Hermit crabs are not your usual household pets such as cats and dogs. They are nocturnal creatures and will rather be inactive during the day, which means it sleeps more and moves very little. And to check on them during the day it will require some little nudge to wake them up. Don’t rush on waking them up as this may cause stress and you might get an angry pinch from them!
Here are the two main reasons why you want to wake up your hermit crabs
- To check on the humidity levels and temperature of their home
- Cleaning their tank and bathing them as well
Now, let’s go through the steps!
Step 1
Carefully pick up your hermie by its shell (don’t shake them!) and then place your hermie in the palm of your hand. Once your hermie wakes up, it may pinch your hand out of self-defense. But don’t panic as you may drop and injure it. Just continue holding it until it gets comfortable and starts moving.
Step 2
Spray your hermie with a bottle of dechlorinated water. Doing this helps their gills moist and if you didn’t know yet, moist on their gills helps them with their breathing. Do this several times a day and ensure that humidity in the tank is enough as a certain level of humidity is required for pet hermit crabs.
Step 3
Check and ensure that certain levels of humidity and temperature are in place inside your hermit crab’s tank. Do note that hermit crabs’ home requires a temperature of 65-85 degrees fahrenheit or 18-29 degrees celsius and it should be high humidity. Not meeting this requirement for their homes will make your hermit crabs more susceptible to sickness and they will become inactive.
Step 4
This one is optional as this depends if your hermit crabs are dirty or not. If they are dirty, you may bathe them to wake them up. Just gently flip your hermie and dunk it on its water bowl. Be sure that the water is room temperature to avoid it getting stressed.