HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Hello, I want to share a short video showing the set up I have for 3 medium sized pps. The crabs belong to my daughter who lives in North Carolina while she is attending graduate school (Coastal Environmental Managment @ Duke Univ). She will be bringing her crabs to my house when she is home on school breaks and over the summer. So to keep her from having to move her tank, I have set up my own tank at my house, call it a vacation home for the crabbies. : ) Here I am asking for comments, questions, or concerns you may have. The crabs have only stayed 4 nights so far and will be back for christmas break for a few weeks. I need to know if this is going to provide for them, I have a few questions too which I will ask at the bottom here.

Check out the video tour on youtube... (not sure how to link it, but perhaps you can copy and paste the link below into your browser)

https://youtu.be/70_Dr0NCD2I

https://youtu.be/70_Dr0NCD2I

It is a 75 gallon tank (48x21x18), for which I do not have space for it to sit, so I turned it vertical and designed levels:

The bottom level has 10 inches of playsand mixed with ee, and hide cave, and cholla, branches, and fake greenery to climb up. I tried to leave this as empty as possible to provide plenty of space for diggers looking to molt.

The middle level offers a coco-fiber climbing wall that I have used as a carpet for the flooring. There is also a sunken salt pool made from a paint roller tray, I have pieces of slate and fake greenery to aid in climbing in and out, and a rock on the bottom to help hold the tubing for the stone air filter/bubbler. Again, there are branches and greenery to climb up to the top floor.

The top level is again covered with coco-fiber, and has a piece of slate for their food dish to rest on, and a sunken fresh water pool with greenery to climb in and out with and a rock on the bottom to hold the air filter/bubbler, and there is a raised moss pit along with greenery and fake orchid.

Temp stays about 80 degrees and humidity averages around 85%. I have a long UTH on the back side covered with aluminum foil to reflect in.

Q1: So my main concern/question is - Do you think they will understand and learn where things are, such as will they say, "Hey, I want to dig in the sand so I better climb down to the bottom!" or "Hey, I'm wanting a bath, I better go t0 that middle level and climb in the salt pool." or "I'm hungry, lets go to the top for a snack."

Q2: 2nd concern - nothing in the tank is permanently attached. So if/when the coco-fiber fails or needs replaced, I can do so. Have any of you any thoughts/concerns on my use of this as a flooring?

Q3: And will changing the water weekly (unless it gets really messy) be ok?

Q4: And will spraying the sand's top layer daily be enough to keep if from drying out. I suppose I need to keep misting it even when the crabs aren't home to use the tank, just to keep the sand moist enough like sandcastle consistency. ( I did use salt water the first time i mixed it all.)

Ok, it's a long post so I will leave it at that for now. Let me know if you can't access the youtube video i posted.

Thanks so much!!

Holly (Part-time hermit crab Grandma LOL)

Hi Holly, I’m trying to watch the videos but being told I need to sign in first. Can you make the videos public, please?

Should work now. Thx! I made it public, but you may also have to be signed in to HCA to use the link??

I typed a whole reply and it disappeared. Ugh. Lol. My biggest concern would be that there might not be enough room, even with 10", for them to spread out to molt. I don't know how deep they would go. Someone with more experience can comment on that. And yes, they would find the water/food. They have a good sense of smell. My other concern is how often they are being transported. Transporting stresses them out. And will they be dug up and transported while molting?

Edit: I was able to see the videos and omg! That is awesome! I would live there. Lol. And they look like they are really enjoying it.
Your other question was about keeping the substrate moist enough. Too much misting can lead to flooding. Gotbutterflies has alot of toppers. Look at hers under pictures. Ask her how she keeps everything humid enough.

That's a big concern too, I don't know what we will do if they decide to be in the process of molting while they are with her, I guess we will figure that out if it needs to be a concern then. definitely don't want to dig anybody up. but if a molt happens here with me, then they would just stay with me. Not ideal I know, but we are trying. I am also the keeper of her 3 African clawwed frogs that came home as tadpoles from her 3rd grade class, 15 years ago! Lol. They are also waiting on her to have her own permanent residence to go live with her. But she picked up these crabs while on vacation (again, not ideal) so we are committed to providing the best we can for them.

edit: and great! glad the video link is working!

Yep, don't want flooding. I decided against a false bottom. So, at least while the crabs aren't here with me, I can easily dig around and test the sand for moistness, and only mist if needed. I like the chopstick test!

Holly wrote: ↑

Sun Oct 13, 2019 1:23 pm

That's a big concern too, I don't know what we will do if they decide to be in the process of molting while they are with her, I guess we will figure that out if it needs to be a concern then. definitely don't want to dig anybody up. but if a molt happens here with me, then they would just stay with me. Not ideal I know, but we are trying. I am also the keeper of her 3 African clawwed frogs that came home as tadpoles from her 3rd grade class, 15 years ago! Lol. They are also waiting on her to have her own permanent residence to go live with her. But she picked up these crabs while on vacation (again, not ideal) so we are committed to providing the best we can for them.

edit: and great! glad the video link is working!

That's how I got mine too. My daughter went on vacation before college and came home with 2 crabs. In that awful little plastic container. We knew nothing. When she went to school she gave them away to a friend but the friend returned them. So of course mom has to take care of them. The problem is that they're addicting. I now have 8? in a 90gal. And 5? in a 40 breeder, which I will be upgrading soon to a 75. My dream is to have a 200+ to combine both colonies. And maybe add more.

