Hi! New member here!

[elly_bananas]

Just joined a few days ago. Ive owned numerous crabs throughout maybe 15yrs, had a huge hiatus and suddenly decided to have the "easter bunny" bring a fairly nice set up for my 9yr old. Nothing too big, just a 10 gal to start the basics of learning to care for something other than himself. Im pleased to be a member and have already learned so much more than i thought i needed to. I do have a question in regards to heat. Ive got the sand lower on 1 side with the salt and fresh water dishes and coconut fiber substrate stacked maybe 5-6" high on the other sloping into the sand. My QUESTION IS THIS: do i keep a heat lamp between the 2 sides OR does it go over the sand? And if its over the sand, should i compensate with a pad on the substrate side to keep that warmer?

Thanks in advance for any information provided.

[LadyJinglyJones]

Welcome!!!
Always great to have a new member!


Personally, I'd just mix the fiber with the sand.

For heat, getting the longest heater you can that covers all the back wall above the substrate is pretty aces... I've read that lamps squelch humidity... and in my ten gal keeping humidity above 80% involved a lot more misting than was fun. The Beanfarm & Reptile Basics both sell Ultratherms, which come in long, skinny sizes, good for crab tanks. Also, they can be safely insulated. (I found my ultratherm worked better than a zoomed.)

My 2 cents.

[Hermias_mom]

Hi elly_bananas! Welcome to HCA!!!

I agree with what LadyJinglyJones says above. I had a few additional thoughts for you.

First, there's a lot of info in the Crabitat Conditions forum about heat lamps selection and use, undertank heaters (UTHs), etc, which might be helpful to you.

Second, crabs usually like a temperature gradient in their enclosure - personally, I wouldn't add the additional pad on the substrate side that you mention if you do decide to go that route.

I'll give you an example of what worked for me - I thought this might be helpful for you. However, I have a UTH, and no experience using heat lamps, so if that's the route you want to go, you may need to talk to a different crabber about that.

I live in Alabama, with humidity 40-50%+ usually, and temps around 70-73 indoors, at least in the summer. I have a 10 gal right now, with an Ultratherm UTH that I've insulated over to keep the heat in, and an insulated/mostly sealed up reptile mesh lid. My air temperature stays at 80-83F, and humidity at 80-88%. The sand is at 80F or slightly cooler. Substrate is 6" deep for my small/medium crabs across the enitre tank (playsand/coco-fiber mixed 5:1 and moistened to sandcastle consistency with marine saltwater) except where I've buried my nested tupperware pools in the sub. I mounted the Ultratherm undertank heater on the back of the tank above the level of the substrate to heat the air in the tank and I use a Zilla thermostat to make sure my temperature stays stable. The sand slopes down a bit maybe an inch before the UTH, so that the sand is not over the UTH. [With twelve inches of height on a 10 gallon (10 inches of exposed glass), and a 6" high ultratherm, I have to lower the height of the substrate roughly an inch right next to the wall the UTH is mounted on so the substrate does not get heated] I probably mist substrate maybe once a week (1-2 squirts of dechlorinated freshwater on the sub). I might mist the moss pit with one or two squirts 1-2 times a week after I change out the food. I change out the water in both water pools completely every other day and change out food daily. [I might need air stones/bubblers in my pools to keep humidity up in the crabitat once I upgrade to a 29 gal, but I don't think I need them yet. Each small/med crab needs a minimum of 5 gallons of space and recently I just had to rescue one more crab from the petstore, so my three crabs will soon enjoy a larger crabitat ]

Hope this is helpful! Best of luck and happy crabbing!!!

Just joined a few days ago. Ive owned numerous crabs throughout maybe 15yrs, had a huge hiatus and suddenly decided to have the "easter bunny" bring a fairly nice set up for my 9yr old. Nothing too big, just a 10 gal to start the basics of learning to care for something other than himself. Im pleased to be a member and have already learned so much more than i thought i needed to. I do have a question in regards to heat. Ive got the sand lower on 1 side with the salt and fresh water dishes and coconut fiber substrate stacked maybe 5-6" high on the other sloping into the sand. My QUESTION IS THIS: do i keep a heat lamp between the 2 sides OR does it go over the sand? And if its over the sand, should i compensate with a pad on the substrate side to keep that warmer?

Thanks in advance for any information provided.

[elly_bananas]

Thanks for the great answers and suggestions. I can keep an 80° temp, but cant seem to keep humidity beyond 60% (no crabs yet. Workimg out the kinks first). Dropped to 40% over sand, so this morning i put it over sub and it rose 15%. I think im on the right track. Ill have to check out the ultratherms. Never used those before, but previously i used UTH and found they werent adequate for me or the crabs. Which is why i went lamp. Ill keep tryimg tho

[GotButterflies]

Welcome to the HCA! www.reptilebasics.com or www.beanfarm.com for the UTHs

I prefer the substrate mixed together with dechlorinated marine saltwater (a little more ecoearth than the 5:1 ratio), and that holds the humidity well. Glass tops (no heat lamps), adding moss pits, bubblers in the pools - all great at boosting humidity

double dish bubbler pics by LJJs http://hermitcrabassociation.com/phpBB/ ... r#p1030806

[Hermias_mom]

Thanks for the great answers and suggestions. I can keep an 80° temp, but cant seem to keep humidity beyond 60% (no crabs yet. Workimg out the kinks first). Dropped to 40% over sand, so this morning i put it over sub and it rose 15%. I think im on the right track. Ill have to check out the ultratherms. Never used those before, but previously i used UTH and found they werent adequate for me or the crabs. Which is why i went lamp. Ill keep tryimg tho

So I've tried ZooMed UTHs, AllLivingThings UTHs, and Ultratherm UTHs, and the Ultratherm was the best hands down. If your previous UTH was one of these brands, I'm not at all surprised it didn't work for you.

Usage note: You can (and probably will need to) insulate over the Ultratherm UTH to keep the heat going into your tank, but this is pretty easy to do - I use Reflectix and 1/2" thick styrofoam covered in aluminum foil, but you can use cardboard and aluminum foil if you want (various ways to do it, most of them work fine). UTHs get mounted on the glass above the sub, with the goal of heating the air. I was really hesitant at first with the UTHs, but the Ultratherm really did fix my temp/humidity problems. Glass lids are great too for helping things be stable/hold heat and humidity. Lots of good threads exist about these topics.

Glad you're having some success! Best of luck!