Vampire Crab — Fact Sheet

Geosesarma dennerle · Vampire Crab

📋 At a glance

🏠 Enclosure

• Start with a securely covered 60 × 45 × 45 cm paludarium with roughly 80% usable land and 20% water.
• One animal can be kept separately; a carefully monitored small breeding group requires multiple territories and spare housing.
• Never combine males in a cramped setup.

🪨 Enclosure furniture

• Build at least 5–8 cm of diggable, pesticide-free soil over drainage, with leaf litter, cork cavities and rooted plants.
• Add several shelters on land and underwater, with visual barriers between them.
• Support heavy hardscape independently of burrows.

💡 Lighting

• Provide about 12 hours of diffuse light for plants and a dark night.
• UVB has not been established as necessary.
• Thick leaf cover must let crabs forage without crossing an exposed bright area.

🌡️ Temperature

• Water: 22-26 °C

• Maintain air around 24–26°C and nights around 22–24°C; keep water approximately 22–26°C.

• These are maintenance targets rather than lethal limits.

• Use thermostatically controlled external heating only if needed.

• Measure land and water separately; a warm aquarium heater does not ensure suitable air above it.

💧 Humidity & water

• Aim for 75–90% humidity with ventilation and moist, unflooded land.
• Use dechlorinated fresh water, never marine salt.
• Provide easy textured exits from every pool.
• Cycle a filtered water section before stocking; ammonia and nitrite must be undetectable.
• Test weekly and change part of the water with temperature-matched water; small unfiltered dishes need frequent cleaning and replacement.

🪳 Diet

Staple foods — follow the feeding schedule:

• Offer small portions daily near shelter entrances: cultured small insects, thawed aquatic invertebrates and suitable crustacean food, with some vegetable matter.
• Remove remains before they foul the water; do not add copper-based medication or unverified mineral mixtures.

In moderation:

• Sweet fruit is a small part of a varied diet, never the only food.

Avoid:

• Pesticide-contaminated food, spoiled leftovers and unverified wild-collected foods.

Supplements:

• Leaf litter and microfauna supplement rather than replace feeding.
• Supply a small clean cuttlebone fragment as a calcium source.

🩺 Health — warning signs

• A shed exoskeleton can resemble a dead crab.
• Avoid disturbing a hiding soft animal after a molt.
• Missing limbs, repeated attacks, failed molts or sustained lethargy require checks of water quality, shelter distribution and food.
• Separate injured animals in an appropriate humid setup and consult an aquatic/invertebrate-experienced veterinarian; never medicate the whole paludarium blindly.