If you are a beggining crabber, you may be wondering how to set up your crabitat.
Lets think of your crabitat as a tree: roots, trunk, branches and leaves. Each one is important.
First off, the Roots. This is very important in your crabitat because the roots are going to be the conditions of your tank. By conditions I mean the humidity, temperature, cleanliness, and overall state of the tank. Your humidity should be between 70-80%. Under 70% your crabs can suffocate. See, hermit crabs breathe through gills, so if the air is too dry, these gills will not be able to function correctly. If your humidity is too high, this can cause mold, and give your hermit crabs infections. It can sometimes be a delicate balance. Your temperature should be 72-80 degrees Farenheit. You want your crabitat to have a tropical feel. Your temperature can really make or break this. Cleanliness is also very important. Everyday, you want to look throughout the crabitat for uneaten food pieces that the crabs may have dragged around. These will eventually mold and attract bugs, and unwanted pest, and can sometimes be deadly to your hermit crabs. Also, you want to be doing deep clean about every three months. You want to clean your toys (or bake them), boil your shells, and remove your substrate. If you do not want to completely throw away your substrate simply bake it in the oven. This is what I do to my sand, and my tank is squeaky clean after my deep clean is completed. However, I highly reccomend throwing away your eco-earth, for it is not that expensive (I prefer buying it in a three pack. It is much more inexpensive)
Think of your trunk as your substrate and tank itself. You want your tank to be at least ten gallons, and be an aquarium. This will hold in humidity much better. Now, there are many choices for subtrate: Forest Bedding (FB) and Sand are usually the most common choices, and the two that I prefer the most. I reccomend using both. Sand on one half of the tank and FB on the other. You can create two different looks to your tank, perhaps a beach and forest look :) Also, some hermies prefer sand to molt in and some prefer FB. This is why I like to use both. However, if you want one uniform look with only sand or FB, then you may choose to do so. You want your substrate to be double the depth of your largest hermit crab so they can molt correctly. For example, if my largest hermit crab is about the size of two inches, I want my substrate to be four inches deep.
Now your branches. Your branches are your toys, decor, food and water dishes, and shells. These are all essentials to keeping your hermit crabs happy and entertained. Toys should be items that your crabs can climb on. Hermit crabs ADORE climbing. I reccomend choya wood, fake plants, and fake vines. (WARNING! If you do purchase choya wood, please fill them with something that is safe for the hermit crabs. I have lost one hermit crab becuase he got himself stuck at the bottom without me knowing) Next, Decor! Decor can really change the whole crabitat. A background and some fake plants that suction to the glass change the tank more than you would expect. These things also make the crabs feel safer. Food and water dishes are EXTREMELY important because, well, they hold food and water! Food as I discussed in the last post can be pre-made, or you can chop up it up yourself. Please check the blog Hermit Crab Cusine to ensure that what you are feeding your hermit crabs is safe. (Please do not feed your hermit crabs commercial food, because it contains preservatives that harm you crabs. (See my last post)) Water needs to be dechlorinated. I reccomend either using a water filter, or just dechlorinating water by putting it in gallon jug and leaving it sit for 24 hours. You will also need a salt water dish, which believe it or not, is a hermit crab essential even if you only have purple pinchers. Do not use table salt as it contains iodine which is harmful to your crabs. Aquarium salt is quite inexpensive at the pet store. One thing that is highly reccomended is getting a dish that your largest crab can fully submerge him/herself in. If you have a smaller tank, (the minimum should be a ten gallon) the Flukers Groovy Jaccuzi is excellent because it doesnt take up much room, and is pretty deep allowing a medium sized hermit crab to submerge himself. Shells are important because as hermit crabs grow, they will need to move into larger shells. If you do not have proper size and quantity shells for your hermit crabs, you will most likely see aggresstion in your hermies. You can order hermit crab shells online.
Finally, your leaves are your hermit crabs! Hermit crabs, despite their name, are very active and social creatures if you give them the right environment. So be sure to give your hermit crab lots of friends, but remember, not too many friends! There are also many species of hermit crabs such as Purple Pinchers, (The most common) Ecuadorians, Ruggies, Indos, and many more. I will be putting up a post soon on how to figure out what species of hermit crabs you may have.
Hopefully, this post helped you sort out information on what your correct crabitat should be like. Thanks for reading :)
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