To avoid them touching the heat element you can take the 1/4" hardware wire mesh that comes with it and fit it up next to but not actually touching the heat element , you can just use those push pins (the plastic headed colored ones like you use to hang stuff on a corkboard) and push them into the styro , should take no more than 3 per side to hold it in place so you'll need about a dozen of them for the 4 sides. That wire mesh is useless for hatching balls anyway so this way the wire is actually of use and serves as a safety barrier, it will fit up there good so no babies would get behind or under it if you do it right. Also if they are in a tub with a lid they obviously are safe anyway. If your not using a lid be sure you aren't using the style with a turbofan on it as that will for sure dry out the eggs as it's to much air flow blowing directly around the eggs, if you have a "still air" model then your fine as long as it's plenty humid. I also used to plug the holes in the styro bottom with aquarium silicone so you can keep the humidity higher and use a bit more water in there, I used to put about 3/4" of water in the entire bottom , worked fine. Also do remember covering most of the holes on the top section (heater side) to get the humidity us some too. Remember they are designed for hatching bird eggs which don't need the high humidity like pythons eggs do , so keep that in mind! I use a walk in room now so this was along time ago , but I do remember the best way to run one of those.

The eggs cave in about 7-10 days prior to hatching , sometimes if they are real humid they don't collapse as much (no real problem just look different).

Good luck with em!

Anthony McCain

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