Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Below is what i used to hatch 5 clutches this season. It cost me roughtly $180 and as you can see it keeps temps! Incubating eggs does not need to be stressful.

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Dave
Phila, PA

www.DNReptiles.com
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Do you have any fans? How do you control your temp? Great idea, and simple!!

no fan. opening the incubator every other to every two days is enough and a spyderrobotics thermostat.
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Dave
Phila, PA

www.DNReptiles.com
Myspace/DNReptiles
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I use this same sort of incubator as well. Though I use heat cable in mine instead of heat tape. I figured the rubber coating of the heat cable will better protect it from shorting out than that of the heat tape... (well, actually it was more I was too lazy to properly wire the heat tape so it won't short out in dampness).

I was going to go with a hova=bator but really didn't think I could get a ball python clutch inside. They do not look very deep. I am glad I didn't as my cornsnake's eggs (was hoping for eggs from both corn snakes and ball python but only got the corn snakes) stuck to the bottom of the egg laying bin, so I couldn't take them out without risking damaging the bottom eggs. I just put the entire egg laying bin into the cooler incubator, fit no problem. I doubt I would have been able to fit it into a hova-bator.
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PHLdyPayne

A method that worked very well for me was to use a 100W "Hydor HydroKable" under gravel aquarium heater controlled by a Helix DBS-1000. I simply poured in 5gal of water and set the temperature. I used two 12V DC CPU fans attached to old cellphone AC adapters. I used zero substrate--the egg chambers (Iris shoeboxes) were well ventilated, providing the eggs near 100% humidity while staying dry on all inside surfaces.

Michael

I've seen a lot of variations of this and it's kind of what I was thinking of doing. I won't have any eggs anytime soon, but I'd like to go ahead and make an incubator. My biggest question is what kind of thermostat can I get fairly cheaply? Those Helix ones look nice, but are a bit pricey I think. Is there anything else that works reasonably well for a lower price?
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0.9.0 Ball Pythons
0.1.1 Leopard Geckos
0.0.1 Egyptian Tortoise
0.0.1 Bearded Dragons

I wouldnt use anything else. If your temps are off your eggs will die. why chance that?
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Dave
Phila, PA

www.DNReptiles.com
Myspace/DNReptiles
Photobucket Album

I don't want to use something that doesn't work, but surely Helix isn't the only thermostat in the world that works, is it?
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0.9.0 Ball Pythons
0.1.1 Leopard Geckos
0.0.1 Egyptian Tortoise
0.0.1 Bearded Dragons

Of course Helix aren't the only accuarate thermo. The prices difference isn't in accuracy, its due to the way the thermometer works. The helix, as well as the Big Apple Herp Power(which I use on my incubators) are proportional models. They make slight power adjustments several times each second. Once set up, the temps do not vary AT ALL (virtually, maybe a 10th of a degree every so often). Whereas tradtional (cheaper) thermostats cut you heat on and off. The temps will porpoise above and below the desired temps by as much as a degree, sometimes more.

A good analogy is this. You want the dining room dim for a quiet supper. Would you rather have the light on a dimmer switch, where you can dial in the right amount of light, or keep cutting the light on and off hoping it sorta works out.

Make sense? By the way, the Big Apple I use go for about 100 bucks, and last years and years. Well worth it...
Joe Pociask - My site...

also, spyderrobotics has a variety of Herpstat proportional t stats that work fantastic too. Several models with different price ranges, you're sure to find the one for you.
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Kare

"keep smiling; it makes people wonder what you're up to!"