Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello, I just got my first clutch of eggs and the owner of my local reptile shop said he would incubate them for me. So I handed them over to him a few days ago and today I went in to see them and saw them incubating in the same container as corn and carpet python eggs and saw the temp was only 84 degrees and I asked that aren't they supposed to be incubated at 89 degrees and he said that that temp was fine. That seems a little too low, what do you guys think?

Seems low to me..

I think 89-90 is where you want to be.

I am not sure, it seems the mother leave the eggs and I really dont think the temps stay perfect like in an incubator, but 84 seems really low.

I would go to the forums of the other snakes you mentioned and check the temps for those species, it seems really low for - I believe you said carpet pythons as well?

Print the information and give it to the guy...hes trying to help, thats nice, but nice guys are stupid and dont research sometimes.

Live and learn..

I just had my first clutch also & I have them incubating at 89.2 I have read that they should be between 88 and 90. I hope this helps.
Thanks
Russ
Colorado Ball Pythons

84 is fine for the corn eggs. Corn eggs can handle a wide range of temperatures. Ball pythons eggs require a narrow range of temperatures (88-90). I think if I were in your situation I would purchase hovabator because they are easy to setup and rescue those eggs before they develop any further. Set up the hovabator in a closet or area where the ambient temperature stays constant and plug up any holes on the hovabator. Get a digital thermometer as well so you accurately set the wafer in the hovabator. You can buy hovabators at most feed stores. Good Luck.

Brad

I havent had this problem, Ive always (thankfully) have had an incubator.

Maybe someon who is more familar with under heated eggs on this site can tell you if its worth even bothering trying to save them?

If they may still be viable, you can make and incubator for only a few bucks, rather than buying the Havobator and the controller.

You can use a small container that holds water, and a fish tank heater that you can get for like $5-$10?

If somebody on here can tell you if they (eggs) may still be good, I can walk you through making an incubator for almost nothing...

This is assuming that you gave this guy your eggs for this reason??

Its no big deal..

Thanks for the advice. That would be great if you could let me know how you make your incubators. You can shoot me an email at jeserlin@cox.net

Thanks

Ratliff is correct, the Havobator and quality controller would be alot better than the improv one I can explain to you...

The improv one is really cost effective however. In making a higher quality one, you get reliability.

Here is one I made this year. It is by NO means one of the nicer ones people on this site have made, but it works really well and holds the temps to +/- about 3 degrees. This one would cost you around $200 to make. I can show you the improv way and it will be $25 or $30 bucks, but is less accurate and less reliable. This doesnt mean with a little diligence on your part, you couldnt hatch eggs with it you absolutely can.

Let me know what plans & help you need and I will send the info after work or @ lunch today

Alan

It holds temps to Plus /Minus POINT three degrees or less. Not 3 degrees!Lol!

Thanks, I actually just purchased a hovabator online but it won't be here for a few days. Do you think if I took a little rubbermaid tub with vermiculite and put my heat tape under it and put the sensor on the vermiculite and set the thermostat to 89 degrees it would work for a few days?

Thanks

If you have an old cooler it would work better? Even the styrofoam ones. Then you can place the (I think you mean FlexWatt- not heat tape, no?) on the inside on the side or top. You then want to put water on the bottom and elevate the eggs off the water with something like eggcrate material. You can substitute out alot of stuff...really.

I dont know what you have access to? I was going to tell you how to make a really stripped down, almost emergency incubator...

I honestly thought you didnt have too much cash. Its no big deal we have all been there and maybe you are a young kid?

But you said you purchased a Havobator today. If you have money to spend, I would highly reccommend getting the good controller HerpStat or Helix like the previous poster (Ratcliff I believe) said. If you dont have the cash for both the Havobator and the Herpstat/Helix, I would recommend getting the controller and not the Havobator. A cheap cooler or small dormitory fridge, combined with the Flexwatt you seem to already have and a really good controller/thermostat like Herpstat or Helix will work much better than a Havobator with the wafer.

You really have to post what your budget is and what you currently have to work with...

I have a spyder thermostat already for the flex watt. So are you saying that I could make a better incubator with my thermostat and flex watt than with the hovabator?

All you need is a cooler or styrofoam container. You can go to a grocery store, or large wholesale place like a BJ's and the fish departments have them.

You can attach the Flexwatt to the side or top, put water with some perolite to keep it from sloshing around on the bottom and then stick the eggcrate ontop of the perolite.

The cooler / styrofoam box is alot deeper than the Havobatot...I found the Havobator dries the eggs out cause the heating element is right above the eggs.

The one I have in the picture uses an Omaha Steak cooler, combined with the heating element from the Havobator, but you can use alot of different heat elements... Flexwatt, Heatcord, regular incandescent light bulb, or a ceramic light bulb.

Really, anything that give off heat and can be controlled by varying the current with the Spyder controller.

You also want to make sure you wont get electrocuted or burn the house down.

I'm not sure where 89 came from. Personally, I set my incubation temps to 90. That being said, I have incubated at 88 and the eggs hatch right about the same time. That is, the higher temp did not seem to speed up the incubation process. I believe BP eggs are hardier than we give them credit for. In the wild, temps may not be controlled nearly as well as we think - too bad there aren't too many good studies in this area. I read one scientific article where the egg temps recorded were 86 degrees. It would be interesting to see if the eggs all survive at 84. Although, I would not do it for the sake of an experiment. If he does continue at this temp, keep us posted.

BTW, I have had temp spikes up to 93 degrees and as lows as 84 with no ill effects. These spikes were less than 12 hours in length.
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Jay A. Martin
Jay Martin Reptiles

carpet eggs should be at 88-90 also......
corns at 82 or so
balls should be around 89 but like someone else says....wonder if they will hatch?.......I always wanted to just set a batch of balls' eggs on the shelf at 84 and see what happened....

let us know.......

......I have had corn eggs go from 78 to 88 degrees and up and down all over the place......I hate the heaters I use.they never work right........and I am too lazy to hook them up to a thermostat.........

........ball eggs are tough
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......wild balls suck ! BUY AMERICAN DAMNIT