How to make Beach Sand Hermit Crab-Safe

I was recently at the walking along the boardwalk when I saw a large cage full of hermit crabs for sale. Hundreds of tiny crustaceans clung on all four sides of the cage all with beautifully painted shells.

I have extra room in my hermit crab environment, so I thought I’d do one of these little guys a favor and bring him home. The only problem was I wouldn’t be back from vacation for another week, and I didn’t like the looks of the wire-mesh enclosures that came with the hermit crab.

I usually use eco earth as a substrate for my hermit crabs. It does an amazing job retaining moisture and breaking down hermit crab waste.

I couldn’t find any at this store, so I asked an employee. She told me that sand from the beach would work as a great substitute for the aquarium gravel, the only substrate sold in the store.

I took what she said for a grain of salt. I know lots of hermit crab owners who use sand as their bedding, but not beach sand. Wouldn’t it be filled with pollutants and other harmful materials found on the beach?

I left that store empty-handed, but still curious. Do people use beach sand for their hermit crabs? If so, how?

Can You Use Beach Sand?

It’s safe to use beach sand from an unpolluted beach for your hermit crabs after a thorough cleaning process. Strain the sand multiple times to remove any trash or potential contaminants for your hermit crabs, then bake it at 350 Fahrenheit for 45 minutes to remove any bacteria.

However, it’s not ideal. You can’t just scoop up some sand from your local beach and throw it in a tank. There’s a long and tedious cleaning process that removes the contaminants from the beach sand.

Just a fair warning: It’s much easier to buy a bag of play sand instead of taking sand from the beach. They’re found at any local hardware store, and usually very cheap (around $5.00). It works as an amazing substrate (when mixed with an earth-like, coconut fiber mix) and does not require as long of a cleaning process.

With play sand, you still need to bake it. You just avoid the hassle of collecting and straining the sand, and the fear of it harming your hermit crabs.

However, if you are set on using beach sand for your hermit crabs, let’s get into how you should go about the cleaning process step by step.

not wet in water, not untouched far away from water, in middle.

How to Make Beach Sand Safe (5 easy steps)

Materials:

A sandy beach
A small shovel
Two or more beach pails
A large mixing bowl
A strainer
A conventional oven
An oven pan

Step 1: Know how much sand you need.

The first thing you should do know how much sand you need to bring home.

Some beaches have rules about how much sand you can take home (if any).

According to Jason William Burgess, a lawyer from Rock Hill, SC, if you’re taking sand from a public beach, there might be state or federal regulations in place preventing you from doing so. If it’s private, then it’s illegal to take sand without permission from the owner. (Source)

The general consensus about taking sand home from the beach is that it’s not a problem if it’s minuscule.

My 10-gallon tank (a good size for 2-3 small hermit crabs) needs about 400 cubic inches of substrate, which would be 2 beach pails filled with sand.

I found this with a bit of middle school math. First, find the length and width of your hermit crab enclosure (in inches), then multiply. Take that amount and multiply it by 3 (the height of substrate in inches) you should have in your tank).

It may vary, but let’s assume that the volume of a 10-inch tall beach pail (with a diameter of 6 inches) has an estimated volume of 280 cubic inches.

This means you’ll need two or three pails of sand to fill a 10-gallon aquarium.

Two to three beach pails full of sand will not raise any eyebrows, but keep in mind you need to change the sand every 3 to 5 months.

Step 2: Find the right type of sand.

Now that you know how much sand you need, it’s time to go out and grab some. Take a couple of pails and a shovel, then drive to the nearest, cleanest beach you can find.

It’s easy to make a mistake here. It turns out that you should not scoop up some sand from anywhere on the beach, which is a mistake I would make.

You need to find sand that isn’t wet and isn’t too dry. That means you stay away from the crashing waves and the sand where it looks like water has been recently, and avoid scooping up the sand near the dunes or boardwalk that always burn your feet.

Instead, you need to find sand in the sweet spot. This is right in the middle of the beach in between the waves and land. The sand here is fairly coarse and holds moisture most efficiently, which will serve your hermit crabs the best.

This is also where shells like to gather. Grab a few as decorations for your hermit crab enclosure.

The only issue is that this is where people most often set up their umbrellas and spend a nice day at the beach, which makes cleaning the sand much more important.

Step 3: Strain & spot-clean your sand.

Assuming that you filled two buckets and brought them home without an issue, now you can begin the cleaning process.

Firstly you need to take a strainer and place a large mixing bowl underneath.

Next, run small amounts of sand at a time through the strainer, making sure you catch any large organic materials. You’ll most likely end up catching plenty of small stones, organic materials washed up by the ocean, and bits of trash.

It’s important that we remove these things from your sand to prevent any harmful substances from forming inside your crab’s environment. Any natural debris left in your sand is prone to mold and bacteria.

Discard these strained bits and take a look at your sand. If I were you, I would spend 5 minutes or so scanning the surface and digging through the sand for any bits of trash or organic material. If you find any, pinch and discard of them.

