Top products from r/hermitcrabs

OK, Im just going to list a bunch of stuff I've purchased through this process. Nothing is in any particular order.

Almond leaves (for tannin) - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00LKTX4VC/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Moss - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0035Q65TQ/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Cholla Wood - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01H4FUMHY/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Dried red Shrimp (Protein and Chitin) - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0027JCRVW/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Instant Ocean (1/3cup per Gallon) - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000255NKA/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Ultrasonic Mister/Fogger (for DIY Fogger) - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00PAK21WU/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Digital Temp Humidity Controller - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01I6BZ2IO/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

LED White/Blue Light - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0191EWII2/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

UTH (You may need to get a different size and this isn't the most recommended, but it works for me currently) - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00TR4HLEI/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1 (This one has adhesive on the back of it, so you just stick it on like a sticker.)

Cork Bark Board - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0019J1VPY/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o07_s04?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Water Conditioner - https://www.amazon.com/Seachem-116043304-Prime-500ml/dp/B00025694O

If you have any questions, please feel free. To mitigate confusion I felt just listing this as a reference first is the best approach. If you are looking for a new tank so that you can get friends, i would suggest 30 or more gallons and work towards that instead of investing into the current tank which would get changed.

Personally with the 5 i have i clearly see they need much more room than the 15 gallon they have now. I am in the process of acquiring an 85-120 gallon tank for permanency. These guys can live 20+ years with the proper care and environment. but not everyone has that freedom. 30 is a totally doable size for 3 crabs. they can grow to jumbos and be fine in there, but im sure if they reach that stage you'll be looking for another tank. Jumbos need at least 12" of substrate for molting.

You do not need the tank liner. The heating pad goes on the outside along the BACK of your tank, not under. The goal is to heat the air. If you put it under you will cook the crabs, heating pads often get much too hot (even with reptiles you need to use a thermostat to keep it from overheating and burning your reptile).

For humidity, I am going to link you a thermometer/hydrometer that I use. You will be able to easily see what both are at with just a glance and then make adjustments as needed. You can find a good one here

If you want one that has probes that goes into the tank and the display is outside, check out this one. Make sure that the probes are out of reach of the crabs, but as close to ground level in the tank as possible.



As for keeping humidity up, moss is a great option. You can mix it into your sand, place piles of it on top of the sand, or use a suction cup shower caddy on the glass and fill it up with the moss. Specifically, you want sphagnum moss which you can find in reptile sections. You can mist it and it will stay wet for a few days. Another thing you can add are bubblers, the same kind you would use in an aquarium. Adding them to your pools creates water movement which will not only increase humidity but attract your crabs to the water and deliver oxygen into the tank. With the proper substrate mixture and the heating pad, you should meet the parameters you need. But sometimes it just doesn't happen, and then you can try adding moss and/or bubblers. I have both and my humidity stays perfect.
You're awesome for getting started on their new stuff right away. They are such a rewarding pet, and I bet you will notice a huge difference in their activity once you have it all set up!

I felt the same way a year ago when I bought a crab on impulse thinking it'd be a cheap and easy pet to care for. Once the tank is set up, they ARE affordable and low maintenance, which is awesome!

The Crab Street Journal, as /u/picklesfoley recommended, is a great resource. This sub isn't bad, but I find the Hermit Crab Association (HCA) forums extra helpful. They have tons of helpful guides, and the community is super responsive. There are also a decent handful of active Facebook groups for hermit crab owners.

As with any community (especially for pets), you'll probably run into some sticklers who can give borderline-harsh critiques when you ask a question, share a photo, etc. They're usually not wrong, and they usually mean well, but I often feel like their approach is detrimental. Don't let anyone make you feel overwhelmed or like you're doing a bad job. You're taking the necessary steps to create an environment for your crabs to thrive, and that's more than many crab owners can say. Getting up to speed doesn't happen overnight!

A couple of final tips:

• Keeping humidity up can be a huge pain without anything to help. Once I got an air pump for one of my pools, humidity was always on point! Air pumps are cheap and easy to set up. Here's the one I bought.
  
