Hermit Crab Poop!
Hermit crabs are fantastic little creatures but they DO poop! And often, they poop in their food and water dishes! That’s right, where they sit, they poop!
So the question becomes, do hermit crabs know NOT to drink and eat from these dishes they’ve pooped in? Nope! Poop or no poop, they WILL drink and bathe in the poop water, and eat from the food dish where there is poop.
It’s gross, for sure. And we love our little hermit crabs anyway. BUT this means cleaning often is key to a healthy, happy crabitat!
The good news is that hermit crab poop is dry and small. So it’s easy to wipe or wash away in dishes, sift out of sand and substrate, and dump out of hanging coconut hideaways. Because it’s dry (I’ve never seen hermit crab diarrhea, pretty sure it’s not a thing!) hermit crab habitats are pretty easy to keep clean.
Tips for keeping hermit crab habitats clean and free from too much hermit crab poop
Hermit crabs like to sit in spots, especially during the day, for long periods of time. You can often tell their favorite spots by the poop they leave behind!
With a little regular maintenance, the small problem of hermit crab poop that can affect water and food conditions especially, can be easily taken care of. Here are 7 tips to keeping things under control:
1. dump water, clean bowl and add new water daily in small and medium sized water dishes and bowls
2. for water pools, use a mini filter that sits on the bottom, moves water and filters through a biological filter material and siphon water from the bottom at least once a week (or more depending on the size)
3. dump old food and wash food dishes and bowls every day before feeding a new meal
4. use two food dishes, one for daily meals and one for dry treats (so if the main meal gets contaminated with too much poop there is an alternate food source ready)
5. regularly wipe off surfaces your hermit crabs like to sit and sleep on (they usually have favorite spots that will accumulate poop)
6. dump out hanging coconut hideaways periodically, poop will accumulate on the bottom
7. sift through substrate/sand or replace every few months as needed
Vacation Tip!
If you’re planning to be away for more than a day, remember HERMIT CRAB POOP contaminates water and food fast. Plan ahead and put in two food dishes and two fresh water sources. It’s more likely that they’ll pick one or the other to poop in and the other will stay clean for longer, or at least it won’t get as bad.
Also make sure to feed DRY foods when going on vacation (not wet). Why? Wet is much more likely to be easily contaminated by mixing with hermit crab poop, and also attracts mold spores and unwanted pests. Here’s my article on Hermit Crab Care While on Vacation here.
Conclusion
Hermit crab poop is easy to clean up, but it should be cleaned up often. A great way to make sure water dishes and food dishes remain clean is to dump the water and food daily, and replace with new fresh food and water. To keep flat surfaces clean, simply use a tiny bit of water on a paper towel and wipe the poop and debris away. Then use a sand sifter to sift through and lift out the poop and other debris.
While we love our fantastic little hermit crab pets, they do poop where they drink and eat. So we need to make sure they drink and eat healthy, fresh food and water to stay healthy and happy.