Hermit Crab Habitat Setup and Basic Needs
Hermit Crab Habitat setup should include: food, water, extra shells, substrate, stimulating elements like climbing branches and hideaways, and a warm climate/humidity.
Once the basics are provided for, setting up a healthy and happy crabitat is fun! Create a habitat that you enjoy as much as your hermit crab pets. Ideas include creating themes like beach, forest, fairy garden. Add small houses, signs, ladders and hanging coconut huts.
The basics are easy and inexpensive to set up.
Crabitat Basic Setup Diagram
Hermit Crab Habitat Minimum Size
The absolute minimum size for a hermit crab habitat is a 10 gallon tank. However, this is very small and should only be temporary for 1-2 small hermit crabs.
Once your hermit crabs grow bigger, they will need a larger Crabitat. For this reason, it’s smart to start off with a 20 gallon tank. General rule of thumb: the larger the crabitat, the healthier the crabitat!
*you may also need to provide a heat and/or humidity source, depending on the climate surrounding your hermit crab enclosure
8 Essential Elements of a Healthy Crabitat:
- 2 water dishes (fresh/salt)
- food dish
- extra shells
- substrate (4-8” deep)
- hiding spots (hideaways)
- climbing elements
- thermometer, humidity gauge
These 8 elements are necessary for any healthy hermit crab habitat. These are the essentials. However, once you set up your habitat with these 8 essentials, there are more things to add.
For instance, you’ll want to make your habitat look more natural by adding some sheet moss or driftwood for them to climb on. You’ll want to add some plants!
Here are some ideas for adding a more natural “landscaped” look to your hermit crab habitat setup.
Enclosures!
The absolute minimum size for one hermit crab is 10 gallons. They need space to move around, climb, explore and burrow.
NOTE: hermit crabs are social, they don’t like being alone! If you plan to get hermit crabs as pets, starting with 2-3 small hermit crabs is a good idea.
Start with a minimum 20 gallon tank or terrarium enclosure. Get more ideas on types of enclosures that work for hermit crabs here.
Water and Water Bowl Options
Land hermit crabs need water at all times. They will die if they don’t have water. They drink it, they bathe in it. They don’t swim in or breathe in water!
Most important things to know about hermit crab pets and water:
- all water must be de-toxified
- all hermit crabs must have fresh water at all times
- hermit crabs should also have a saltwater bowl (purple pinchers can survive without saltwater but for best health, provide both fresh and saltwater to ALL types of hermit crabs at all times)
- water bowls should be deep enough for hermit crabs to crawl into and submerge
- Kordon amquel plus 16oz
- Safe to use with other water conditioners and organic herbal fish medications
- Removes/detoxifies toxic
- Makes water safe for misting drinking and soaking while providing essential electrolytes
- Safely, rapidly, and efficiently removes toxic chlorine, Chloramine, and ammonia
- Misting is an important part of keeping hermit crabs, add hermit safe to water in a spray bottle for misting
- Package Dimensions: 1.62" L x 1.62" W x 4.88" H
- All-in-one water conditioner treats BOTH freshwater AND saltwater for hermit crab pools.
- Made in the USA
- One bottle will treat 960 gallons
- Our all in one balances pH, adds electrolytes, and helps with the molting process for crabs.
- Removes ammonia and helps prevent its accumulation
- Easy to use, simply add to drinking water
- Made in the USA
Also, it’s important to set up your habitat with smart water dish choices: dishes, bowls, pools, lagoons. They need to be deep enough for your hermies to submerge (at least 3/4 of their shell), and should have easy in and out access (built-in ramp, stairs or other easy access). Here’s our recent post on Water Dish Ideas.
Food!
Hermit crabs are nocturnal, and most prefer to eat at night. It’s a good idea to feed hermit crabs at night, around your dinner time. Most foods can be left for 24 hours, but some foods may need to be removed in the morning (ie raw seafood).
Provide at least one food dish (or use a flat shell!). Food can be a target for unwanted pests (ie ants), so it’s a good idea to place the food dish securely above the substrate level if possible.
Extra Shells!
Hermit crabs need extra shells in their crabitats at all times. Part of a hermit crab’s life cycle is burrowing, molting and growing a new (larger) exoskeleton.
When this happens, they need a larger shell to change into. As well, hermit crabs are stimulated by having extra shells to change into just because…! Sometimes they simply get bored and want to try on other shells to see how they fit!
They may be in a perfect fitting shell with the perfect weight and shape, but they try on others as well. Then, chances are they will change back into the perfect one. Extra shells are very important in a healthy crabitat.
Sand Substrate!
Hermit crabs need to dig and burrow as part of their life cycles. They do this for molting, to cool off or keep warm, to hide and also to de-stress.
Every crabitat needs to have an absolute minimum of 4 inches of substrate, if you are starting out with tiny hermit crabs and if space in the enclosure is very limited.
Most habitats with medium or larger hermit crabs will need substrate that is 6-8″ deep and as needed by your largest hermit crabs.
