Do Hermit Crabs Need A Heat Lamp? (7 Cool Facts)

People prefer different choices of pets to own. Many of them like fur, some of them want to be feathered pets, and others may like to own an exotic pet like a hermit crab. If you want to own hermit crabs, you should take much care of them compared to other pets. It is because they are small and mostly live in the wild.

Do hermit crabs need a heat lamp? Yes, they need heat lamps because they are terrestrial animals. It means that they want a warm and humid environment. A heat lamp is a good instrument to make your hermit crab warm. But don’t overheat your hermie tank because it is also dangerous for them. You should maintain the optimum temperature. It will not create any problem.

In this article, we will discuss do hermit crabs need a heat lamp, how we can make hermit crabs warm without a heater, hermit crab heat lamp off at night, and many other things related to these. Let’s dive into the details of do hermit crabs need a heat lamp.

Do Hermit Crabs Need A Heat Lamp At Night?

Do hermit crabs need a heat lamp?  They don’t need specific lighting for the tank, and they need heat lamps in only situations when there is cold weather outside. As we know that they are terrestrial animals, they are not able to survive in extreme conditions.

What Do Hermit Crabs Need?

Hermit crabs need many things. First of all, they need a glass tank, and for two hermit crabs, you should have about five gallons. There must be four inches of substrate in it, and it is very important because they are adaptable to digging. You can use coconut fiber or sand as a substrate.

Other things are the hygrometer and thermometer. There must not be chlorinated water in the tank. Marine salt should be added to water. Hermit crab heat lamp wattage is an incandescent bulb that produces heat and light. You can use a fifty-watt bulb in twenty to forty gallons of the tank.

Hermit crab heater for the plastic tank can be used in such cases when the aquarium is made up of plastic. In this way, overheating is strictly prohibited.

Do Hermit Crabs Need A Heat Lamp At Night?

Do hermit crabs need a heat lamp?  The answer to this question depends upon the season and outside weather. If there is a very low temperature outside, you should use the heating lamp in the habitat of hermit crabs. If there is hot weather, then you may not use a heating lamp because there is no need for a heat lamp in the summer season.

Do You Need A Heat Lamp For Hermit Crabs?

Do hermit crabs need heat? If there is a temperature in the air less than seventy Fahrenheit, you should use the heating lamp for a hermit crab. It is now needed for hermie. Without a heater, they may get sick because they are not adaptable to maintain their body temperature constant when there is fluctuation in the external environment.

Do Hermit Crabs Need A Heat Lamp?

Do hermit crabs like heat lamps? Yes, they really like heat lamps, and they need a heating lamp in the winter months. In these months, you should buy the best hermit crab heater. It is because the air temperature is lower than twenty-one Celsius that it is not recommended temperature for a hermit crab. You can use the heater to make it at optimum level.

Can I Use A Heat Lamp For My Hermit Crab?

Yes, you can use a heat lamp for your hermit crabs. Do my hermit crabs need a heat lamp? Yes, they belong to cold-blooded animals. They don’t maintain a constant body temperature when there is cold weather outside. A Hermit crab heat pad can be used at the end of the tank to make the tank warm. You can use it for about twelve hours.

Can Hermit Crabs Live Without A Heat Lamp?

Do hermit crabs need a heat lamp? Yes, they need heat lamps, but they can live without heating lamps by adopting many techniques that are mentioned above. If there are more than twenty-one Celsius temperatures outside the tank, there is no need for a heater.

If you want to see them healthy, you should keep the tank temperature and humidity level at the optimum level.

How Do You Know If Hermit Crab Is Cold?

You can also know by noticing the sign of cold in hermit crabs in this way; you will be able to use a heater or any other precautionary measure to save them from cold.

• Color fading and their color changes into a gray
• Hiding in shells
• Continuous burrowing in the substrate
• Lethargy

How To Keep Hermit Crabs Warm Without A Heater?

You can also make them warm without using the heater. Many techniques are worth considering if you want to keep a tank of hermit crab warm. Following are the ways that are worth considering if you want to keep them warm without using the heater.

Move Crab to Warm Spots

You can move hermie to the warm place of the tank. This thing can be used when there is non-availability of the heater. You can make them warm by moving the crab to warmer places. If there is any warm place in your home, you can shift the crab to that place.

Humans mostly need and keep the temperature of seventy degrees Fahrenheit in homes or places they live. Hermit crabs also need approximately this temperature. That is why you can keep them in such a room that has a temperature of about seventy degrees Fahrenheit.

You can move their habitat into a living room with optimum temperature. This practice should be done when there is no heater or extreme weather conditions outside. In this way, your hermit crab can stay safe.

