How to keep crabs warm without heat mat or lamp

[CrabbyLover77]

the thermometer says 76

My hermies are having an explosion of food mites currently and my parents are ordering a spray bottle soon. I can't really play or mess with my crabs to much because my family is grossed out by the mites and they don't want them to get out. We are getting one rolly polly soon maybe tommorow and I will be able to mess with my crabs a little bit more. I will be able to touch and play with them more after we do a full tank clean. This is only a temporary tank condition.

76 is fine for purple pinchers. As for food mites, I have them in both of my tanks. They live in our homes, so even if you do a deep clean, they will likely come right back. I just let them do their thing and eat food dragged away by the hermits. You can add a piece of fresh food in your tank and wait til some gather on it, then throw it out if you want to ween them out.

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[DragonsFly]

If your house stays at about 76 degrees all the time, that is a perfectly good temperature for Purple Pinchers. So you will mostly need to be concerned about the humidity.

You can find a $1 spray bottle at your nearest dollar store, but keeping the humidity where it needs to be will require having the right kind of substrate, deep enough and properly moist, and the right kind of tank and lid combination. Most people here use a combination of play sand (a 10 pound bag is usually less than $5 at a hardware store) and EcoEarth or similar, for their substrate, but you can use just play sand if you need to keep it as inexpensive as possible.

As for handling your crabs, most of the long-term crabbers here are pretty "hands-off"; hermit crabs are more of a "watch pet" than a "play with pet." This is because they need the high humidity in their tank in order to breathe properly, and also because they are actually wild animals, not "pets" at all. Some people do interact with their crabs more, but consider that to your crab, you are a huge predator, like a Tyrannosaurus Rex. Imagine what you might think if a giant T. Rex kept picking you up to "play" with you. Especially if the crabs are fairly new to captivity, the less you handle them the better, as handling them is stressful and they are already so stressed by being captured and transported into captivity that many of them get very sick and sometimes, sadly, die.

There really is a huge amount to learn at first, and it can seem overwhelming. Hermit crabs are sold with very misleading information about them. You did a great thing coming here, though, because there are lots of people here to help that have been keeping crabs and learning about them for a long time. Keep learning, and best wishes!

[HermitCrabCHICA]

Ok but whenever I put my hand in there to feel the tempature it feels really cold in there......

[DragonsFly]

I suppose if your house thermostat is set at 76, it might still be cooling to a colder temp than that in some areas of the house.

Do you have any thermometers in the house that you can put in the tank for awhile and see what it says?

If your house really is at around 76 degrees all the time, then the humidity in the tank is probably the most urgent need for them (because in Florida, if your house is at 76 right now, that most likely means the air conditioner is running, which takes humidity out of the air). Hermit crabs need humidity (a good range is between 75 and 85 % humidity) in order to breathe. Most human houses in the U.S. do not have humidity nearly that high inside.

Truly, being able to measure the temperature and humidity in the tank is essential for keeping hermit crabs alive, so you really will need a temperature and humidity gauge as soon as you can possibly get one.
These are very good; they cost about $10 at your local hardware store: https://www.lowes.com/pd/AcuRite-Digita ... 1000162483

[DragonsFly]

Okay I just saw where you said you have a 10g tank, with dry EE as substrate. Substrate should be "sand castle" moist; moist enough so that, if you stuck your finger down in it, the hole your finger made will stay well-formed, but there should NOT be any water pooling at the bottom. You need to use dechlorinated water or distilled water or filtered spring water to moisten it, because chlorine (which is in regular tap water) can burn the crabs' gills. Moistening the substrate will help to increase the humidity in the tank, which the crabs need to breathe.

I don't understand how you are using a folded blanket for the lid? Do you mean that you have a blanket on top of a wire lid maybe?

[HermitCrabCHICA]

Oh I am getting one from amazon for only like five dollars. Plus I picked out a heat mat I don't have enough money for a fancy one but I picked out a cheap one. I am also getting some moss, cholla wood, a mister, and a fake vine. I am using a trash bag for the lid now. It is keeping heat and humidity in the tank much better.

[DragonsFly]

You need the temp and humidity gauge more than the heat mat, at this point. You need to know what the temperature and humidity are in the tank, that really is not optional. Anything you do to adjust the temperature and humidity, you can't know if it is working right if you don't have an accurate measurement of the temp and humidity.

[HermitCrabCHICA]

Ok Thankyou for all of your help D.F!

[curlysister]

Dragonsfly, Chica describes her tank in the emergency template here.
Chica, did you have a chance to look at the suggestions I made on that thread?

http://www.hermitcrabassociation.com/ph ... 7&t=125146

[HermitCrabCHICA]

Yes I did and they were very helpful.

[HermitCrabCHICA]

Thank you for all of your help CurlySister and D.F.

[HermitCrabCHICA]

So do you think it would be okay if I didn't get a heat mat? I put a thermometer in there and it said 78 degrees Fahrenheit. I am getting a digital humidity gauge and thermometer soon.

[HermitCrabCHICA]

I just got the spray bottle and rolly Polly! My tank is very humid now! I named my rolly Polly Poseidon. so my tank is about 78 degrees F. according to my cheap thermometer. I hope it is correct. So do you think it would be fine to not get a heat mat?

[Lanaisaacs]

I’d still get a heat mat!! The crabs like is at least 80 I’ve heard, said they are more active in warmer temps. Also some of them can be set to where they don’t get to hot. I have two of the zoo med ones and I have them on the sides of my tank and you can’t insulate around them so I insulated the back or the tank and mine stays around 79.5-81 or so.

[CrabbyLover77]

I just got the spray bottle and rolly Polly! My tank is very humid now! I named my rolly Polly Poseidon. so my tank is about 78 degrees F. according to my cheap thermometer. I hope it is correct. So do you think it would be fine to not get a heat mat?

It's totally fine if you can't afford a heat mat at the moment and want to hold off. My tanks fluctuate between 76-80° with mats. 80°F is a nice number to shoot for, but it's not a necessity. Just make sure you grab a heat mat before you know the temps are going to drop in the Fall/Winter. I'd focus on grabbing a therm/hygrom and lid first if you have to watch your pennies.

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