Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I just finished building my new incubator. I patterned it after the one from www.albinochondros.com

Its pretty much an exact replica. Its super sweet. Pretty proud of it. It better work too. The sucker cost me the better part of $270 to put together not counting the cost of the Helix thermostat which was given to me ($100 value) and I got the cooler for only $12 on clearence. Most places wanted $60.
But this should be a pretty reliable Incubator for a long time. If space permitted I would have just made one out of a stand up freezer which wouldve been alot cheaper. This thing will be easy to move around and can still hold quite a few eggs. Its great for my purposes anyway.

Thanks for looking.
Brendan

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Without INTEGRITY and HONESTY what else have you!
Brendan Saffron

Beautiful!
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Julian Garcia
Chondros Exquisite
Seattle,WA

Did you install a fan as well? I saved some plans that I found on the internet for an icechest incubator (you know, for future use...). It has fans to circulate the air and keep the temperature more constant.

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1.0~amel corn~C.S.
1.3~Aztec Okeetee corns~Coatl,Maya,Acatl,Tepin
0.1.1~Green tree python~Tempest, Whisper
0.2~Rhodesian Ridgebacks~Akilah, Ona
0.1~Old black Lab~ Callie
2.0~fat cats~Topper, Briscoe
3.0~Horses~Zaarah,Galliano,Achilles.....
www.franclycac.com

Yes there are two fans fastend to the egg create. Take a look at the pics again.
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Without INTEGRITY and HONESTY what else have you!
Brendan Saffron

Brendan, EXCELLENT job!! I also made my incubator last year folowing Damon's plans tweaking them only a little to suit my skill level and needs.

I've already hatched out one clutch and have two more in the incubator ready getting ready to hatch out quite soon this year. Last year I was successful with one clutch. I think the design is excellent and proven well.

Did you make a clear acrylic sheet to set on the top so that when you open the incubator the heat will not be lost too easily? That was the single most difficult thing I had to do when making mine. It's not pretty, but extremely functional.

Get it running and stabilized... then start to fill that sucker up with eggs!!! Well Done!!

Thats the only thing Im not sure how to get done. Damons example in one of his pics makes it look as though theres plenty of room for a clear top but the pic also looks incomplete. My egg boxes seem to rise just barely higher than the inside corner ledges of the cooler that the lid sits on. How does yours look? What did you cut it with? Post a pic if you can.

More importantly, are you able to achieve 100% humidity? I know thats the idea but for some reason I only get 87% and cant seem to get it higher. Even with the air pump in one of the water pans. Temperature distribution is not a problem. That seems to be right on. Its the humidity thats being a pain. Then again, Im not incubating chondros. I would have other various python eggs that are less demanding. But I still would like to achieve 100% saturation if possible.

Also, do you get a decent amount of condensation under the lid? Fortunately I dont have a problem with condensation inside the egg boxes but it sure gets wet under that lid. I suppose its expected.

Brendan
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Without INTEGRITY and HONESTY what else have you!
Brendan Saffron

I used the same design for my incubator, but I cut a section of the top out for viewing the eggs without opening the incubator. I also was planning to go the "no substrate" route, but after only a week the eggs were beginning to dent. So, the eggs are now in vermiculite and have plumped back up.

Buddy B