10 Things to NEVER put in a Hermit Crab Tank!
There are 10 things to NEVER put in a hermit crab tank that will help to keep these fantastic little creatures safe, healthy and happy!
Did you know? It’s common for hermit crab pets to live longer than dogs. When their crabitat (hermit crab habitat) provides for their needs, it’s fairly common for them to live more than 20 years!
Hermit crabs are very resilient, easy-to-care for pets when their crabitat provides for their basic needs. Avoid these 10 things to never put in a hermit crab habitat and their little lives will be happier, healthier and much longer.
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1. NEVER add water directly from your faucet
Tap water contains lots of chemicals including chlorine, chloramine, ammonia, nitrates and more… which will damage and kill hermit crabs. If you’ve ever had a freshwater or saltwater aquarium with fish, it’s the same principal. You give them tap water, you find them floating soon after.
Tap water needs to be de-toxified. But the good news is that it’s easy! There are products like AmQuel Plus and Prime which easily and quickly remove the toxic chemicals in the water, leaving good quality water for drinking, bathing and misting.
Tip: dedicate an empty one gallon jug to keep a fresh supply of water available; fill it up and add 10 drops of AmQuel Plus (as per directions) or other similar product to the water. The smaller the water bowl, the more frequently you need to change water. Change water every day for smaller bowls, 1-3 times per week for larger bowls or as needed. See more on Hermit Crab Water and how to DETOXIFY to make it safe to drink and bathe in!
2. NEVER use a metal bowl for water
Hermit crabs are sensitive to metal. When metal and water combine, depending on the metal, it can cause a chemical reaction which is harmful (and possibly toxic). Because metal bowls are often made from a mix of metals, or the type of metal may not be know, it’s always best NOT to use any metal bowl for small pets.
Best water bowl materials for hermit crab water? Resin, plastic, acrylic or glass bowls specifically made for pets is the best solution. Look for reptile water bowls for deeper, larger bowls with easy in/out access. Hermit crabs love to submerge, but must be able to get in and out of the water easily. These resin bowls (below) are a great size and shape for small to medium hermit crab pets.
3. NEVER add "treated" leaves, flowers, plants
Pesticides are everywhere. Wash everything you put in your hermit crab habitat REALLY WELL! We want to provide our hermit crabs with a natural environment, which means giving them green foliage, wood climbing branches, fruits and vegetables. But all of these things can be contaminated with pesticides and other chemicals that are harmful and deadly.
Are they from a “treated” garden, yard, park, forest? Herbicides, pesticides, fertilizers, mosquito sprays etc can kill hermit crabs! The residue from these chemicals can be long-lasting, and a quick washing won’t remove all of it. Your hermit crab pets want to eat organic, natural, non-toxic foods and be surrounded by non-toxic, safe elements within their crabitat. Be VERY careful of all things you place into your hermit crab habitat.
4. NEVER feed salted, seasoned, sugary or processed foods
Hermit crabs are scavengers and will eat just about anything! But should they everything? NO! Feed your hermit crabs only healthy natural foods. Do YOU at healthy? When eating an apple, slice a tiny portion off for your hermies, they love fresh apple!
Making yourself a salad for lunch? Share the lettuce, spinach, carrot, microgreens and other goodness you put in the bowl! Cooking shrimp with vodka sauce for dinner? Keep one shrimp separated to feed to your hermies (they’ll love you even more!).
But don’t feed these foods to your hermit crab pets with salt, seasonings, sugar added. Provide foods that are fresh and natural, nothing added. If it’s a food that they’ll like but there’s some sauce or seasoning on it, wash it first.
Get all that added sauce or seasoning or salt and pepper off first. And stay away from processed foods. They aren’t good for you, they aren’t good for your hermies! Natural, organic foods and jam packed with essential nutrients, vitamins and minerals that are so good for us all!
What about microgreens for your hermit crab pets? They are SUPER EASY to grow yourself, on a sunny windowsill! And they are super healthy greens for your hermit crabs to snack on! Check out our post “Microgreens in a Hermit Crab Tank“.
5. NEVER use gravel as bottom substrate
Gravel comes with several different hermit crab pet starter kits, and it’s bad! Gravel, small rocks or pebbles are NOT suitable for hermit crab pets. Why? They need to dig, a lot. They dig to de-stress, as a fun activity, to hide and most importantly, they dig to molt.
