Humidity is very important for hermit crabs. If a hermit crab lives in an environment that isn’t humid enough, it might wind up dying.
You need to maintain the right environmental conditions for hermit crabs. They aren’t hard to keep as pets, but you do need to understand what is necessary.
How can you keep a hermit crab’s tank humid? Are there many methods to choose from or should you only do things a specific way?
Below, you’ll learn about hermit crab habitats and humidity. You’ll gain a greater understanding of how to maintain humidity in the tank.
There are many things that you can do to increase humidity in a hermit crab habitat. Once you know what to do, it won’t be hard to keep things safe for your pet.
What is the Best Humidity Level for a Hermit Crab Tank?
To start, it’s good to learn about the best humidity settings for hermit crab habitats. A hermit crab needs to have the humidity stay between 70% and 80% to stay healthy.
If the humidity is outside of this range, it’s not good for the hermit crab. When the humidity is too low, it runs the risk of drying the hermit crab out.
You see, hermit crabs have modified gills that can breathe oxygen. They can only breathe properly when the gills remain moist, though.
Living in a humid environment is essential. If the environment is too dry, the hermit crabs will dry out and they won’t be able to breathe any longer.
So you can see why it’s important to keep the hermit crab’s tank humid. You need to do so or your pet will wind up dying.
Install a Hygrometer
You should consider installing a hygrometer in the tank as soon as possible. Hygrometers allow you to monitor the humidity levels in the tank.
When you have a reliable hygrometer, you can check the humidity levels in the tank at a glance. It’s wise to display this somewhere that’s easy to see.
You can check the humidity levels in the tank daily when you install one of these devices. If something is off, you can make changes to get the humidity levels up.
It’s never wise to go without a hygrometer when you’re caring for hermit crabs. You need to be able to know that things are safe for your pet.
Luckily, buying these handy humidity measuring tools won’t cost a lot of cash. They’re inexpensive, and you can purchase them at pet stores or online.
How to Increase Humidity in Hermit Crab Tanks
Measuring the humidity in the tank isn’t the same as increasing the humidity level. What can be done to increase the humidity in the habitat?
There are actually many things that you can do to accomplish this. Some of them might feel more practical than others.
Once you’ve read about all of the options, you can decide how to proceed. None of these methods are that hard to utilize, but some might seem more appealing to you since they’ll take less effort.
1 – Use a Humidifier
The easiest thing to do is to use a humidifier for the hermit crab tank. This is going to allow you to keep the environment very humid without having to do much yourself.
You can buy humidifiers that are specifically meant for small hermit crab habitats. They’re sold at pet stores, and you can also purchase what you need online.
Sometimes, these products are also sold as foggers. There is some difference between foggers and traditional humidifiers, but they serve the same purpose.
The idea is to increase the humidity in the tank using a fogger or humidifier. It’ll help you to maintain high humidity levels so the hermit crab will be safe.
These humidifiers are often used for hermit crabs as well as reptiles. If you want to have an easy experience, it’s highly recommended to buy one of these products.
2 – Enclose the Tank
Enclosing the tank will help to trap the moisture inside. It’ll make it easier to keep the environment humid.
Of course, you should keep your hermit crabs in an enclosed environment for safety purposes anyway. Hermit crabs can climb and might be able to climb out of some tanks if there isn’t a lid of some sort.
Hermit crabs should be kept in glass aquariums or terrariums. Try to trap as much moisture in the tank as you can.
It is worth noting that having some airflow is wise. When you don’t have good airflow, it’s easier to have issues with fungal or bacterial growth.
So a plastic or glass top for the hermit crab tank might not always be the best route to take. Thankfully, you have many other options for raising the humidity in the tank.
3 – Misting the Tank
Misting the tank regularly is a reliable way to raise the humidity level. This is a simple method that involves spraying water in the enclosure a few times per day.
The water needs to be safe for the hermit crabs. Using dechlorinated water is important because hermit crabs are very sensitive to chemicals.
When picking a spray bottle, you want to find one that creates a fine mist. A strong spray isn’t going to be as helpful.
You can mist the enclosure whenever you see that the humidity level is dropping close to 70% in the tank. Try to keep things closer to 80% and you should be fine.
4 – Keep Bowls of Water in the Enclosure
Keeping bowls of water in the enclosure will raise the humidity a bit. Hermit crabs need to have access to at least two shallow dishes of water.
One shallow dish should contain fresh water while the other should contain saltwater. The hermit crabs will use these dishes for many purposes.
Hermit crabs will generally drink the freshwater and they’ll bathe in the saltwater. They will keep some water in their shells to help keep their gills moist.
You need to keep shallow water dishes in the tank no matter what. Hermit crabs need access to water to live normally.
However, you need to be careful. Hermit crabs can drown, and you don’t want the water dishes to be too deep.