  
• Not sure how many crabs you have now or how big your tank is (10gal+ per crab is generally recommended) but if you're ever looking for more, there are plenty of people trying to get rid of hermit crabs. I adopted 2 through the HCA, and Crab Street Journal has an adoption program too. I've also heard about people adopting unwanted crabs through Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace.

For a 75gallon get one of these (Eco Earth):
http://www.amazon.com/Zoo-Med-Compressed-Coconut-Substrate/dp/B0010OSIHW
The two bricks should be enough and mix in with the sand real good. It'll help keep the humidity up and it's more like their natural environment. Make sure sand is sand-castle consistency. Not too dray or they won't be able to dig tunnels and not too wet that water pools end up on the bottom.

Read the stickied posts on top of the "topics" area and ask questions if you need more info here:
http://www.hermitcrabassociation.com/phpBB/viewforum.php?f=26

Also - check out the shells from this seller on Etsy. I noticed the spiky one you have in the corner. They like "Turbo" shells much better. You'll be amazed how fast they switch in these shells (links below) and never use the one like you have showing again - see links below. Depending on the size of your crabs you'll need to figure out which ones you need.

A little smaller:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/163508909/multipack-2-25-tapestry-turbo-shell?ref=shop_home_active_2

A little larger:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/163509545/multipack-15-2-tapestry-turbo-shell?ref=shop_home_active_12

I'd go with the larger ones probably as they'll wear them if they're too big and will always grow into them fairly quickly anyways.

Good luck!

This is a common myth that hermit crabs NEED to submerge to drink/fill their shell/clean. They drink with their small claw, dipping it in the water and lifting it to their mouth. They don't fill their shell underwater -- they suck water in through their setae (tiny hairs) and this allows them to slowly add the water to their abdomen, maintaining their preferred PH. Filling underwater would mess up their PH, so they likely have a way to seal off their shell if they do decide to go under. It's possible a saltwater pool could help with mites, but they do fine with their smaller inner claws removing dirt and grooming themselves (you can see them if you look into their shell at the right angle). Also some species in the wild don't even have access to saltwater. So they don't need pools, but some crabs do like to submerge as long as the water quality is good. Spizam71 goes into a lot more detail about this on my post.

I set up some pools myself before I learned they don't need them. If you'd like to go ahead with it anyway I used two of these tupperwares, they're 4"x4"x2.25". Took me a while to find tupperware deep and big enough for them without taking up too much space (I have a 10 gal). They're a bit pricy though, and if you have more space I'd probly get something a bit bigger. For entry/exit you can get some craft mesh and set it up however you want, I just cut it to size and hot-glued it to the sides. Not the best method for easy cleaning though, I've seen others make a little tee-pee and drape it over the side. You can get some small rocks/gravel and put them in the bottom. A sea sponge is good in the saltwater pool for maintaining water quality and allowing them to crawl out, same goes for live java moss and/or duck weed in the freshwater (duckweed needs natural light, java moss doesn't). If the water quality isn't to their liking, they're a lot less likely to submerge (from this video). Completely change the water out once a week.

Overall they don't need pools, just access to freshwater and saltwater (even then they could probably get their saltwater from food). It is something for them to do though, so it could be beneficial for their happiness. Maybe that's why people recommend it.

With the thermal insulation, get something like this: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000BPAULS (Doesn't necessarily have to be that exact one -- Promise, I'm not a shill for the company! ;) ) Get a little crafty and you can cut and origami it with duct tape to fit the back of your tank and part of the sides (and whatever else you need) perfectly.

Best substrate is generally 5:1 play sand to eco earth -- looks like you have a lot of eco earth in there. This makes it more difficult for crabs to make tunnels and molt appropriately, but others have kept crabs just fine with only eco earth so YMMV.

Rocks in the bottom of the dishes aren't necessary if you have ramps. I have a 2.5 gallon pool with only a ramp and the crabs are just fine! They live near the ocean and deep pools -- they can spend easily half an hour underwater and aren't going to drown out of stupidity :)

I'd recommend filling the big open space with a little more in the way of hidey holes or stuff for climbing. I really like strawgrass reptile hammocks/lizard loungers, which can be rolled up into all sorts of shapes and huts and things for hermit crab adventures!

