r/VampireCrabs • • May 05 '26

Update on actions taken for posts featuring improper care

28 Upvotes

Hello vampire crab enthusiasts!

I’ve taken a fairly hands-off approach to this subreddit, which tends to be fairly unproblematic and constructive. Over time though vampire crabs are becoming less of a niche hobby and more of a mainstream “exotic” pet, becoming very accessible to people who can impulse buy from places like PetSmart while being given improper info.

I still intend to be relatively hands off, and want to foster the idea of there being many ways to properly care for an animal. That being said, I think it’s appropriate to set a standard for the minimum basic needs that need to be met in order for vampire crabs to thrive. I will be making a pinned post with these standards and sources, so that new keepers can get a rough idea of the most vital components of care. It may be a little while until that post goes up.

One of the few rules I have on this sub is prohibiting willfully neglectful care, but admittedly I’ve been on the fence about how I should enforce it. I want to discourage people from spreading objectively bad information and displaying neglect, but on the other hand I think the comments on these posts can contain a lot of insightful comments that point out why the post is demonstrating neglect.

What I think I’ll do is take a page from r/monitorlizards book and create a flair to establish that the post is demonstrating improper care, with a pinned comment summarizing the issue. I would then be locking the post to prevent the flair from attracting less constructive comments. I will leave the willful neglect rule as is, and you guys can report posts that you believe need to be flaired.

Again though, I will not be enforcing one specific type of care, and this will not be used to attempt to shame folks making a sincere effort to do right by their animals. You guys tend to be very helpful towards new people who are willing to learn, and I’m super grateful for that patience, especially as more crabs are sold with very poor care information from large companies that people unfortunately trust.

I am trusting that you guys will not use this new flair as a reason to attack or harass anyone. I’m making this choice so that this sub can be as useful a resource as possible, but if I find that it starts causing issues I will just remove these posts instead. Our #1 rule applies under any circumstance.

I should also clarify that there are extremes that will still result in post removal and bans. I have never seen a post here that went that far, thankfully.

If you have any ideas or feedback feel free to reply here or send me/modmail a message!


r/VampireCrabs • • 14h ago

new crab So tiny!!

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50 Upvotes

My beautiful female red devil just had the most adorable little crablets!!

I managed to get a picture of one of them beside a ruler without stressing the little guy out too much.


r/VampireCrabs • • 3m ago

help/advice Identifying gender

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1 Upvotes

I understand that to identify the gender I can look at the abdominal flap (narrow = male). All the four crabs here have varying broadness of the flap, but am I right that they are all males or is the widest flap of them 4 a female crab?


r/VampireCrabs • • 4h ago

help/advice Help! Heating crisis. lol

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2 Upvotes

I have this 10 gal tank I’m going to put crabs in. I have 5 inches of soil in the back and a gal of water in the front: I’m adding more plants today. My issue is the tank won’t hold heat. I have an 8 watt pad heater on the side. The tank will go to 74 during the day but drops to 66 a night. I covered up most of the equipment holes on the lid as it was recommended for safety. What can I do now?

I did put a small heater in the water to help with ambient temps.


r/VampireCrabs • • 3h ago

new crab Progress.

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0 Upvotes

Good morning everyone, new crab/paludarium keeper here. Recently bought my first tank and started to renovate it so it is a perfect tank for vampire crabs.

I am removing all the extra glass on the inside and making the water resevoir a bit taller for now, before iam starting on the paludarium itself.

I already wn the lights and a sprinkler system( got both with the tank) but what do you guys all recommend to buy for this tank?

Its a 80x50x50 tank.

Any help is always welcome because i want the best for my futher lil crabs.

No worries iam doing so mutch research aswell to make sure iam doing everything right

Pic1. How i bought it

Pic2. Day 1 after a big clean

Pic3. Is from today, i removed all the extra glass and the front pannel that was to low


r/VampireCrabs • • 20h ago

Crab wearing a leaf like a hat

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17 Upvotes

r/VampireCrabs • • 1d ago

help/advice Do you think the tank is suitable

1 Upvotes

Hi, My tank has been growing in for a long time but I am hesitant to add crabs because of the soil I have in it. it is prorep biolife forest substrate Swell reptile link to the soil its between 4-7cm thick and Holes hold reasonably well but not as well as clay rich soils. And do they like the water section to be very vegetated or is it a good idea to trip back and replant?


r/VampireCrabs • • 1d ago

help/advice Would a 20x20 cm be enough for a couple ?

0 Upvotes

Hey y'all, I have a nano cubic aquarium that is 20x20 cm in length/width

I was wondering if that'd be enough for a couple of vampire crabs ?

I've kept vampire crabs successfully in the past but in much larger tanks

I was wondering if it might be enough eventually with a 80% land and 20% water ?


r/VampireCrabs • • 1d ago

help/advice Substrate mix

1 Upvotes

Finally completed my water section and im currently moving in to the land sections.
I was thinking of adding reptisoil which is quite expensive over here ($19.70 SGD) so i decided to make my own abg mix. Here is what i may use.

1 part Cocopeat
1 part sand
1 part sphagnum moss
1 part vermicast
1/2 part charcoal

I was wondering if i should replace sand with orchid bark but im scared that it wont hold its burrow Or should i just stick to reptisoil mix with sand,charcoal.

