanita Maple/Japanese Maple Oak Pear Pecan Poplar Sycamore Willow Unsafe Woods Apricot Bitter Almond Black Locust Boxwood Cherry Cherry Laurel Eucalyptus Evergreen of any kind (pine, cedar,Read More →