With a Hermit Crab a little food can go a long way. You should place a few different foods (such as Crabworx Hermit Crab Pellets, and supplement with vegetables and fruit as a treat) in your crab's food dish as they prefer a varied diet. Everyday you must be sure that you remove any uneaten food from your crab's food dish and enclosure. Leftover food can spoil quickly in your crab's home. Clean the food dish and refill it. Don't overfill the dish as Hermit Crabs eat very slowly and in small amounts. Hermit Crabs are very social animals and like to interact with each other. When setting up your crab's home you should try and give them as much space as possible since Hermit Crabs can suffer from stress if kept in a space that is too small. A good idea to keep in mind when setting up your crabʼs home is to try and keep crabs that are about the same size. This will help stop the larger crabs from picking on the smaller ones. Your crabʼs home should have a lid or cover since Hermit Crabs can be escape artists. Be sure that your cover has ventilation holes. A good starter home is the Crabworx Fun-Arium. However it is advisable to move them into a larger enclosure such as an Exo Terra Glass Terrarium when they get bigger. Your Hermit Crab is a climber by nature. It is very important to provide your crab with climbing material in order to keep him healthy and fit.
Your crabʼs home should incorporate a substrate (such as Crabworx Extra Fine Gravel). Be sure that you keep the substrate fairly deep, as Hermit Crabs like to bury themselves. In one section of your crab's home the substrate should be at least 3 inches deep. Remember - crabs like high humidity, but the substrate should be dry. It is important not to over-mist the substrate (i.e.: there should be no standing water on it). Another important thing to include in your crabʼs home are hiding spaces. Hiding spots like the Crabworx Cocohut or Crabworx Hotel will provide your crab with a safe area where he can go to have some peace and quiet. Your crab's water and food dishes should be shallow enough so that he can access them easily. It is recommended to keep one food dish (such as the Crabworx Diner or the Crabworx Feeding Dish) and two water dishes (such as the Crabworx Drinking Pool or the Crabworx Water Dish) in the cooler side of your crab's home. As your crab grows he will need to change shells. Keep a variety of shells in your crab's home that are slightly larger than the one he currently carries. Be sure that your crab will
be able to get most of his body into the shell (shells with a round opening are preferable) as this will help him feel more secure. Tip: the entrance to the shell needs to be bigger than your crab's biggest claw. It is very important to keep the humidity level in your crab's home high. By misting your crab's home once a day you should be able to keep the humidity level at about 70% throughout the course of the day. Use a humidity reading instrument (such as the Crabworx Hygrometer) to monitor the humidity level in your crabʼs home. Your crab's home should also contain two drinking dishes with sponges (i.e.: Crabworx Drinking Sponges) at all times. Hermit Crabs prefer drinking their water from a sponge. The sponge will also help provide humidity to your crabʼs home. Make tap water safe for your Hermit Crab by treating it with Crabworx Water Conditioner. Hermit Crabs come from a warm, tropical climate. It is important that you re-create that type of environment in your crab's home. You should keep his home between 25.5 o C (78 o F) and 28 o C (83 o F). Your crabʼs home should have one end that is a warm area, in the high 20s (low 80s), while the other end is kept at a slightly cooler temperature, in the mid 20s (high 70s).
We hope that the information in this leaflet will help get you off to a good start with your Hermit Crabs. However, it is impossible to cover all the potential questions that might arise in this one leaflet. Talk with your pet store specialist whenever necessary. Don't hesitate to take advantage of the many interesting books available on the subject of keeping Hermit Crabs. With the proper Crabworx set-up you too can have healthy, active and playful Hermit Crabs!