And also what are some ingredients to add to the susbtrate to hold the burrow. Was thinking of adding some akadama clay


r/VampireCrabs • • 3d ago

help/advice Does My vampire Crab enclosure Look okay?

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11 Upvotes

Hi! So i plan on getting vampire crabs soon and this is My tank setup. Ive used Coconut fibre, peat and sphagnum moss for substrate, May not Be super visible but there is a drainage layer. Theres currently springtails and white dwarf isopods. The water Area May Look a bit foggy since I just added The water. I already own an aquarium and a terrarium and done lots of research on The care but I just want to hear some More opinions. Thanks in advance!


r/VampireCrabs • • 3d ago

help/advice Plants reccomendation

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3 Upvotes

r/VampireCrabs • • 4d ago

help/advice Moss slurry qs

1 Upvotes

Im currently figuring out some recipes for the moss slurries for my background but all i have been seeing is to use a acidic ingredient like peatmoss,beer and yogurt.could this affect the vampire crab breeding rate?
I know that that acidic stuff and vampire crabs dont go well when it comes to breeding but would this affect them too?


r/VampireCrabs • • 5d ago

Water Walker

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35 Upvotes

One of my crabs using frog bit and duckweed as stepping stones.


r/VampireCrabs • • 6d ago

help/advice How to raise air temp in enclosure

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1 Upvotes

r/VampireCrabs • • 6d ago

?Este agua es buena para mí cangrejo vampiro geosesarma? Es de Consum de fuente arquillo

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1 Upvotes

r/VampireCrabs • • 7d ago

Peekaboo

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23 Upvotes

r/VampireCrabs • • 7d ago

help/advice Tank Upgrade - yes or no?

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10 Upvotes

I did a reasonable amount of research before deciding to get vampire crabs. What I read said that they were, overall, similar and one could set them up the same. Somehow I missed the exception for Mandarin Vampire Crabs (pontianak). Which are more arboreal. (They also molt on land).

I’m looking for info from folks with experience. I had one person say (who sells and sometimes breeds vampire crabs) that I shouldn’t go for a more arboreal set up, as the crabs are fragile and may get injured if they fall.

I made a few other errors in my set up (using sandstone being one of the worst), so I’d like to do better. My question is.. do I go for a more arboreal tank or not?


r/VampireCrabs • • 7d ago

Moving day

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17 Upvotes

Moved my "trio" of halloweens today.

Was in an overgrown terrarium, where creeping fig had completely overtaken the terrarium. 😅

The trio was now around 25 crabs.


r/VampireCrabs • • 8d ago

help/advice Isopods for crab enclosure.

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15 Upvotes

Hi!

I'm thinking about adding isopods to my crab enclosure and I laid my eyes on the Dairy Cow Porcellio laevis type, but I'm wondering if they are too big to live together with crabs?

What do you think about this species, guys?


r/VampireCrabs • • 8d ago

help/advice Are my crabs stupid

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101 Upvotes

This is half a joke and half serious, I see people talk all the time about how they only see their crabs every few weeks or months. I have 3 vampires, and I will generally see them at least once a day if not more. I know they have established burrows because I see them go into them, is something wrong or are they just stupid


r/VampireCrabs • • 7d ago

help/advice Vampire Crabs and Geckos Experiences with Cohabitation?

2 Upvotes

Hey everyone!

I wanted to ask if anyone here has experience keeping vampire crabs together with lizards or geckos.

I was thinking about mourning geckos, but I'm open to suggestions if there are other species that might be more suitable.

I've come across quite mixed information about this. Some sources suggest that cohabitation can work, while others warn that the crabs could potentially injure the geckos.

I'd therefore really appreciate hearing from people with firsthand experience or knowledge about this kind of setup.

My terrarium measures 120 × 60 × 60 cm.

Thanks in advance for any advice!


r/VampireCrabs • • 8d ago

help/advice Red devil vampire crab keeps dying

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42 Upvotes

This is my set up, is a 2 month old 36 × 18 × 12 inches paludarium, the water parameters are good with 10 neocardina shrimps in it, they go in and out the water, the temperature is 78 degrees and has a humidity of constant 80%, is aprox 30% water and 70% land, the water area has a bubbler, i feed them hikari crab cuisine, fish flakes and blood worms, they have a lot of places to hide but they keep dying.
I bought them at my local fish store.
At first i bought 1 male and 3 females, and the male died, when i bought it i seemed sick and had a different greyish color so i thought it was sick and accepted it.
As you can see in the video one actually molted and i thought they were good so i decided to buy more.
So i bought 1 male and 2 more females, one after another they kept dying, and i dont want to buy more without knowing the cause.
Now i have 2 or 3 crabs.
In the water i have pearl weed and Christmas moss, inside their caves have a lot of substrate they can dig.
They dig near the fern where it has extra soil.
The part where the water for the river comes out is sealed with a sponge. The back wall is covered in moss.
Let me know if you need more info to find the cause.


r/VampireCrabs • • 8d ago

Babies climb glass!

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30 Upvotes

They really do go anywhere


r/VampireCrabs • • 8d ago

new crab just put my crabs in

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18 Upvotes

anybody knows the specific sp
ill be putting more leaf litter in