HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Hey y'all!
So, i finally got a 20 gallon long tank wednesday!! I bought a bag of play sand, added some flukers sand mix (has coconut fiber and other stuff mixed in) on the top, and did a double dish bubbler! I only put the bubbler into the fresh water bowl, should i add a second line to the salt water? I LOVE the bubbler in the tank, it looks great and adds the humidity i was missing!
I have two coconot huts for them, a 6 inch piece of cholla wood, and some rocks for them to climb on. I'd love to add a second layer but i want to do some research and build something with either a hammock, or a turtle basking set. It's wooden and the height can be adjusted, i found it on amazon by chance.
BOTH my crabs have swapped into new shells! I'm so excited, because i had them for a while before they were comfortable enough to swap. I added some new, bigger shells available for them if they want to swap again. I'm just waiting for them to molt now. I am assuming they haven't yet because i haven't had any old skin to clean out, and when they dig into the sand they only stay under for 5 days at most. Can they molt that fast?
I'm still having trouble finding food that they like. I mix it up, tonight they have watermelon. I've tried lettuce, ham, turkey, green beans, small piece of bread with peanut butter on it (i caught Rajah snacking on that one!!) but i can't seem to find one that they REALLY love, doesn't seem like they're really eating much at all. Any advice for that? Maybe i'm just over thinking because they're small and they're eating but not enough for me to tell?
Anyway, i'll try to figure out how to add pictures and show one of my new 20g. I am so thankful for y'all, i would never have gotten this far without yall!

So, i have plastic wrap on the top until my lid comes in to keep the humidity, and i want to add some color. it looks SO BORING! What y'all think?

Welcome! IMO it looks great so far, the crabs will love this!

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Congrats! Hope you have happy crabs.

It's so exciting setting up a new crabitat! One question. It looks like you have a shallow end. How deep is that sand?

Hermiesguardian wrote:It's so exciting setting up a new crabitat! One question. It looks like you have a shallow end. How deep is that sand?

The more shallow end is where the water bowls are, I used plastic bowls so it's about half the depth of the other side. Should I make it even across?

ciaraalston wrote:

Hermiesguardian wrote:It's so exciting setting up a new crabitat! One question. It looks like you have a shallow end. How deep is that sand?

The more shallow end is where the water bowls are, I used plastic bowls so it's about half the depth of the other side. Should I make it even across?

Yes. It should be minimum 6" across. Or 3 times the height of your largest crab. They can and will burrow under the pools. But since they're already in there digging down, you can only add an inch in a 24hr period. And don't pat it down.

Hi! Congrats on your tank! You can also use press n seal, or cut open ziploc bags and tape them to your lid

For color you can add fake plants. You can pick them up at the pet store or at a craft store. Just make sure that they aren't painted You want plastic or fabric.

Not sure where you live, but hermit crabs are also known as tree crabs. They also love to climb! You can use branches from wood listed on the safe list that have not been treated with pesticides or fertilizers.

Do you have a thermometer / hygrometer in there?

How big are your crabs? I swear when mine were small, I never saw them eating! The only reason I figured they must be eating is because they were still alive! LOL! Now that they are bigger, I can see a visible 'dent' in the food I put in there.

ciaraalston wrote: I'm just waiting for them to molt now. I am assuming they haven't yet because i haven't had any old skin to clean out, and when they dig into the sand they only stay under for 5 days at most. Can they molt that fast?

They will actually eat their shed exoskeleton after a moult, so you won't need to clean it up, though they may leave the big claw, as it's thicker than the rest. Also, they do all that underground (hopefully!).

A very (like, very) small crab might moult that quickly, but it's unlikely in crabs of the size that pet shops tend to stock. The shedding of the exo itself only takes a brief time - but then they have to harden, and eat the shed, and get back in good crabby form.... and thats what takes all that time.