Every habitat is different: different dimensions, different number of hermit crabs, different amount of empty surface to start digging into! So watch your hermit crabs as they grow, and make sure they have deep enough substrate to comfortably stay away from other hermit crabs when molting.
Remember… other hermit crabs want to eat their exoskeleton when they shed during their molt, so it’s important for hermit crabs to burrow deep enough so others can’t detect exactly where they are! Here’s more information on hermit crab molting.
The best substrate for most crabitats is a mixture of sand and coco-fiber. This most closely matches the substrate they live in, in the wild. Generally speaking, a mix of 3 parts sand and 1 part coco-fiber is good. The habitat substrate shown below is a mix of sand and coco-fiber: we used Fluker’s Hermit Beach Sand which is already a mix both, and we added extra sand to the habitat in each corner of the habitat.
This also depends on how large (and heavy) the water bowls are (hermit crabs WILL tunnel underneath, and there is a risk of tunnel collapse as well as the normal humidity and moisture level is. In our crabitats, we use one part playsand (from Home Depot) plus one part coco-fiber (Zoo Med).
We also put an acrylic riser under the largest water bowl to avoid tunnel collapse. When you have larger hermit crabs (3″ and above), it’s important to have deep substrate.
- All-Natural Hermit Crab Sand
- Deep moist sand protects your crab during the molting process and prevents dehydration, which is vital for your crab's longevity
- Perfect blend of all-natural sand, coconut fiber, sea salt and probiotic
- Mimics the sand that land hermit crabs use in their natural environment
- No harmful dyes or colors
Hideaways, climbing branches, fun!
Every crabitat should have spaces where they can hide and rest (especially during the day). Dark corners, coconut huts, hanging coco-hideaways make great spots for hermit crabs to hide in.
Climbing branches are also very important. In the wild, hermit crabs climb! They spend lots of time in trees and bushes, and they love exploring. Driftwood, ladders, bridges, climbing branches are all great elements to add to crabitats.
This also depends on how large (and heavy) the water bowls are (hermit crabs WILL tunnel underneath, and there is a risk of tunnel collapse) as well as the normal humidity and moisture level is.
In our crabitats, we use one part playsand (from Home Depot) plus one part coco-fiber (Zoo Med). We also put an acrylic riser under the largest water bowl to avoid tunnel collapse.
When you have larger hermit crabs (3″ and above), it’s important to have deep substrate.
Temperature and Humidity Gauges!
In the wild, hermit crabs live in warmer climates. They are healthiest with a crabitat temperature range between 75 – 82 degrees F. When temperatures dip below or above, hermit crabs will burrow. Prolonged temperatures too cold or hot, the health of the hermit crabs will be jeopardized.
Humidity is even more important to hermit crab health than tempterature. In their natural habitat, it’s humid. And that humidity helps them breathe. In a crabitat, they need a healthy amount of humidity, within a range of 60-80 percent.
Remember, even in their natural habitat of an ocean-adjacent shoreline, temperatures do fluctuate from winter to summer. It’s normal if the temperature and humidity does not stay exact, every day all the time. A little fluctuation is fine. But it’s important to monitor levels, and easiest with a gauge. when there’s too much humidity, mildew and mold can grow. B018VQ71JC
–>More on adding heat and humidity (and when NOT to!)
—> Got Purple Pinchers? More on Heat and Humidity for them here!
TIP: most thermometer and humidity gauges come with adhesive to stick to glass, they won’t hold for long. We use double-sided Gorilla Tape Squares.
- Two Sided: Heavy Duty Double Sided Tape coated with adhesive on both sides for easy hanging; perfect as poster tape or for hanging heavy objects like mirrors
- Pre-cut Squares: double sided adhesive tape cut into convenient 1-inch squares to easily position & bond sections of objects to walls or other surfaces
- Strong Hold: 2 sided heavy duty tape holds up to 7 pounds, easily sticking to smooth & rough surfaces alike and functioning easily as ceiling or wall tape
- Permanent, Two Sided Tape Bonding: Adhesive mounting tape bonds to smooth or rough surfaces in just 60 seconds, including glass, plastic, metal, wood, & more
- Weatherproof: Industrial strength, heavy duty double sided tape for walls and other surfaces, permanently bonding objects to almost any indoor or outdoor surface
Haven't started yet? Here's 6 things to consider:
When planning to set up a crabitat, these six steps will help to incorporate the basic needs of your hermit crab pets. It will ALSO help if/when you want to upgrade the crabitat and expand in the future.
If you start with 2-3 small hermit crabs, it’s perfectly fine to start with a small crabitat. But as they grow, and/or as you want to add more hermit crabs, you’ll want to expand to a larger crabitat.
The type of enclosure, shape (tall vs. wide) and other considerations will lead you to a smarter, healthier crabitat setup.
The six elements to consider when planning a successful crabitat:
- Type of enclosure (see: Crabitat Types of Enclosures)
- Size and orientation (tall or wide)
- Health
- Attractiveness
- Fun and Stimulation
- Behaviors
Last update on 2024-04-27 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API