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Hermit crabs are incredibly easy to take care of, which is partly what makes them such excellent first pets. You don’t have to do much to keep them alive, but you can do simple things to greatly improve their living situation. One of the easiest ways to help enrich your crabs’ lives while sprucing up their environment is to put in plants. This does mean extra work in the long run, so it’s not for everyone, but it can be a great addition to any crab habitat and can provide your pets with several important benefits.
Read on to learn about the plants that are safe for hermit crabs, including the criteria that they must meet to be suitable for a crab habitat.
Live vs. Fake Plants
Before you purchase any plants for your crab enclosure, you should decide whether live or fake ones would be a better fit. Both are excellent choices, and you really can’t go wrong with either. However, they offer different benefits, so depending on what you want your crabs to get from the plants that you put in the enclosure, one will likely be more suitable than the other. Check out the pros and cons of each here, so you can determine which will be best for you and your crabs.
Live Plants
Pros
- Offer hiding places for your crab
- Provide nutrition as a food source
- Improve air quality in the tank
Cons
- Will be destroyed
- Require upkeep and maintenance
- Will need to be replaced
- Become expensive over time
Fake Plants
Pros
- Won’t get destroyed or eaten
- Never need replacing
- Keep costs low
- Can offer hiding places for your crabs
Cons
- Don’t provide nutrition for your crabs
- Won’t improve air quality in the enclosure
What to Look For in Live Plants
If you’ve decided that live plants are right for your crab enclosure, you’ll need to know what to look for in a suitable plant. Not every plant is a good fit. The one you pick must meet the following criteria.
- Vertical Growth: You want to find plants that grow up, not out. This way, they don’t start taking up more real estate in the enclosure, which is always at a premium.
- Lack of Thick Root Systems: Plants with thin root systems are better since your crabs can’t get tangled in them.
- Ability to Thrive Warm and Humid Environments: Many plants will die in the kind of warm and moist environment found in your crabs’ enclosure. Naturally, you’ll have to find some plants that can thrive in such conditions.
- Resilience: Crabs aren’t easy on the plants in their enclosure. Your plants will be getting torn up. They must be resilient enough to survive for several weeks, rather than starting to shrivel and die as soon as they start taking damage.
The 7 Best Plants for Hermit Crabs
1. Air Plants
If you’re looking for a beautiful plant that’s easy to care for, air plants fit the bill. They don’t even need to be planted! You can simply hang them on the sides of the tank, which should help them survive longer, since your crabs will have a harder time reaching them. All the care they require is a light misting with water on occasion, and they’ll continue to grow and thrive. The most common air plants include:
- Brachycaulos
- Bulbosa
- Capitata
- Ionantha rubra
2. Bromeliads
Bromeliads are quite similar to air plants, though they’re the far more colorful of the two. Like air plants, bromeliads don’t require soil to grow. You can attach them to a ledge or a piece of wood. Easy to care for and beautiful to behold, they are a great choice for any crab enclosure.
3. Loose-Leaf Lettuce
Lettuce is extremely easy to grow and offers plenty of nutrition for your crabs. Make sure to pick a loose-leaf variety rather than a tighter type like iceberg lettuce. You can even find loose-leaf lettuce in various colors from green to purple, making this plant a great way to bring some color to any crab tank.
4. Moss
Moss is one of the best choices for a crab tank. It has awesome benefits you won’t get with other plants. Crabs can burrow through moss, and since it holds moisture, it helps maintain humidity levels within the enclosure. It’s also full of vitamins for your crab to benefit from. Plus, you can get moss in a variety of colors for that dash of color and personality. Many different varieties of moss exist, but three of the best for hermit crabs are cushion moss, pillow moss, and Irish moss.
5. Pothos
Hermit crabs don’t like eating pothos plants, so if you opt to put one of these in your crab cage, it’ll probably last longer than other plants you might try. Golden pothos is the most common, enabling you to easily add a dash of yellow to the cage. However, pothos is avoided by hermit crabs because it’s not good for them. Your crabs are unlikely to eat this plant, but if they do, it could be bad news, so if you’re uncomfortable with that prospect, you might want to choose something different.
6. Spider Plants
You definitely don’t need to have a green thumb to grow spider plants. This hardy plant is beginner-friendly and won’t be affected by the heat and humidity in the enclosure. It’s also strong enough to handle crabs climbing up it and won’t fall apart right away. Your best course is to use spider plants that are already established, giving them enough time to adapt to their new environment before the crabs can destroy them.
7. Sprouts
While seeds are just starting to sprout, they’re called sports and can be eaten. They are packed with nutrition and easy to grow. All you have to do for most seeds is soak them and give them a day or two. Since you’re just making these planats from seeds, it’s simple to replace them when your crabs inevitably dig them out and eat them. Thankfully, sprouts contain plenty of vitamins and antioxidants that will help keep your crabs healthy.
Final Thoughts
Your hermit crabs don’t need plants, and if you want to avoid the hassles of keeping live plants, you can opt to go with fake plants instead. But if you do decide that live plants are a better fit for your crabs due to the nutrition that they offer or their ability to improve the air quality in your crabs’ enclosure, you’ll want to find ones that grow vertically and thrive in warm, humid environments, with thin root systems that are hardy and resilient. The plants listed here all meet these criteria, so you can’t go wrong with any of them!
Featured Image Credit: RhoihesseOnTour, Pixabay
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