Every guide we have written on keeping vampire crabs (Geosesarma), the small semi-terrestrial crabs that live on land and go into the water to feed and to molt. The guides cover the paludarium build, climate, food, group size, telling males from females and breeding in fresh water. New to vampire crabs? Start with vampire crab care. Building the enclosure? Vampire crab tank setup walks through it step by step.
Not sure whether vampire crabs go in an aquarium or a terrarium? They need something in between: a lidded paludarium that’s mostly land, kept humid by a closed lid, moss and misting, with a water section every crab can climb…
What should a vampire crab tank have in it before the first crab goes in? A vampire crab tank is a lidded paludarium that’s mostly land, with a substrate the crabs can dig into, more hides than crabs, and a…
Yes. Vampire crabs can climb out of an open-top enclosure, and an open top lets out the humid air they live in, so every vampire crab tank needs a lid that closes all the way round. If you’ve got a…
Usually you don’t need to separate a pregnant (berried) vampire crab while she’s carrying eggs. She goes into hiding on her own, and the step that decides how many young you raise comes later: separating the crablets, or the adults,…
Yes, give a berried vampire crab (Geosesarma) soil she can dig into. She spends most of her brooding weeks out of sight, often dug into the ground or tucked in a burrow, and damp soil lets her dig a hiding…
You don’t need a mineral supplement to help vampire crabs (Geosesarma) molt. Leave the shed shell in the tank so the crab can eat it, keep feeding a varied diet, and make sure every crab can reach clean water it…
No, vampire crabs don’t need UV or UVB lighting. Ordinary aquarium light, or indirect daylight from a window, is enough when it gives the paludarium a steady day and night and keeps the plants growing. What the crabs do depend…
Yes. Vampire crabs need a water area in their vivarium, and it has to be one a crab can climb into, get fully under and climb back out of. They live mostly on land, so the water takes the smaller…
A vampire crab that was eating and looked healthy usually died around a molt, after a recent move, in a tank that got too dry or too warm, or of old age. Eating well doesn’t rule any of these out.…
No, vampire crabs don’t need a bioactive enclosure. What they do need is a humid, lidded paludarium that’s mostly land, with plenty of hides and a water section every crab can climb into, fully enter and leave. Springtails, isopods and…
Yes, a vampire crab can live in a simple enclosure if it still has damp land with hides, water the crab can fully enter, humid air and a lid with no gaps. Any tank with land and water is a…
Mist a closed vampire crab paludarium about once a day, more often while new moss and plants settle in and less once they’ve adapted. In practice that runs from twice a day to every few days. Let the moss set…