Molting is a crucial part of their life cycle. Hermit crabs can’t successfully dig in gravel to molt. In pet stores, they are often kept in gravel so they can’t dig (disappear) and molt.
Bottom substrate should closely match their natural habitat of sand and sandy dirt. In a hermit crab tank, the best substrate is a combination of play sand (it’s nontoxic and safe) and coco-fiber.
If you want to get creative, add just sand to one section of the tank and a combo of sand and coco-fiber to another, and see where your hermit crabs like to tunnel and dig into the best! Mixing it up like this closely mimics the type of environment they live in, in the wild.
This common Hermit Crab Kit comes with a small bag of gravel. This is NOT good substrate for hermit crab pets!
6. NEVER add Sphagnum Peat Moss
Sphagnum PEAT Moss is NOT THE SAME AS Sphagnum Moss! Peat moss contains chemicals which are great for plant growth… but NOT SAFE FOR HERMIT CRABS.
Moss in hermit crab habitats IS GOOD! It helps to add humidity which is good, and hermit crabs love to tunnel underneath. It can also make a crabitat look great!
Tip: we use Galapagos Sheet Moss. It’s the only kind of moss we’ve used for many, many years. It is a beautiful green, and our hermit crabs love it.
Eventually they’ll dig through it and it does turn brown when it dries out BUT it lasts a long time, and a lot comes in each package. If you look at our Ikea Detolf Crabitat Hack and other photos of our crabitats on this site, you’ll only see this exact moss we buy from Amazon.
7. NEVER feed garlic or onion
Garlic and onion aren’t found in the natural habitats of hermit crabs. And they aren’t good for them.
Hermit crabs are scavengers and will eat most anything, but garlic and onion are two foods that should be avoided in a healthy crabitat. Stick to foods that provide the nutrition hermit crabs need.
Not sure what foods your hermit crabs need to eat? Or looking for ideas on what to feed them? Remember, they need a variety all the time… they get bored!
Check out our Hermit Crab Food Pyramid here <–
Let your hermit crabs help YOU eat healthier! They LOVE fresh fruit and vegetables like apples, mango, bananas. Buy extra for YOU! If YOU are eating fresh fruit or vegetables, cut a few tiny pieces off and give to your hermies!
Give them some of your salad BEFORE you put the dressing on. Feed them a little shrimp, fish or chicken before you add seasoning and salt. Just don’t give them onion or garlic.
8. NEVER use a deep water bowl without easy in/out access
Hermit crabs can drown! Very small baby hermit crabs are especially susceptible from drowning in deep water bowls. Use a water bowl with a graduated step in and out, or add a climbing element that leads from the water, up and out that small hermies can easily use to climb out.
Hermit crabs can stay under water for minutes, and they often like to! But if they are forced to stay underwater for too long…
Check out our recent post on Hermit Crab Water Dish Options plus an easy cheap natural-looking DIY ramp project.
9. NEVER feed mass-produced, commercial food pellets
There are a bunch of these commercial food pellets that say they are for hermit crab pets. Unfortunately most of these foods ARE NOT GOOD FOR hermit crab pets!
Hermit crabs are scavengers. They are EASY TO FEED. This brown pellet food is only ‘possibly’ good in an emergency IF your hermit crabs eat it. Most hermit crabs won’t eat this “food”.
If you eat healthy, feed your hermit crabs little bits of what YOU eat! Or if you’re looking for great hermit crab food, check out Etsy! There are hermit crab owners who make homemade hermit crab food that your hermies will LOVE (ours do!).
Which store-bought foods are good for your hermit crabs? See our review on : 5 Store-bought Hermit Crab Foods Compared and Reviewed
10. NEVER add other creatures to your crabitat!
Hermit crabs are social creatures and like friends. But make sure the friends are other hermit crabs! Don’t mix hermit crabs in with other pets because the parameters will be too different between both animal needs. And they will fight! Hermit crabs, in the wild, stay away from other types of creatures to remain safe.
Also, we highly suggest keeping only one species of hermit crab pets in a habitat UNLESS you are a very experienced hermit crab pet owner. The needs and parameters change between each hermit crab species.
It’s easier to keep a healthy crabitat when focused on meeting the needs and parameters of a specific species. There are differences in the needs between Purple Pinchers, Eccies, Ruggies, Strawberries and other types. What type of hermit crabs do you have?
Here’s more on Purple Pinchers (most common species of hermit crab pets in the U.S.)
Last update on 2024-05-07 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API