Land hermit crabs are social animals that love to dig, scavenge and climb. The hermit crab supplies that are often sold as hermit crab kits generally come with cages that are too small and that don't provide enough items to keep hermit crab pets busy.
Hermit Crab Cages
The key to setting up a proper hermit crab cage is providing an environment that keeps the hermit crabs comfortable and free from stress. Hermit crab cages that are too small to contain everything that a hermit crabs needs and to provide some recreation room can cause this stress which can lead to illness. Ten-gallon tanks make perfect hermit crab cages because they have plenty of room for the things that hermit crabs like most- hermit crab sand, plenty of shells and more hermit crabs.
Hermit crab kits often come with small plastic one-gallon hermit crab cages. These are not large enough to provide hermit crab pets with enough shells to give them a choice of their new home or to dig and climb.
Hermit Crab Supplies
There are far more hermit crab supplies necessary to keep hermit crab pets happy than just food and water. They need several shells available to choose from in varying sizes and shapes. They also need something to allow them to climb. There are climbing toys that are sold along with other hermit crab supplies, or an owner can provide branches that are shaped correctly for the crab to climb them. If the branches are too steep, the crab may not be able to adequately hang on.
A sponge is used by many owners to distribute the water to the crabs. A sponge is easy for a crab of any size to reach and to drink from. Some owners use a water dish that is shallow enough for crabs to reach. With water dishes, however, it is possible for the crabs to become trapped in the dish and for small crabs to drown in their dish. Only natural sponges should be used, and they require regular washing to keep them from growing mildew.
Hermit crab pets love to hide. There are a number of hermit crab supplies that are made to cater to this basic activity. There are wood huts that crabs can easily crawl into and half logs that crabs can hide under.
Hermit Crab Sand
There are special bags of hermit crab sand that are marketed for hermit crab pets, but a special type of sand isn't needed. Hermit crab sand is really just clean sand that's a suitable, inexpensive material for the bottom of hermit crab cages. Any type of sand will be appropriate for hermit crab cages as long as it's clean. Sand for hermit crabs should be sifted and inspected for any debris before adding it to the bottom of a cage.
Hermit crab pets also love plenty of other hermit crabs. They are social animals who love each other's company and love sleeping snuggled up together. In the wild, hermit crabs travel with dozens of other crabs. Hermit crab pet owners may not have enough room to keep dozens of crabs, but it's a good idea to buy hermit crabs several at a time so that they each have company. This also ensures that the crabs have already been in the same cage together and they won't be exposed to possible illnesses. This can sometimes happen when new crabs from different sources are introduced into a cage together.
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