In: Caresheets, Crabitat
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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 →

Glycyphagus-spp-mite

In: Crabitat, FAQ
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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

In: Caresheets, Crabitat
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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.

In: Crabitat
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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 fish   **Read More →

In: Biology
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A hermit crab’s gills are enclosed in the branchial chamber, which functions as a lung. The branchial chamber is on the sides of the thorax, above the crab’s legs. A hermit crab breathes through its gills and branchial chamber, which must be kept moist in order to function. If the branchial chamber and gills dry out, the crab will die. Compared to aquatic crabs, land hermit crab’s gills are reduced in size, and if the adults are kept underwater too long, they will drown. [2] There are tufts of setae at various sites on the ventral surface that enable moisture from the substrate to beRead More →

flooded substrate

In: Crabitat, General
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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 →

In: Crabitat
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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 →

In: Crabitat
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If you’ve ever dealt with ants in your home you know what a challenge it can be to get rid of them. Ants in your home may be a nuisance to you but ants in your hermit crabs’s home can be dangerous. Ants can and will attack molting crabs, and this could kill the hermit crab. If you find ants in your crabitat it is an emergency situation that must be dealt with immediately.   Your approach will depend on the answers to a few questions: Where are they coming from? Are they coming into the crabitat from outside or are they living in theRead More →

In: Caresheets, Crabitat, FAQ, General
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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 →

In: Crabitat
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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 →