Recommended products for optimum land hermit crab care
Hermit crabs are advertised as cheap and easy to maintain, which is not necessarily true. To keep your hermit crabs happy and healthy, you will need to provide a lot more than food and water. The following is a list of the essential items your pet hermit crabs will need:
A glass tank is preferred over plastic tanks, which will scratch and will not be able to hold the humidity within the ventilated lids. A glass lid on a glass tank helps keep the temperature and humidity within hermit crab's habitat, allowing for a slight gap for airflow. This airflow of fresh air into the humid environment will help to cut down on mould and bacteria, which can cause illness and even death among hermit crabs, often detected by a musty or ammonia odor.
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Substrate is what we call the material that lines the bottom of the tank, and creates the 'beach' within your crabitat. The most popular substrates being: sanitised beach sand; silica dust-free play sand; fine river pebbles (such as Australian Pet Supplies or Estes NaturalStone); crushed coral; and other hermit crab-safe substrates suitable for your climate. You will need enough of a depth to cover your largest Land Hermit Crab; often twice the height is sufficient for them to bury.
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An Under Tank Heater or U.T.H. is a heat pad made especially for small animals and reptiles. Popular brands are: F.M.R. (US-only), Four Paws(U.S.); PetZone (Australia); ZooMed(UK/Aus and US versions). An U.T.H. is used to keep the hermit crabs warm by gently warming the glass floor of the tank, in turn warming the sand. You may need a thermostat to regulate the warmth of the sand at the glass level within your tank if the artificial heating temperature rises above 26oC or 75oF.
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You will need at least three dishes: a fresh water pool, ocean water pond, and a food dish.
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Your Land Hermit Crab has been used to a varied diet of foods and needs a mixture of 'meat and vegetable' type foods, such as the commercial pellet types, as well as staple dried foods that will not perish as quickly as the fresh foods they need on a regular basis. A sample diet may be a dish with ground Aussie Hermit Crabs Pellets, a sprinkling of Tropical Banquet, and a scallop shell with fresh food such as grapes, rice, fish or vegetables. Try to alternate the food types and offer small servings to avoid spoilage.
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Sea Sponges:
Natural Sea Sponges are added to the water dish to provide humidity and moisture within your tropical crabitat. Place one in your water dish to minimize spills and maximize humidity.
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A thermometer is used to observe the temperature inside the tank. Thermometers come in three main types: the adhesive fish tank style, based on a sticker that changes colour as the temperature at the glass raises; the circular reptile-type thermometers which are based on a coil which contracts or expands; a digital gauge which uses a probe and allows you to measure the temperature at more than one location.
A hygrometer is used to observe the humidity inside the tank. Just as with temperature, humidity is very important. If the humidity drops and the air is dry, your land hermit crab will have difficulty in breathing through their modified gills, which act as lungs when moistened and correctly functioning.
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Water Ager or Conditioners are very important if the quality of water is not suitable for use with fish in an aquarium. It is important to removes harmful substances from tap water such as chlorine and heavy metals, which can make hermit crabs ill.
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A brackish (between
fresh and sea water) solution is recommended for the "Ocean Water" pool within your tank. Philippe de Vosjoli recommends 5 tablespoons of synthetic
sea salt (such as Instant Ocean) per Gallon of dechlorinated
water. Iodised salt, or table salt, should never be used for the ocean water pond.
A bathing tub used to bathe your hermit crabs in. It needs to be deep enough so that the hermit crabs cannot climb out.
A mister bottle produces a fine mist of water, to moisten the hermit crab's gills You may know them as facial misters.
Stress Coat:
Aquarium Pharmaceuticals Stress Coat® with Aloe is a water conditioner with Aloe Vera and synthetic polymers which wnen added to water creates a slime coating similar to that which is present in hermit crabs in the wild. Well known for its restorative properties with fish, Stress Coat® with Aloe keeps the exoskeleton of land hermit crabs from drying out, and can help repair damaged tissues. You will only need one or two drops in the luke-warm bathing water, so one small bottle will last a long time.
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Water Glass. Marbles or Glass Pebbles:
Great to use in deeper water dishes to enable crabs the traction they need to get in and out, plus acts as a decoration.
Plastic Plants and Vines
There are many types of plastic or fabric plants and vines which can improve the look of your crabarium, as well as to add entertainment for the crabs as they climb over, hide under and travel amongst the greenery. It is a good idea to create some dark spots in the tank, but be careful that they can't climb out!
3. CHECKLIST OF CARE: Daily/Weekly/Monthly
Download this caresheet (PDF Format | Word Doc Format coming soon)
Copyright © Vanessa Pike-Russell
