Hermit Crab Habitat Types of Water Features
Adding water features to your hermit crab habitat is an easy, inexpensive way to make water in your hermit crab habitat healthier, happier, and more attractive. It’s easy and inexpensive to add “moving water” to your hermit crab water dishes, bowls and pools.
Adding extra elements to your hermit crab’s water bowl will provide extra interest and stimulation for them. Hermit crabs are naturally attracted to water but can become bored!
In the wild, their life cycles are centered around the ocean’s edge and it’s constant ebb and flow along the shoreline.
The sun and moon, and their light, also has a profound impact on the life cycles of hermit crabs affecting their feeding and reproduction. For these reasons, hermit crabs will become stimulated and more active with bubbles and currents, plants and lighting in their water.
Hermit crab habitat types of water features can include:
- Air Bubblers
- Filters and Currents
- Plants, Landscaping Effects
- Lighting
By Fred (and Chris) | Updated 05/10/26
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Add an Inexpensive Mini Bubbler to the Water Bowls
Choose a mini or micro bubbler with air pump set. The bubbler goes into the water bowl, and it connects to the air pump by the airline tubing. The air pump will be OUTSIDE the hermit crab habitat so make sure you have a long enough airline tube connecting the bubbler (inside) to the air pump (outside).
The air pump (outside) plugs into an electrical outlet directly OR it make be a usb (so you’ll need to use a usb wall charger, like what you use to charge your phone).
You should have two water bowls, one for fresh water and one for salt (ocean) water. You don’t need to put a bubble in both if you don’t have the space – though you CAN buy an air pump that comes with either one or two bubblers… depending on how you want to set it up.
Air bubblers are inexpensive and very easy to set-up. A typical air bubbler set will include the air compressor, (very small gadget that makes air), airline tubing, an air stone and a plug.
The air pump sits outside of the hermit crab habitat, and plugs into an electrical outlet. Often these mini air pumps come with a usb plug (not electrical plug) so you need to use a usb charger/converter (like what you use to charge your cell phone).
Airline tubing connects the air pump to an air stone, which sits at the bottom of the water bowl inside the habitat. The air gets pushed from the pump outside, through the tubing, and into the air stone which creates tons of tiny bubbles.
The air stone is heavy and will sit at the bottom, and no matter how deep the water bowl is (minimum 1.25″ for best results), the air bubbles will rise up and create a really nice ‘moving water’ effect.
Air stones add oxygen to the water, which helps keep water healthy.
Hermit crabs are attracted to, and stimulated by moving water!
Add a Water Filter to Larger Water Pools
I’m testing the water filter and adjusting flow in a plastic food container first, before placing inside water pool.
Add Some (Aquarium-Safe) Landscaping!
If you have a larger habitat with a larger water pool, you can add a micro water filter to help keep water moving and clean.
Adding plants to your water bowls gives your hermit crabs extra interest. Choose aquarium safe short plants with weighted bottoms like these here on Amazon, so your hermit crabs will be less likely to knock them over (they WILL try!).
Hermit crabs will be curious about anything you add to their water bowls. Adding plants will not only make them curious but you’ll probably find these plants knocked over by morning because they’ve crawled all over them in the middle of the night!
We recommend using aquarium-safe plastic plants with weighted bottoms. They are inexpensive, and come in different sizes and colors. Buy a bunch and change them periodically for greater hermit crab stimulation!
Add a water filter for a water "pool"
Water bowls are typically no deeper than 2-3 inches. Water “pools” are generally deeper and more like a tidal pool in nature. With enough room to submerge and crawl around for short periods of time, a water pool is a great addition to any hermit crab habitat.
But changing water in a pool is a little more difficult and time-consuming, so it’s always a good idea to use a water filter. They’ll usually come with a sponge-like filter that will help remove larger debris, but isn’t meant to keep the water clean. We change the water in our water pool once a week.
Look for water filter that’s very small, has a sponge included to catch floating debris, and many come with different attachments so you can change the current and movement of water periodically.
The one we use (we found it for $12.99 on Amazon) can be placed horizontal or vertical and comes with several attachments for different types of water flow including fountain and bubbler types of attachments.
Add some lighting
Adding lighting to a water bowl or pool can add color and attractiveness.
We honestly have NO IDEA if hermit crabs are more attracted to water with lights added, but WE LIKE THE LIGHTS!
Lights can be as cheap and easy as using submersible waterproof battery-operated tealights. The downside is that they only last 1-2 days. Great if you’re having company or a party and want to show off your hermit crab habitat!
These lights come in white, blue and changing colors! (we have the changing colors… it changes between red, purple, blue, green and looks really cool at night). These lights are normally used for weddings and parties in water fountains and in flower vases.
You can also simply place a spotlight shining directly on the water, from above. Or put a light in the back of the habitat which creates soft backlighting.