You can manage the temperature of a certain room or tank with the help of a thermometer. It is used to measure the temperature.

Adding More Substrates To Tank

Another thing that can be helpful for you in winter conditions is that you can add more substrate to the tank; it will also make them warm. That is why the vet recommended that four inches of the substrate be recommended in a tank if you want to own hermit crabs. When you add more than 4 inches, then it will be helpful for you to make the inside warm and cozy.

Adding more substrate results in the holding of more moisture that provides a place to hermit crab when they burrow it. When they feel cold, they start burrowing the substrate and then hide in it. It is a practice that makes them healthy and fit.

If there is a very cold temperature in the tank, then burrowing is not proper. If there is no heating system in your home and there is very cold weather outside, this can be dangerous for you and your hermit crab. Cold weather makes them sick and vulnerable to getting different diseases.

Insulate Tank With Towel

Insulation is the best method to make something warm or safe from outside weather. Although there is the presence of an exoskeleton on the body of hermie, they may get cold in the winter months. You can use many insulating things to make the tank interior warm.

Some owners insulate the tank with the help of a towel. They wrap towels so that there will be no heat entrance in the tank. When you wrap two to three towels outside the enclosure, it results in the warming of the tank, and you can save them from cold.

While wrapping something around the tank, there must be one hole in the towel or cloth. It is because it is the source of fresh air needed for hermit crabs. When there are holes, then air comes into the tank. As you cover up the whole tank, it results in a rise in temperature inside the tank. It is the best way to keep the interior warm when there is no heater for heating.

Make Habitat Humid

Making the enclosure humid is also effective in raising the temperature when there is a winter season. If you are not a new pet parent of hermit crabs, you must know that humidity level is very important. You should set the humidity level at seventy to eighty percent.

It is possible that you can add humidity in the habitat of a hermit crab to make them warm. You can use a humidifier for adding humidity, and it is one of the easiest ways to add humidity. You can check and maintain the humidity with the help of a hygrometer. It is an instrument that tells us the humidity level of a certain space.

This instrument is a great thing in the winter season. When there is very dryness in-room or tank, you can minimize dryness with the help of this gadget. If there is no humidifier, then another method is warm water. You can spray warm water on hermit crab habitat. It will also provide humidity.

Do Hermit Crabs Need A Light On At Night?

Hermie is not accustomed to artificial light and lamps. Too much lighting is not good for them. It will be problematic because it can cause stress. There should be a balance between darkness and light in the tank of hermit crabs.

There should be twelve hours of light and dark cycle for hermit crabs. In the wild, they have the same cycle. In captivity, you should provide them with this. It would be best if you did not leave the lamp on for the whole night in the enclosure. You can place the hermit crab habitat in the window to get light naturally with their wish.

The light source in an enclosure is harmful. You should know how many hours they require to light per day. It is best to give them natural light instead of any artificial lighting system. It can cause stress in hermie and make them chirp sometimes. If you live in such an area where there is much sunlight and other external light sources, you should manage light for hermie because it is stressful for them.

Are Heat Lamps Bad For Hermit Crabs?

Do hermit crabs need a heat lamp?  It is not bad if you know how to set up a heat lamp in a hermit crab tank. A heat lamp is an effective thing to make the habitat warm, but if you don’t know how to use a heat lamp, then it can be problematic for hermit crabs. It would help if you used that heat lamp that is of low power.

You can use a forty-watt bulb for heating the tank of hermie. Do hermit crabs need a heat lamp?  You should set the heating lamp at the roof of the tank. In this way, there is fair heat distribution all over the tank. Leaving heat lamps on for a long duration is not good for them because it overheats the tank.

You should maintain the temperature at 21 Celsius. The temperature of the tank should not be exceeded more than thirty-two Celsius. It can be problematic for hermit crabs. A humidifier can also make the inside of the tank warm. But if there is no humidifier, you can spray warm water on the enclosure of hermit crabs. This also makes the tank warm. You can save them from the cold in this way.

A thermometer and a hygrometer are important instruments for checking temperature and humidity, respectively.

Final Verdict On Do Hermit Crabs Need A Heat Lamp

They need a heating lamp when there is cold weather outside. The optimum temperature for the tank is 21 Celsius. If the temperature is less than this, you can use a heat lamp to make the habitat warm. Adding substrate and humidity is also helpful in rising temperatures.

As a pet lover, make sure to learn about pet more and give your pet hermit crab a good and comfortable life!

Rajkumar Ravichandran

Welcome to Learn About Pet. My name is Rajkumar Ravichandran and I love all pets, travel, and amazing food. I write about my passion and personal experience caring for multiple pets in this blog! ❤️