Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi all,I'm new to the forum but have been into snakes my whole life.I'm curious why you cant use a space heater when building an incubator? I was just thinking it already has a thermostat and fan built in?

Space heaters have been known to stick(cheap thermostat)and will only give you problems.Terry

cause they suck and do not hold temps well at all...........my room will go from 78 to 88........wih no adjustments to heater.........it works for a room but would kill the eggs with mood swings like that.........(temp swings).....if you set it for 89 and it ran to 101 .......see........

.........cheaper to run and safer.......flex watt heat tape and a good double thermostat.....and a small fan.

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Local Corn is in season and picking is non-stop........LOL
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Building a homemade incubator is really really easy. I built one for around $150.
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Dave
Phila, PA

www.DNReptiles.com
Myspace/DNReptiles
Photobucket Album

By space heater with fan, I assume you mean the ceramic element type heater?

You technically can use any heat source, it is a question of practicality.

A VCR, iron, or hair dryer can technically work, but these items wouldnt be very practical...

Heaters, heating mats, infared heaters, light bulbs, etc, draw current, which they pass through a resistive or inductive load specifically designed to dissipate this energy as heat.

A ceramic heater would work, but:

A)The heat is very dry.

B)It would be dangerous unless you are heating and entire room already, and this heater is just used to maintain the last few degrees. Even then, I wouldnt want to leave one of these heaters running 24/7 when I am not home.

C) The controllers on these heaters are not designed to regulate temperatures as precisely as required and you would have wide temperature fluctuations that are undesired when incubating eggs.

You can use a Havobator incubator with "wafer" controller, that cost about $80. See attached link: Jay Martin's website for advice on Havobators

Or, you can get a quality controller for about $125 and you can use a cooler with one of many heating elements. This rote costs as little as $225.

Let me know and I can assist.

~Alan

See link for:
Jay Martin Reptiles / Articles
Also support and buy from people that supply information freely and willingly like Jay does.
Link

Thanks for the kind words!
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Jay A. Martin
Jay Martin Reptiles

unless your incubator is a walk in room....rather waste of energy to use a space heater, especially when it gives such a wide fluctuation, dries out the air, and if kept in a very humid environment, could short out.

I have used ceramic space heaters in reptile rooms before, to keep the over all room temp relatively steady, but had other heat sources to maintain basking areas for snakes. The space heater was just to counter act poor insulation in the townhouse I used to live in, without jacking up my heating bills to ridiculous amounts over the winter. I heated the one room to maintain normal room temps and left the rest of the building at a cooler temp that was easier to maintain without having the furnace on 24 hours a day.

I suppose you could connect a space heater to a proportional thermostat (ie helix) to better control it, but again, not the best method to maintain incubator temps.
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PHLdyPayne

I greatly appreciate any and all input. I have built a 4x4x4 incubator with insulated walls like a house would but I'm haveing trouble figureing out how to supply the heat source.I live on mississippi gulf coast so winters are not too cold,should i just let female hatch her own eggs? thanks again

Can you take a pic of what you have set up so far and post it?

4'x4'x4' is prett large? How many clutches are you planning on rearing?

If I were you, I would buy a high quality controller, either Herp Stat or Helix and then use 11" FlexWatt.

Here is a picture of one I made from an Omaha Steak Cooler, a Herp Stat controller and the guts from a Havobator.

I got the Omaha Steak Cooler for free. I only used the Havobator heat element cause I already had it and the Herp Stat was $120. The thermostat is a nice one I got when my work was throwing out a thermal oven, but you can get one for $30 a Radio Snack or use a glass one for $3.

I have a clutch of eggs in it now and it holds 90 degrees plus/minus .3 degrees or less solid since about April. This one is so accurate I went with 90 degrees instead of 89 like past years because it fluctuates so little.

Let me know and I can help you...

~Alan

p.s. Also, the incubator shown can accomodate 3-6 clutches depending on size and it isnt that big?

Here is my project, I usually do overkill everything. All that is left is the wiring then I can finish it. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. thanks

i have to say it is nice....

The August issue of Reptile magazine (the last one that came out, with the three horned Chameleon on the cover (or was it 4 horns? it was a chameleon of some sort anyway) has a pretty good article on how to make a good sized incubator and how to do air flow etc.

Not so useful for smaller incubators, but beneficial for ones of the size you are making.

For air flow, if I recall correctly, the use of two fans works, set up so one fan pushes air, the other pulls it, to create an air flow over the heat elements and around the incubator, and the other falls brings the air back over the heat...
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PHLdyPayne

That looks great Look at the new issue reptiles magazine august edition and it has a great article about homemade incubators using water large coolers I will be constructing one myself using the method in the magizine very soon, it will give you some good ideas, but that incubator you have have is one of the best homemade that I ever seen very large you can put alot of clutchs in that, good luck.

Thank you, believe it or not people are still rebuilding from hurricane Katrina down here and I built it from all left over material.

Here's how I built mine.
3'x3'x6' glass door refrigerator, 4 feet of 11 inch heat tape on bottom, a computer fan to circulate the air, a helix thermostat regulates the temperature and a ronco thermostat as a back up for the helix.
If you need more info contact me.

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Adrian
Designer Ball Pythons
www.designerballpythons.com

That is really nice!!! How many fans do you have? What size? Where are they positioned,are the eggs on top at the same temp as the bottom? Finally, what do you hook the helix to?

I have 1 computer fan 3"x3".
The fan is 6" above the heat tape.
The temp is 89 from top to bottom.
The heat tape is plug in to the helix and the helix is plug into the ronco. I run the helix at 89 degrees and the ronco at 90 degrees, if the helix fails for some reason the ronco will turn it off if it goes above 90 degrees.

I had to play around with the position of the fan to get the results I wanted.
Good luck.
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Adrian
Designer Ball Pythons
www.designerballpythons.com

Thanks alot,now I have an idea of what I need to do.

It looks like you have single pane glass (not very efficient at holding in heat) and the way the door shuts isnt going to hold the temps very well either - I think?

What Adrian has is a whole different animal. His is a converted refridge or restaurant cooler, I believe, the door insulation and glass on Adrian's is specifically made for thermal control.

I would rethink the door design if I were you. You can go with a commercial window from Depot or something, but I think the setup as you have it is going to give you trouble...

I am not trying to be a D@1k, it is very well made and looks great, you might have to tweak it a bit thats all. IMHO

Very Nice nonetheless

~Alan

Yea, its 3/16 tempered glass. I do have a foam seal when the doors shut? I'm hoping that will work. This is my first try at building one so , with all the help and advice you all have given me I have an idea of what to try next. Thanks again

I am taking my little cooler & Herpstat and going home!!

Only kidding, I only hatch 1 -3 clutches a year and mine is good for what I need.

Your incubator is kicking though... What is it, a converted restaurant or store cooler?

Very nice indeed!

~Alan

It's a restaurant refrigerator.
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Adrian
Designer Ball Pythons
www.designerballpythons.com

looks great also , and I bet it didnt cost you a fortune either?