Step 4: Bake your sand.

I told you this was a tedious process!

Now that your sand is strained and free of any noticeable debris, we need to take one more step to make sure it’s really safe for your hermit crabs.

You may think it looks fine now just by looking at it, but what you can’t see is the microscopic bits of bacteria squirming through the sand. These little buggers can lead to an unhealthy hermit crab environment, so we need to get rid of them.

The best way to do so is by baking them away. Start by preheating your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (175 degrees Celcius).

Spread the sand evenly along as many baking pans as needed. You’ll want to spread it thinly so that it is at most 1/2 an inch deep. This ensures that all of the sand bakes thoroughly and is removed of all moisture.

You will need to bake your sand for 30 to 45 minutes, or until there is no moisture left inside. Stir periodically with a metal fork or spoon.

When it’s finished, you can take the sand out and allow it to cool. Let it stand for at least two hours. The last thing you want is to burn your hermit crabs!

Step 5: Add the sand to your hermit crab enclosure.

Congratulations! You’ve gone through the, in my opinion, painfully slow and overcomplicated process of cleaning and processing sand from the beach for your hermit crabs.

Now it’s time to add it to your crab’s environment.

But first, you need to clean out your hermit crab tank if you haven’t already. If you’re making a new environment for your crabs skip this part of the step.

First, Move your crabs to a mixing cup with a small amount of chlorine-free water to reduce stress. Keep an eye on them in case they start to squabble.

Next, empty out the previous substrate in your yard or throw it away, them wash out the container with a garden hose or kitchen sink.

Any shells or decorations that were in the tank should be boiled for at least 30 seconds to remove any growing bacteria.

Lastly, rinse the inside of the glass aquarium with water and vinegar to thoroughly clean the tank (if it’s needed).

Let it dry out, then add a quarter of an inch of dechlorinated water to your tank. Do this right before you add the sand so it can be absorbed and make it nice and damp for your hermit crabs.

Now that your tank is ready, let’s add the sand.

Check again to make sure it has cooled and put the sand back in a bowl. You are going to have to do some mixing before you throw it back into the tank.

Some hermit crab owners are fine with using just sand, but I believe it does not hold water very well and makes burrowing more difficult for your crabs.

Take a bag of Eco Earth (ground coconut husk) and mix it with your sand. A 1:1 ratio is a good amount to keep a sandy feel and still be able to stay damp.

Mix the two thoroughly, then add it to your hermit crab tank. It should suck up the 1/4 inch of water lining the bottom of the tank without a problem, especially with the Eco Earth.

If the substrate seems too wet, give it a few days to dry. You want a moist bedding that you can mold with your had without dripping water. If, on the other hand, it feels to dry, take a spray bottle and wet the surface. You should do this daily as hermit crabs love a humid environment.

Now, you’re finished! Go ahead and decorate your hermit crab enclosure with whatever you want. Get creative! Just make sure that your hermit crabs are well cared for.

Beach Sand Alternatives

If you want to avoid the headache of straining beach sand, there are easier ways to get sand for your hermit crabs.

Play Sand

I highly recommend buying play sand for your hermit crabs. You will have to bake it as you did in step 4, which is the case for any sand substrate.

I mentioned earlier that it’s dirt cheap, and it’s much cleaner than the sand you’ll find at any public beach. With play sand, you don’t have to worry about what it’s been exposed to in our dirty oceans.

You can purchase it at most hardware stores or online, and it can be shipped right to your door. It’s much easier than smuggling dirty sand from nearby beaches.

Coconut Fibers

I am a big advocate for coconut fibers when it comes to hermit crab substrates.

It’s my favorite because it absorbs and keeps moisture in your hermit crab’s tank much better than sand.

You can mix it with sand to give the hermit crabs a more realistic environment. I personally just stick to pure coconut fibers for simplicity’s sake.

The only negative side to this sort of substrate is that it’s harder to spot clean. Every good hermit crab owner takes the time to pick up any feces their hermit crabs leave behind.

The problem is that hermit crab feces blends right in with coconut fibers. I have such a very hard time telling the difference between crab poop and bits of coconut, that I don’t bother.

But don’t worry! I found a simple fix. Eco Earth (my favorite brand of coconut fibers) is made with of organic organisms that break down pet-waste very quickly. Now I don’t have to worry about cleaning my tank as often.

I subscribed to buy Eco Earth from Amazon every few months. It’s a great reminder to clean my tank when a bag arrives at my door every 3 months. Click here to check Amazon’s price.

Avoid Calcium-based Sands!

Lots of pet stores sell calcium-based sands claiming they’re ideal for hermit crab environments. I am against the use of this type of sand for one reason: it is dangerous.

The calcium they add to the sand sometimes gets stuck to the crab’s gills and hardens when it dries. This could potentially suffocate your crab.

For the safety of your hermit crabs, avoid buying calcium-based sand.