Hermit Crab Care While on Vacation
Hermit Crab Care while on vacation is easy, as long as you create a good system. What are the elements that need extra planning?
- food
- water
- temperature/humidity
- safety
By Fred (and Chris) | Updated 04/27/26
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Don’t be afraid to go on vacation and leave your hermit crabs behind. Just have a good system in place!
Spray millet (bird snack seed) makes a GREAT snack food for hermit crabs too, especially great as a vacation food. Here’s the Spray Millet Treat we use seen in the photo, now on Amazon under $6.
Tips for FOOD AND NUTRITION while away on vacation
- Add a second food bowl… and put it on the other side of the crabitat. Why? If the first food bowl flips over, if the food molds, if it all gets eaten early… no matter what might possibly happen, a second bowl ensures there’s another food source JUST IN CASE.
- Leave DRY FOOD ONLY if you’ll be gone a while…. because any food that is fresh, moist or wet will rot and mold which cans spread quickly. These are the dry foods we use, below in the photos – and links to their Amazon product info.
- Leave some extra snack foods… dry snack foods like spray millet and chia seeds make great vacation snacks. See my post (and photos) on feeding spray millet to your hermit crabs (hint: they love the mundane picking activity PLUS they like eating the seeds)
Microgreens are a great way to add fresh growing organic veggies to your habitat and YES HERMIT CRABS LOVE THIS! Here’s a great 10-pack of different microgreen seeds on Amazon now under $10.
Tip: mix up a variety of microgreen seeds and grow them in a small shallow plastic cup on a sunny windowsill. Within 2-5 days they will be the perfect size to place inside the habitat.
Excellent healthy snack for your hermit crabs and a great backup snack food when you go on vacation.
These won’t last, so you may want to grow a few cup fulls. Your hermit crabs WILL destroy them within a couple of days. They’ll dig into the roots, take naps in the middle of the clump, and eat some when they’re hungry.
Most pellet food isn't food at all... test it way ahead of time
Most hermit crabs do NOT recognize dry pellet “food” as… food.
If you’re going to buy a dry food to leave for your hermit crabs while you’re away on vacation… test it way head of time to make sure they like it!
The most common pellet foods sold as hermit crab food will be rejected by most hermit crabs. Here’s my post comparing common store bought hermit crab foods, which shows ingredients and more.
There are way better dry food alternatives than these brown dense pellets.
Fresh, moist foods
Moist fresh food rots in just a couple of days. The above photo shows banana after a couple of days, and the rot which spread to coconut flakes in the same dish. Mold will begin to grow and spread quickly to everything it touches.
Don’t leave moist food in the habitat if you’re going on vacation!
It’s best to provide TWO different, separate dishes of food while on vacation. Use one for dry food, and one for fresh foods for nutrition like coconut, salad greens, etc. Avoid feeding moist foods like banana, strawberry and other fruits that rot quickly.
The dry food pellets in the above photo are NOT recommended! I tried feeding this very common brand to my hermit crabs and they didn’t recognize it as food. There are plenty of healthy REAL dried foods you can provide instead of these fake food hard brown pellets!
Also, no need to spend money buying a second food dish! Use a flat shell (pictured) or plastic bottle cap!
Tips for WATER while away on vacation
Add a second fresh water bowl. IF you have a saltwater bowl and have limited space, it’s FINE to temporarily use the saltwater bowl as a second fresh water bowl while you’re on vacation (depending on the type of hermit crabs you have).
Caribbean Purple Pincher hermit crabs are the most common in the U.S., and they are FINE for a few days without saltwater.
It’s most important they have CLEAN FRESH WATER at all times while you are away. If the water gets corroded by food or poop, they won’t drink it and they will dehydrate or they will drink it and get sick.
A second fresh water bowl helps mitigate the risk that the bowl flips over, the water gets dirty, evaporation, etc.
Note: this advice to temporarily use both water bowls as FRESH water is specific to Caribbean Purple Pincher hermit crabs – they can survive without saltwater (other types cannot).
Click for water bowl options from $2 to $27!
Tips for TEMPERATURE and HUMIDITY
- Your hermit crabs are used to a particular temperature and humidity. Try to keep the normal parameters the same. Don’t make any unnecessary changes to the lighting or heating lamps. See my post Do Hermit Crabs Need Heat for recommended thermometer/hygrometer and tips.
- Put lights and/or heat pad on a timer if they aren’t already, to avoid any overheating… and test, test, test days before to make sure your settings are working well.
- Add sheet moss for additional moisture and humidity. This is the sheet moss we use, under $17 on Amazon now. Soak sheet moss in water, and place it around your water bowls and other strategic locations.
- Don’t make changes to anything you don’t have to.
Here is the exact Fluker’s Hermit Headquarters All-In-One Hygrometer and Thermometer/hygrometer we use in our hermit crab habitats. Note: It comes with adhesive backing, but it doesn’t hold for long. Instead, I use double-sided clear acrylic removable tape, it’s on Amazon now for under $7. It’s strong, holds indefinitely and can be removed off the glass when you need to remove it. I also this tape for all kinds of uses around the house too, it comes in handy.
Test Your Vacation System Early!
Feed the vacation food, add the extra bowls, etc. starting the week before you leave for vacation. Why?
This gives you time to watch your hermit crabs and make sure they like the food, get in and out of the water bowls safely, watch for anything tipping over or causing possible injuries.
Watch them for a week before you go to make sure you mitigate any possible issues.
Watch the temperature and humidity especially if you live in a cold climate, and use timers or relocate the crabitat to a better location while gone.
Prep your habitat with everything the week before and watch the behaviors of your hermit crabs so you can anticipate any possible issues while you’re gone.
The good news? Hermit Crabs (especially purple pinchers) are FINE being left alone for a while and forgive you when you get back! Just plan ahead and have a smart system in place.