They need to be deep enough for the crab to submerge itself. The water dishes must be easy enough to get out of so that the crab won’t become trapped.
There are many different water dish options for hermit crabs. Buying water bowls at the pet store will allow you to find options that utilize ramps to help the hermit crab easily get out of the water.
You should replenish the water in the water dishes each day. It might be necessary to change the water out several times per day.
Always be careful to only use dechlorinated water. If you accidentally use tap water, you could wind up killing your pet.
It’s also worth noting that these bowls need to be cleaned every so often. Cleaning the bowls, as well as the rest of the tank, is an important part of protecting your pet hermit crab.
5 – Place a Moist Sponge in the Tank
Placing a moist sponge in the tank can help, too. This is a simple way to raise the humidity level in the habitat.
You need to buy natural sponges and not the types of sponges that you use to wash the dishes. Natural sponges should be available at local pet stores.
Hermit crabs might sometimes nibble the sponges. This is okay so long as you’re using natural sponges.
You soak the natural sponges in dechlorinated water. Then you place them in the tank to raise the humidity level.
The sponge slowly evaporates water into the air. It’s fine to put these anywhere that you’d like to inside of the hermit crab’s habitat.
Each day, you’ll need to replace the sponge with a clean one. It’ll dry out over time, and you’ll also likely need to clean the old sponge due to being exposed to hermit crab feces and food debris.
In some cases, you might need to replace the sponge twice per day. It just depends on how fast it dries out.
Sterilize the sponges by boiling them in water for fifteen minutes. Always use dechlorinated water to boil the sponges.
Squeeze the sponges to help them dry and then put them in a breathable container. They can stay there until you need to use them again.
For convenience, it’d be best to own seven or so of these natural sponges. They’re often sold in packs.
6 – Use Coconut Fiber as a Substrate Material
Another idea is to use a substrate material that retains moisture. This will keep the environment humid for the hermit crabs.
Most people use sand as the substrate material for hermit crab tanks. This is fine, but using coconut fiber is another choice that’s worth considering.
Coconut fiber holds moisture very well. You can mist it, and it will help to keep the tank very humid.
Whenever the substrate begins to dry out, you simply mist it with water. This is easy to do, and it’s a reliable way to keep the environment in the tank humid enough.
Some people create substrate mixtures that are a combination of coconut fiber and sand. It’s up to you how you want to approach things.
Just know that using coconut fiber is an option. It could make it easier to keep the hermit crab tank humid.
What’s the Easiest Thing to Do?
You’ve read about many different options for raising the humidity in hermit crab tanks. Getting this done isn’t tough, but it’s clear that some methods are easier than others.
It’s likely best to simply install a hygrometer and use a fogger or humidifier. This will allow you to keep the hermit crab tank humid without having to go to too much effort.
You’ll still want to keep an eye on the hygrometer to see how everything is going. This will ensure that you don’t miss issues with the humidifier malfunctioning or not keeping the tank quite humid enough.
It’s best to monitor your hermit crab tank no matter what. You want to pay attention to the crabs to see how they’re doing and to check for any problems in the tank.
Daily tank maintenance is a thing that you need to do, too. You should be doing some level of cleaning daily, and it’s necessary to refill water dishes every so often.
If you keep an eye on the tank, everything should go well. Whenever anything is off, you can make adjustments to get the humidity level where it needs to be.
Even when using a humidifier, it’s wise to use a tank that will help to retain moisture. A good glass tank or terrarium should do nicely.
Just use whatever methods are most appealing to you. This will allow you to make choices that make sense for your situation.
If you live in a very dry environment, you might have better luck using a humidifier. When you live in a naturally humid environment, it might not be too tough to raise the humidity where you need it to be using natural sponges and misting.
Final Thoughts
Knowing how to maintain the humidity levels in a hermit crab tank will help you. You don’t want your hermit crab to dry out and have problems breathing.
Monitoring the humidity in the tank is of the utmost importance. This is why you should go purchase a hygrometer for the tank as soon as possible.
Do your best to keep the humidity level between 70% and 80%. This will make it so everything is perfectly safe for your hermit crab.
When the humidity level dips close to 70%, you can utilize some of the methods above to raise the humidity level. You can mist the tank with dechlorinated water to raise the humidity level fast.
It’s also possible to soak natural sponges and put them in the tank. Either of these methods will be easy to do.
For many, simply buying a humidifier is going to be more appealing. It doesn’t take a lot of effort to install a fogger or humidifier in a hermit crab’s tank.
Decide what you want to do and then move forward. You’ll be able to have a good experience now that you understand what must be done.
Jeff has always enjoyed having pets, but as a child, he was drawn to his family’s fish tank. Being able to maintain a small ecosystem and observe the behaviors and interactions in the underwater world peaked his interest early on and has kept him hooked until this day. On Avid Aquarist, Jeff shares everything he’s learned about helping aquatic life survive and thrive in a home aquarium.