what all do I need for a hermit crab?

well first you need to buy more than one hermit crab ... in the wild they travel in large colonies and are quite social ... a solitary hermit crab will never live a full life ... it does take a bit of money to set up a proper crabitat but once set up they are cheap and easy to care for ...

- 10 gallon tank with solid lid (no cages, no bins, no critter keepers) would hold 3-4 small hermit crabs ...

- play sand and/or coconut fibre as the substrate ... the substrate should be at least 4 inches deep and always damp (no gravel, no coloured hermit crab sand, no calci-sand, and no wood chips) ...

- the tank requires an undertank heater to keep the tank at about 80 degrees always ... a heater is required (and no reptile bulbs as hermit crabs do not like bright light and reptile bulbs evaporate humidity which the hermit crabs need to breathe) ... if the temperature in the tank drops below 72 degrees the crabs can go dormant and even die ...

- two gauges are needed to measure the temperature and humidity in the tank - both should be around 80 ...

- the crabs need two pools of water made with fish supplies not hermit crab supplies ... one pool should be freshwater which needs to be dechlorinated and salt water which needs to be dechlorinated and made with salt for salt water aquariums ... no other type of salt can be used ... all species of land hermit crabs require access to both types of water ... the pools should be large enough they can get in and get water into their shells but not too deep that they could drown ...

- they need huts to hid in during the day (they are nocturnal), stuff to climb on like driftwood, choya wood, cork bark, netting and vines ... some fake plants (they would only kill real ones) are nice as a too open tank stresses them out ...

- they should be fed fresh food ... the mainstay of their diet should be meat/protein then veggies then fruit ... there is a huge list of what they can eat but avoid processed, salty, sugary or spicy people food ... http://www.hermitcrabworld.com/hermit-crab-food-di... ... commercial hermit crab food should be avoided if it contains copper sulfate and/or ethoxyquin ... they require a varied diet ... a study was done and hermit crabs in captivity provided the same food day after day eventually stopped eating ...

- a form of consumable calcium should be available ... crushed egg shells, cuttlebone, or crushed oyster shells are good for them ...

- and for every crab you have (always keep them in groups) there should be at least 3 spare shells per crab to avoid shell fights ...

http://i390.photobucket.com/albums/oo349/hoolagal/... - my favourite hermit crab

http://i390.photobucket.com/albums/oo349/hoolagal/... - three hermits all trying to squish into the moss pit :O)

You need a fairly big container for it. You need rabbit food, or cheerios for it to eat. A sponge full of water, a bowl for the sponge. Keep it out of the sun, it'll die, & keep away from water, they're not like normal crabs, they could die,( but they do drink water). Buy a second shell for it, so when it gets older it'll need a bigger shell. Clean the container every other month & let it out of the container to walk around from time to time. That's about all I can think of.

So do you wish to have names or support for the reason that you have no idea methods to deal with them? Well I can inform what to not do with them for starters don't get to mini extra shells for the reason that they're going to climb up in them and beautiful kill them self looking to get out adequate! so take it sluggish with them adequate that's all i will inform you! GOOD LUCK! -Anna Merine