Ikea Milsbo Hermit Crab Habitat Hack!
The Ikea Milsbo is a tall beautiful glass and metal piece of furniture that when hacked… makes an amazing hermit crab habitat wonderland!
The Ikea Milsbo is currently just $249, much less than glass enclosures far smaller for sale at the pet store. Hermit crabs are natural climbers and they love exploring. Give your beloved hermies lots of space to climb… up!
Why does the Ikea Milsbo make a great hermit crab habitat hack?
- beautiful tall piece of furniture for just $249
- add lighting & more! with just a few easy modifications
- space to create a gorgeous terrarium environment
The Ikea Milsbo is a tall glass display case currently selling for $249. The frame is metal, with glass on all four sides.
The metal is powder-coated which makes it relatively weather and rust-proof, though some extra precautions should be taken to ensure rust or corrosion doesn’t happen. See our assembly steps (below) for more information on that.
The only tool we used for this hack was an electric drill and a round hole drill bit to make holes for lighting and a water filter in the metal top and bottom.
It’s tall, so with some creativity you can add lots of levels which you can connect with climbing branches and (fake) rock, which simulates the environment they live in, in the wild.
We used lots of styrofoam and a few other supplies
Hermit crabs LOVE climbing, and this Ikea Milsbo allows hermit crabs to do what they love… climb UP! In the wild, they climb trees and branches, rock formations and even out onto steep cliffs high above the ocean! They are fearless and they love (and need) plenty of opportunity to explore and climb.
This hack took us a couple of months, because we took our time planning and creating the levels. We used dense styrofoam for most of the structures, plus we make fake rock caves and mountains. And we added two wood structures for fun (we’ve decided to add a 3rd wood structure on the top level, stay tuned!). We used plenty of lighting (top LED lighting, backlighting and a spotlight which can double as a heat lamp). See hermit crab habitat lighting ideas here.
And during the holidays we add a mini submersible pond fogger with lights, to light up the water pool on the bottom level. See our Halloween Haunted Habitat here!
We also added plenty of landscaping (we’ve got lots of hermit crab habitat landscaping tips here) and bright colors to provide stimulation and interest for our hermit crab pets.
Hermit crabs LOVE climbing, and this Ikea Milsbo allows hermit crabs to do what they love… climb UP! In the wild, they climb trees and branches, rock formations and even out onto steep cliffs high above the ocean! They are fearless and they love (and need) plenty of opportunity to explore and climb.
This hack took us a couple of months, because we took our time planning and creating the levels. We used dense styrofoam for most of the structures, plus we make fake rock caves and mountains. And we added two wood structures for fun (we’ve decided to add a 3rd wood structure on the top level, stay tuned!). We used plenty of lighting (top LED lighting, backlighting and a spotlight which can double as a heat lamp). See hermit crab habitat lighting ideas here.
And during the holidays we add a mini submersible pond fogger with lights, to light up the water pool on the bottom level. See our Halloween Haunted Habitat here!
We also added plenty of landscaping (we’ve got lots of hermit crab habitat landscaping tips here) and bright colors to provide stimulation and interest for our hermit crab pets.
We are adding photos, details and steps to each of the below button/pages daily, check back often to see what we did and how this Ikea Milsbo Hermit Crab Habitat Hack turns out! (see sneak peak photos down below!)
We hope this project inspires you to give your hermit crab pets more space to climb and explore and thrive for many years to come!
Update: we JUST finished (July 22nd!) and are now uploading posts and photos with ideas and step-by-step instructions. Check back often and watch for the “click!” captions at the bottom of buttons that shows a new post/instructions now up!
Update 2: we just added 2 of our hermit crabs to this new habitat. The two we moved were out in the open, so it was safe. We still have more that are buried, so we are leaving them with food and water and when we see them come out, we’ll move them.
How’d they do in their new habitat? It was AMAZING to watch and so much fun!!! Hermit crabs like anything new. They are natural explorers. So when you put them in a cool new environment they get excited! Within two hours, one of them changed shells… even though the same exact extra shells were in the old habitat for years! Within 4 hours (and when the lights went out) they immediately climbed UP to the top of the habitat and within 24 hours they’ve been in every cave, and climbed to every level. They were in our Ikea Detolf Hermit Crab Habitat Hack for about 5 years, so this new habitat move was apparently overdue!
Free stuff often found around the house that can be used for Hermit Crab Habitat Hacks!
There are lots of items you can find around your home for free, to help create a fantastic hermit crab habitat! Some ideas:
Styrofoam sheets, corners
Tree branches
Rocks
Bamboo skewers
Toothpicks
Artificial plant leaves
We always go through our shed and garage first, looking for any miscellaneous wood or unused pet supplies, rocks or shells from a trip to the beach or kayaking down the Suwannee River. When we go on these outdoor short trips, we always try to collect a nice piece of driftwood or a couple of cool rocks or shells that we might want to use for our hermit crabs at some point.
Then, think of the levels you want to add. Do you want to create shelves to sit elements like food/water bowls, plants, shells on? Do you want to add a mountain or branches or hanging coconut hideaways?
We try to collect dense pieces of styrofoam packing sheets when we get it, the strongest kind usually comes with furniture or breakables. Flat dense styrofoam sheets, corners, planks make GREAT bases for the structures and levels you want to build.
And ALWAYS make sure whatever materials you use are free from harmful toxic chemicals or toxins!!! Make sure to always use non-toxic glue, aquarium sealant (non-toxic, made safe for fish/water) and non-toxic sealers for any protection or waterproofing you do to the elements or structures you are building or using.
A word about Styrofoam:
Styrofoam sheets, planks and corners (most often found as packing material for furniture and breakable items) makes GREAT foundations for multi-level habitat elements and structures. Styrofoam is waterproof, incredibly easy to work with and super lightweight making it the ideal choice when compared to wood, cardboard or metal.
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Supplies we use, with average costs:
- $12-15 Great Stuff Pond & Stone foam
- $6 aquarium sealant (clear or black)
- $10-20 pre-mixed cement
- $5-10 cement dye (we’re using black for Milsbo, but used wine for Detolf)
- $8-25 cement sealer (we used wet look patio sealer, but you can also use Mod Podge etc)
- $10-20 coco fiber brick (see link below)
- $10 play sand from Home Depot
- $10-20 under cabinet puck lighting with timer
- $10 grow lights (if you want to add live plants or microgreens)
- $7-10 two inch grommett (to cover holes for lighting and wiring)
*chances are you’ll find some of this stuff (or good substitutes) in your garage, shed, or ask a handy family member or neighbor! You won’t need that much of most of these items, so “leftovers” others aren’t using might save you money! Can’t hurt to ask!
You may not need or want to use all of these items! These are the items we’ve used with good results, but try to find leftovers in your garage or your friend’s shed to save money! Everything we are using on this project, we’ve documented in detail. Read through the steps, see what we’ve done, and maybe you can figure out better solutions to what you want your habitat to look like!
We hope our projects inspire you to create bigger, better enclosures for your hermit crab pets to explore and climb. Hermit crabs LOVE VERTICAL SPACE and love climbing UP UP UP!!!
Sneak Peak photos! We’ll keep adding more so check back often to see how it turns out!
Last update on 2024-04-27 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API