Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I had a female lay a clutch of eggs on the 7th of this month. What have you all had the most success with? Artificial incubation or letting mother nature take care of them? I have two more females that look as though they are looking for a place to lay as well. Just wanted to see what you all had to say.

Thanks
Allen

I have done both natural(where they lay) and with a hovibator. I have had the same percent hatch rate with both. I currently do the hovibator method, only because it takes the guess work out of the incubation progress.

Phil

Not even close with me...artificial, hands down. My eggs don't stand a chance outdoors on account of the ants. In fact, it's often a race between myself and the ants to find a nest.

I still use a home made incubator. Interestingly, a new "Reptiles" article describes my incubator almost exactly. I had some problems with it last year, but after finding out how small hovabators are, I just repaired it.

the ants are the only fear for me as well. We have fire ants in my neck of the woods and they would make short work of eggs if they find them. Do you have anything that describes the incubator you made. I may keep them in the ground until I can get one made or purchase one. Thank you both for your input

Here's an idea for those who find hovabators undersized. It's not mine. It's from a turtle husbandry pro who deals with far more captives than I likely ever will.

He simply unfastened the internal mechanisms in a couple of hovabators and refastened them to the lids of big styro fish boxes. Tripled the size, and he incubates all sorts of species in this fashion. One of those things that would make anyone go duh!

Better still, for anyone who wants to use that route but doesn't already have hovabator(s) laying around, GQF Manufacturing sells all of the replacement parts so that you don't have to pay for the styro shell if you're not going to use it.

My first few clutches were hatched in a container of vermiculite that was placed on a top shelf of an upstairs bedroom closet. The temps stayed 76-84 degrees and the hatch rate was good. I kept the closet door closed to help with keeping the temps stable. We even had the central air going.
Phil