Category: Crabitat | Page 3 | The Crab Street Journal

Safe and Unsafe Wood

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 →

Mites: Friend or Foe? The Happy Tale of the Hypoaspis Mites

In: Crabitat, General

Tagged: beneficial, friend, good, helpful, hermit crab, hypoaspis, mites, predatory

written by Kerie Campbell 2005 Two months ago, during deep clean, I took my largest compressus,Houdini, out of the tank, turned him over to have a look, and a red…thing fell out of his shell. I couldn’t believe it! Mites!Huge, red mites. Houdini had a few, Fifi had some, and poor Ghidra,a pre-molt rugosus, was covered with them. I was appalled. I inspect new crabs when I get them for mites, and have never seen any. The only explanation I have is that these mites, being a bright red color, must have snuck in on some of the perlatus – they are the same colorRead More →

Calibrating your Humidity Gauge

In: Crabitat

Tagged: calibrate, check, gauge, hermit crab, humidity, hygrometer, set

written by Rai Ahmes Relative humidity (RH) is measured as a percentage–absolute and specific humidity are NOT. If it reads in % it’s a relative gauge. RH gauges are fairly inexpensive and commonly available. Gauges measuring absolute or specific humidity are hard to find and expensive; they also read in either g/kg or g/cubic meter (or the non-metric equivalent) not %. “Actual humidity” and “exact humidity” are not measurements. Dial RH gauges are rarely calibrated properly by the time they reach your home. This is NOT the fault of the manufacturer. It is simply the way it is with this type of hygrometer whether it’sRead More →

Are you ready for a land hermit crab?

In: Crabitat, General

Tagged: are, checklist, essentials, getting started, hermit crab, ready, you

Written by Vanessa Pike-Russell Hermit crabs are advertised as cheap and easy to maintain, which is not necessarily true. To keep your hermit crabs happy and healthy, you will need to provide a lot more than food and water. In this article we will give you a list of essential and optional items you need. Also you will find some info on basic care and upkeep of the tank, considerations when purchasing. This is an expanded version of the shopping checklist. 1. ESSENTIALS Glass tank with lid: A glass tank is preferred over plastic tanks, which will scratch and will not be able to holdRead More →

FAQ Is Polyvinyl Chloride/PVC Pipe safe to use in the crabitat?

In: Crabitat, FAQ

Tagged: crabitat, hermit crab, pipe, pvc, safe, toxic

CrabbyAbbey answered: PVC isn’t a safe product to be used in a closed environment or with land hermits that tend to taste sample their surroundings, or really anywhere for that matter. It’s production includes chlorine and lead and it leaches chemical gases into the air, especially in heated areas. In closed areas like crabitats these dangers are even more harmful. My largest tank is a reef tank and removing the installed PVC plumbing opens two holes at the bottom of my tank. When I bought it 2 years ago I thought a wise way to address that was to wrap the PVC with sisal rope.Read More →

Hermit Crab Essentials Shopping Checklist

In: Caresheets, Crabitat

Tagged: checklist, crabitat, essentials, hermit crab, necessities, needs, required, requirements, tank

Originally written by Vanessa Pike-Russell Hermit crabs are advertised as cheap and easy to maintain, which is not necessarily true. To keep your hermit crabs happy and healthy, you will need to provide a lot more than food and water. The following is a list of the essential items your pet hermit crabs will need: Essential items for optimum land hermit crab care Glass tank with lid: A glass tank is preferred over plastic tanks, which will scratch and will not be able to hold the humidity within the ventilated lids. Plastic tanks are not large enough to provide the necessary space. A glass lidRead More →

Methods for heating your crabitat

In: Caresheets, Crabitat

Tagged: beanfarm, heat, heat mat, heat pad, heating, hermit crab, insulation, lamp, light, powerstrip, reflectix, reptile basics, rheostat, thermostat, timer, ultratherm, uth, warmth

Compilation of information by Vanessa Pike-Russell and Stacy Griffith To keep your hermit crabs healthy and happy their environment should be kept in optimum temperature and humidity levels. If you are not able to keep the environment stable then your crabs will weaken and become stressed which will lead to death. Hermit crabs are ectothermic creatures and must have a warmish and cooler side to their substrate. If your temperature falls below 75F on a frequent basis you need a reliable and safe method for heating your crabitat. Whatever type of under tank heater or other heating method you use, it is STRONGLY recommended thatRead More →