Are Hermit Crabs Nocturnal? – (All You Must Know About This)
Hermit crabs are included in the list of some of the most awesome animals. These are not so big crabs and have a size range between 0.4 to 40 inches only.
Most hermit crabs are nocturnal and they become much active during the night time. This is their type of adaptation that had made them become more active at night to hunt, mate, or avoid heat and predators.
It is very important to note that hermit crabs are very much nocturnal and they won’t move around much during the day unless they’re being distracted by predators or watered.
In general, the pet species of hermit crabs range between 0.4 to 4 inches, with a few species averaging a size of about 11 inches only.
Over the years of evolution, they have learned and adapted themselves to occupy empty scavenged mollusc shells of snails, etc. to protect their fragile exoskeletons.
Hermit crabs are unique because they find and use a shell from another creature around with them, and the shell protects their soft abdomen and holds and regulates moisture within it.
DO YOU KNOW: The shell-less hermit crab Coconut crab (Birgus latro) is the world’s largest hermit crab or terrestrial invertebrate.
So, are all hermit crabs nocturnal?
Not all hermit crabs are nocturnal. Mostly the land hermit crabs are nocturnal while a few species of the marine hermit crabs are diurnal.
The land hermit crabs are mostly active at night time as this is the time when the temperature on land is low. And so, they are usually dormant during the hottest hours of the day.
These crabs are known to hide under the rocks and mostly inside the mollusc shells till sunset. This helps them to get rid of the day heat as they have a very fragile exoskeleton.
And moreover, their abdomen is also very soft and covered with very thin flaps of the skin thus, it is an important need for the hermit crab to defend themselves from excess dehydration by staying in shade.
So, over time they have learned themselves to be nocturnal and so become most active at night.
Diurnal behavior is seen only in a few species of the aquatic hermit crab species. These hermit crabs strictly live in varying depths of saltwater from shallow reefs and shorelines to deep-sea bottoms, and they rarely leave for land.
Both aquatic and terrestrial hermit crabs are quite similar in appearance. Also, they are both nocturnal, which helps them avoid their predators.
Do hermit crabs need a light on at night?
For your information, hermit crabs don’t require any light to be on at night. They are completely nocturnal and are able to see clearly at night time.
They don’t require any type of external light to heat the tank where you have kept them as pets. Nor, do they require light in order to thrive.
Just make sure that regular sunlight falls on the tank as long as the room is naturally lit during the day. And, also remember to keep the tank and its nearby region dark at night.
So, in simple words, you don’t need to keep any lights on. The lighting suggestions are just options for you to view the tank and see how they lead their nocturnal life.
It’s always suggested that you don’t lit a heat lamp for them if the tank is placed in a room where it gets adequate daylight.
Also, do make sure that no direct sunlight falls on the tank to keep the crabs safe and living.
Or, in daylight, you can use low watt fluorescent light, CFL (Compact Florescent), or White LED for viewing purposes. And in daylight to provide a little beat of heat, you can also use very low watt Incandescent white-light bulbs or UVB CFL with the heating elements.
For nighttime viewing, you can on any blue or red LED light only strictly for a small timing to view the crabs. And in the night, for viewing and heating purposes you can also use any incandescent infrared or red reptile bulb.
If you are following the above conditions then you are just ok.
Next, you can normally place the crab and its shell in a clean, soap-free glass, bowl, or tank that is just large enough to contain crabs and shells.
In such close proximity, the crab will probably re-enter its shell. If not, give it a slightly larger shell.
Do hermit crabs sleep during the day?
Yes, it’s true that they really get inactive and sleep during the daytime. And so, you will often find them tucked inside an empty shell for protection.
They also carry that shell with them wherever they go.
They are primarily nocturnal creatures and they sleep at daytime until disturbed by any external means like predators, or water waves, etc. Meaning that in the wild they sleep during the day and are highly active at night.
This sleeping or inactive activity of the hermit carbs allows them to escape the drying heat of the sun, as well as predators, as well as from getting rid of dehydration.
After various research and all, it is very much clear that they sleep all day and are more active in the evening and overnight which is from sunset to the next sunrise.
They are just the opposite of ours! It is seen that hermit crabs need at least 8-12 hours of daytime to sleep, and about 8-12 hours of the night time for feeding, breeding, going to the water, etc.
Now, this diurnal inactive timing versus the active nocturnal timing varies amongst the various species of hermit crabs based on their geographical location ad day-night situation.
They must have distinct day and night periods in their enclosure to maintain their biological rhythms. It has also been reported that they do awake and stay less active during the day while taking naps.
Can hermit crabs see in the dark?
Yes, hermit crabs can see at night. They do use their two compound eyes that are placed on the two eye-stalks that seem to be growing out on top of their head.
Each of the compound eyes has thousands of light-sensitive facets called ommatidia on each of their eye-stalk. This allows the crab to have a surrounding vision of around 360°.
Ommatidium (plural: Ommatidia) is each of the optical units that make up a complete compound eye of the crab.
Each ommatidium consists of a cornea acting as a lens with a transparent crystalline cone beneath through which rays converge to an image at the tip of a receptive structure, known as the rhabdom. The rhabdom connects with various microvilli that detect light and helps to visualize things.
And so, due to the presence of thousands of ommatidia, even a small portion of light can enter inside the eyes very easily thus allowing them to have the clearest vision in the darkest places at night.
They are so sensitive to extremely low light that even at nighttime they can clearly detect the altitude and the slightest movement of the sun and the moon for their movement and locomotion.
Thus, it is very clear that nocturnal hermit crabs possess superpositioned compound eyes and as such their eye design is truly optimized for dim light as photons to be gathered through large apertures comprised of hundreds of lenses.
In nature, it’s a gift to the hermit crabs that works out to the crab’s advantage to be nocturnal.
What else can hermit crabs do at night?
Although hermit crabs are a lot safe at nighttime due to being nocturnal habits. And, if they encounter any unknown predator at nighttime they shall again hide and preserve themselves inside the shell they are carrying with them.
At night they become active and go searching for food. They are omnivorous and feed on anything they can grab and eat like small fishes, insects, ants, or even small plants. It also needs to be mentioned that the hermit crabs basically need all the same nutrients and minerals that humans do.
At night they use all their sensory bits and antennas to smell, touch, and search for the food. They have sensors on their antenna and on the setae (hairs) on their legs for smelling and finding their food.
They have very small stomachs, the size of their eyes, so don’t eat that much at night.
At nighttime, you will find hermit crabs searching for food, climbing, and meeting socially. You will find them normally acting with each other in standard ways, by crawling over each other, smelling each other, by having “feeler fights” or “pushing contests.”
Hermit crabs are seen to be molting mostly at nighttime. Hermit crabs molt as they grow, shedding their exoskeletons and creating new, larger ones to accommodate their larger bodies. It takes about 4 to 8 weeks for a crab to complete molt itself. And, as a general rule, the larger the crab, the longer the whole process will take.
At nighttime, the land hermit crabs go inside the seawater for a timing. The land hermit crabs live near the shoreline and they need to visit the pools and crevices of seawater to wet their gills and the interiors of their shells.
Hermit crabs mate in seawater at both day and night time. Mostly they mate during the night. Before mating, both crabs emerge partially from their shells, placing their stomachs together to mate. The male holds the female with one claw, and then taps or strokes her with the other or pulls her back and forth.
It is also seen that the hermit crabs do make some noise. They make a croaking or cricket kind of a sound. Usually, they make this noise at night, but if you move them around they will make the sound in the daytime as well.