Hermiesguardian wrote: ↑

Sun Oct 13, 2019 1:35 pm

That's how I got mine too. My daughter went on vacation before college and came home with 2 crabs. In that awful little plastic container. We knew nothing. When she went to school she gave them away to a friend but the friend returned them. So of course mom has to take care of them. The problem is that they're addicting. I now have 8? in a 90gal. And 5? in a 40 breeder, which I will be upgrading soon to a 75. My dream is to have a 200+ to combine both colonies. And maybe add more.

yes, they were an impulse buy, but she quickly got them set up right, they are in a 20g tank in her apartment at school with all the good stuff as is required. She loves them already, and I can see how they can be addicting, I really enjoyed the creativity from just making the crabitat here, and would almost get some of my own, but I will more than likely have hers often enough.

The travel hasn't seemed to stress them and they seemed happy and content to be back home in the 20g tank upon returning, and back to their usual antics. If anything, they were a little stressed to be here in a new tank, but they got out and explored at night, but mostly hung out in the moss pit during the day.

That video was amazing! I typed a post earlier and it magically didn't get posted I think the internet was having issues. It looks like you have done a wonderful job! I just watched the videos again and answered the question about plastic vs metal paint tray I had before. I was looking at that very aquarium recently and the only reason I didn't bring it home was because I didn't have a place to put it. When I saw you stand it vertical my mind was blown! I love how you set it up!

Holy Cow! I don't believe this is your first rodeo with crabs, you're setup is phenomenal! How did you close the front of the tank? is it sliding pieces of plexiglass?

Thx moe and maddamay, I read a lot on this forum before setting it up and really planned it out before starting. I wish I did have room to lay it horizontally but I just had no other option but to try vertical. I hope it works out to the liking of the crabs.

As for the plexiglas, I used a 1/4" thick piece on the bottom half and cut it to fit inside the lip of the tank. The pressure of the weight of the sand holds it in place. Then I used a thinner and lighter weight piece for the top half which I super-glued to a long hinge and attached to the outside. So it swings open and closed. There is a slight gap between the two just enough to allow my air tubing to pass through. Otherwise it seals up nicely and holds humidity in perfectly. So far so good at least.

Holly wrote:Hello, I want to share a short video showing the set up I have for 3 medium sized pps. The crabs belong to my daughter who lives in North Carolina while she is attending graduate school (Coastal Environmental Managment @ Duke Univ). She will be bringing her crabs to my house when she is home on school breaks and over the summer. So to keep her from having to move her tank, I have set up my own tank at my house, call it a vacation home for the crabbies. : ) Here I am asking for comments, questions, or concerns you may have. The crabs have only stayed 4 nights so far and will be back for christmas break for a few weeks. I need to know if this is going to provide for them, I have a few questions too which I will ask at the bottom here.

Check out the video tour on youtube... (not sure how to link it, but perhaps you can copy and paste the link below into your browser)

https://youtu.be/70_Dr0NCD2I

https://youtu.be/70_Dr0NCD2I

It is a 75 gallon tank (48x21x18), for which I do not have space for it to sit, so I turned it vertical and designed levels:

The bottom level has 10 inches of playsand mixed with ee, and hide cave, and cholla, branches, and fake greenery to climb up. I tried to leave this as empty as possible to provide plenty of space for diggers looking to molt.

The middle level offers a coco-fiber climbing wall that I have used as a carpet for the flooring. There is also a sunken salt pool made from a paint roller tray, I have pieces of slate and fake greenery to aid in climbing in and out, and a rock on the bottom to help hold the tubing for the stone air filter/bubbler. Again, there are branches and greenery to climb up to the top floor.

The top level is again covered with coco-fiber, and has a piece of slate for their food dish to rest on, and a sunken fresh water pool with greenery to climb in and out with and a rock on the bottom to hold the air filter/bubbler, and there is a raised moss pit along with greenery and fake orchid.

Temp stays about 80 degrees and humidity averages around 85%. I have a long UTH on the back side covered with aluminum foil to reflect in.

Q1: So my main concern/question is - Do you think they will understand and learn where things are, such as will they say, "Hey, I want to dig in the sand so I better climb down to the bottom!" or "Hey, I'm wanting a bath, I better go t0 that middle level and climb in the salt pool." or "I'm hungry, lets go to the top for a snack."

Q2: 2nd concern - nothing in the tank is permanently attached. So if/when the coco-fiber fails or needs replaced, I can do so. Have any of you any thoughts/concerns on my use of this as a flooring?

Q3: And will changing the water weekly (unless it gets really messy) be ok?

Q4: And will spraying the sand's top layer daily be enough to keep if from drying out. I suppose I need to keep misting it even when the crabs aren't home to use the tank, just to keep the sand moist enough like sandcastle consistency. ( I did use salt water the first time i mixed it all.)

Ok, it's a long post so I will leave it at that for now. Let me know if you can't access the youtube video i posted.

Thanks so much!!

Holly (Part-time hermit crab Grandma LOL)

Ok, so the question my hermit crabs are asking is, when can you adopt them so they can move into that palace???? LOL. Wow, you did such an awesome job! I can't imagine any crabby that wouldn't love it there.

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CrabbyLover77 wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 14, 2019 8:26 pm

Ok, so the question my hermit crabs are asking is, when can you adopt them so they can move into that palace???? LOL. Wow, you did such an awesome job! I can't imagine any crabby that wouldn't love it there.

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Haha! Thx crabbylover!

Holly wrote: Haha! Thx crabbylover!

You're welcome! I hope you post more videos of when your grand-crabs get to stay over hehe.

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