Like others have said, stop misting! Get a glass top if you don't already have one, and with the bubblers your humidity should be fine. Misting will cause bacterial blooms, water pooling, and all sorts of problems (I ruined my first tank setup within a couple weeks because of it...).

Everything else looks good to me!

For my setup, I’ve used The Tetra Whisper Air Pump (link at botton). You put a check valve (see 2nd link) on the end of the tube attached to the pump. On the other side of the tube you put the air stone (also in 2nd link). Th air stone goes in the water and “bubbles”, thats why we call it a “bubbler”. It has dual benefits in that it is the most effective way to humidify your tank and the movement in the water keeps it fresh for longer.


https://www.amazon.com/Tetra-Whisper-Easy-Aquariums-Non-UL/dp/B0009YJ4N6/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?keywords=bubbler+pump&qid=1565723778&s=gateway&sr=8-3


https://www.amazon.com/Pawfly-Standard-Aquarium-Accessories-Connectors/dp/B07FZY71K6/ref=pd_aw_fbt_199_img_3/137-2577294-4867509?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B07FZY71K6&pd_rd_r=1974bd54-ba73-425a-96f4-b27b02ebbe2f&pd_rd_w=7mVYj&pd_rd_wg=b8F1Q&pf_rd_p=3ecc74bd-d08f-44bd-96f3-d0c2b89f563a&pf_rd_r=VNHBEDMXVJNSW6SHZ0M4&psc=1&refRID=VNHBEDMXVJNSW6SHZ0M4

As Spizam said, there seems to be a sweet spot, and if I keep my humidity below 85% the glass is always clear. I also have this small computer fan suspended inside my tank with suction cups and fishing line, which gives the crabs a slight breeze and also helps with glass fogging and keeping mold growth on my wood parts inhibited.

I've made acrylic shelves in glass fish tanks before.

Make sure you're using the right type of silicone. Something like Aqueon. Regular silicone caulk won't cut it.

Aqueon Silicone Aquarium Sealant (10.3 oz) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0002ASD34/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_tWgoDbPE8BVVB

Also, be VERY careful about wedging the shelf in. Even a little outward pressure combined with some vibration and you can end up with a cracked tank.

Thank you! I got it off amazon, i saw it recommended on a few different threads & it does give very accurate readings! Here’s the link: https://www.amazon.com/Flukers-Digital-Thermometer-Hygrometer-Reptiles/dp/B0009YJWW4/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=hygrometer+and+thermometer+reptile&pd_rd_r=dc115e19-8d6d-483d-bf66-deae0ceee0eb&pd_rd_w=9ce11&pd_rd_wg=0q5MQ&pf_rd_p=67c9d84c-d98a-4415-a549-dd3360e9d207&pf_rd_r=98P2SG8ZGD7H5P5B0PBJ&qid=1568476524&s=gateway&sr=8-3

Hey sorry for asking this here instead of in a new thread, but for reflectix, do you know if there's any smaller option to buy? I'd like to insulate the back and sides of my 30 gallon, but ass the rolls I'm seeing are like 25 feet.

I did see this reflectix tape stuff, but would that work as well considering I'd have to overlap?

Pretty easy i use a water gun like this one, https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000OOZZTI/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_t1_I75SBb7PA3DTD to suck all of the old water out

I have an Ultratherm under tank heater mounted on the side of my tank for heat. The flexible heater is covered in styrofoam insulation from Home Depot. In addition, I have a red 60W lamp in a hood over the top. Together, these two provide enough heat for a 30 gallon (30"x12"x18") tank.

For humidity, I have a reptifogger.

I control both temp and humidity with ZooMed's Hygrotherm.

It's kind of pricey, but it allows me to go away for a week without having to worry about humidity.

Instant Ocean Sea Salt for Marine Aquariums, Nitrate & Phosphate-Free, 50-Gallon https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000255NKA/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_ACFUDbPR2S8NK

There ya go. Under $15.