How to build up your perfect tank

Hermit crabs are naturally climbers, and nibblers. They love to climb all over anything and everything left in the tank. They also enjoy chewing on those things.

Top products to use in your tank for climbing are:

- Cholla wood

- Coconut huts

- Fake plants (No metal)

- Sand blasted grapevine
-Driftwood
-Coral (provides calcium), barnacle, and sea fans
-man made (hermit huts)
-Half logs
-Unpainted flower clay pots

Humidity is also huge! If the humidity is to low then it is harder for your pets to breath! Humidity should be around 75% in the tank and temperature should be around 70 degrees Fahrenheit. To keep humidity stable (which is harder with glass lids). First you must have an analog or digital hygrometer, which you will check often to make sure the humidity is at a good level for your tank. You can put in a humidifier (Which is pricey) or you can make your own. For the heat, you should also have an analog or digital thermometer. You can use heat pads which can be farely cheaply purchased from pet smart or other popular pet stores. Heat lamps are another option but they tend to lower the humidity. 

Fresh food should be replaced daily, and dry processed food should be checked on daily as well. You can feed hermit crabs quite a bit. Food dishes should be washed weekly, and so should the water dishes. Water dishes shouldn't be to deep or smaller crabs may drown, so make sure that you have so type of sponge or grip in the dish to prevent it. You also have to make sure the water is dechlorinated ( which means the chlorine has been removed from the water). You can buy dechlorinaters from almost all pet stores. Your crabs should also have a water dish full of salt water. You can buy marine salt from petstores, and online from the hermitcrabpatch.com. 

Here is a list of favored foods:

Bloodworms (freeze-dried) 
Blueberries 
Chicken bone marrow 
Coconut 
Cuttlebone 
Earthworm castings 
Krill (frozen & thawed or freeze-dried) 
Mango 
Millet 
Oak leaves 
Papaya 
Peanut butter (organic) 
Persimmon 
Pineapple 
Popcorn (no butter or salt) 
Rolled oats 
Shrimp (whole) 
Wheat germ 

I personally prefer to buy many of the foods from the website : The hermitcrabpatch.com

One of my favorite sites : The hermit crab association also has many lists on types of foods they like, and a post in the food forum about favorite recipies. Also there are hundreds of amazing members to answer your crabby questions.


For substrate you can use:
-sand
-a mix of sand and coconut fibre or eco earth
-coco fibre
-eco earth


A tank requires upkeep. If you realize the crabs have chewed up their climbers or broken a toy, then it is best to replace it. Also tanks require a deep clean minimum every 6 mnths, however make sure you aren't cleaning through a molting crab. A deep clean means:
-cleaning all of the food, and water dishes
-make sure that everything is in good repair
-Either dumping the substrate and replacing it
- washing off the walls, and floor of the tank
-soaking then microwaving sponges


You should also spot clean minimum once a week. You can use a plastic spoon to scoop up crab poop, bits of exo skeleton, and