Reptile & Amphibian Forums

could i use a heating pad to incubate my eggs?i have always did the aqaurium half with water and a submersible heater method.is vermiculite better then spahgnum moss?thanks in advance

Vermaculate is better than spagham moss.... You could use a heat pad with a rheostat but I would not put the eggs directly over the matt unless you REALLY trust it.....
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0.1 Snow Corn "Hope"
1. Orange Albino Black Ratsnake "Chunk" (Goonies)
.1 Orange Albino Black Ratsnake "Peaches"
0.0.1 MO Locale Black Ratsnake "Molly" (Flogging Molly)

As we say in Missouri, "I ain't goin back to Missouri!"

What is wrong with the tank and submersable heater? I have not yet used it but planned to. Did several test runs using a 3 gallon bucket with the submersable heater and put the egg container on 2 bricks so it barly came in contact with the water.

All my tanks leak. A tank has no insulation to hold the heat in. And a tank/submersible heater setup is hard to scale up because of the water's weight and the tank cost.

A tank/submersible heater setup works. But there are incubators that are more practical for my uses. YMMV.

Paul Hollander

Hi Mr Hollander, I've been putting off breeding my corns for 4 years now because I really didn't want to screw with the water tank-submersible heater route. Can you recommend or describe a good incubator? Would a quail egg incubator work? Thanks for any info!

Buy a $40 incubator from any of the companies that advertise on this site. They are no hastle and work great (at least they have so far for me).
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****Misty****

"Everyone has the right to be stupid, but don't abuse the privilege"

The list keeps getting Smaller!
Not counting Hatchlings, this is what I have.........

1.1.2 bearded dragons
7.17.4 corn snakes
1.1.0 jungle corns
2.5.0 king snakes
1.0.0 Sinaloan milk snake
0.1.0 Tri-Hybrid milk snake
0.1.0 rat snake
1.1.0 Leucistic rat snakes
0.0.1 royal (ball) python
1.1.0 Congo African Grey Parrots
0.1.0 German Shepherd hybrid dog

Thanks for the tip - I'll have a peek...just so I don't have to fool with tanks of water! LOL

Call me Paul. Mr. Hollander has one foot in the grave, and the other foot is sliding fast.

How many eggs of what size do you want to incubate? It makes a difference on the incubator size. Otherwise, you have three variables: cheap, fast, and good. Chose the two variables most important to you.

Essentially, an incubator is a heat source inside a box (to hold the heat). I like three nested boxes. The innermost is open and holds the eggs with the incubation medium. The middle is closed to hold humidity in so the incubation medium does not dry out as fast as it otherwise might. The middle box holds nothing but air and the inner box, though the middle box may have a little water on the floor to help maintain humidity. The outer box holds the heat in.

Other people use only one box instead of my middle and inner boxes. I like the extra volume of air, but both ways work.

The heat source is usually some sort of heating pad or heating tape. It may or may not have a thermostat attached.

That's a pretty general description. But so many people have come up with different designs that it's hard to be specific. Most of those designs work, though some are more versatile than others.

If you already have a chicken or quail egg incubator, it might be possible to convert it for snake eggs. Some, like Hovabators, can be converted, and some can't. It depends on the size and the thermostat.

Hope this is some help.

Paul Hollander

Hi Paul, Thanks for the great info & advice. Meant no harm with the "Mr" stuff - just a show of respect from figuring you're probably a little more than my 45 yrs considering your knowledge/experience base!
The only thing I'd want to incubate at any one time would be at most, 2 corn snake clutches (only have 2.2), so maybe 32 eggs, but being in a wheelchair I'd rather not fool with quantities of water if I don't have to & this dry air incubation in boxes (do you mean cardbox boxes or sterlites?) seems to be the way to go. Thanks! I've been waiting nearly 5 springs to figure this out! Now I just have to decide if I've waited too long into the start of (really) hot weather to pull this off this year! LOL
Tim in Tucson

Yo, Tim! I may have a few years on you, but I'm still learning, too. Renaissance Man, or Bust; that's me.

The three box system I use is a plastic Sterilite shoebox to hold the eggs/incubation medium, a plastic sweater box around 16x12x8 inches for the middle box, with a wooden box I knocked together for the outer box. There's nothing sacred about any of these. I haven't tried it, but I bet six slabs of styrofoam lining a good-sized cardboard box would give plenty of insulation. Though I'd prefer to let the styrofoam outgas the plasticizer for 6 months or so before using it. And I wouldn't let the heater touch the styrofoam.

I wired in a wafer-type chicken incubator thermostat to pipe heater tape for the heat source. Down there in Arizona you may need a cooler rather than a heater.

Good luck.

Paul Hollander

Thanks for the specifics! I really appreciate it! And will give it a go! Though they're in my apt living room, you may be right about needing a cooler rather than heater! Room temp right now is 80-85 degrees even with refrigeration running!