Reptile & Amphibian Forums

are there any good reasonably priced egg cookers available. if not does anyone know where i might be able to find a set of plans for how to build one.i do have a empty mini fridge that i could convert. where might i find heat cable to warm it or should i use 3" heat tape. any info would be appreciated.

spider

lllreptile.com has a hovabator for $40 with airflow but it depends on how many clutches ur planning on doing.
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Jeff Kearney Orlando Florida (407) 766 6066

0.1 CB Spouse
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I really havent used heat cable, but I have heard good things about it.

Is the mini-fridge the smaller square one or the slightly bigger rectangular one?

The flexwatt will work very well, but you need to solder a plug onto the flexwatt. An old 2-prong extension cord works well for this. You cut off the receptical end (leaving the plug end intact), you then seperate the two wires up about eight inches, then strip-off 3/4" of the sheathing om each to expose the copper wire inside. This is what you attach to the Flexwatt.

Down the sides of the Flexwatt you have copper "rails" - one on each side. The heating element is the insulated wire mesh that runs in a zig-zag pattern inbetween the two "rails". You expose a small portion at the corner (both on the same end) of each "rail" by scratching off the plastic coating with a razor or a small sharp knife. You then have to solder one lead from the extension cord onto each one of the exposed "rail" ends. After the wires are secured, you need to cover the exposed solder and copper wire with electricians tape or a insulated glue works also.

I would use 11" Flexwatt because you wont need such a long piece. I would cover the bottom of the fridge (it can even run up the sides a bit), securing the Flexwatt in place with heat tape or even high temp / hot glue.

If you dont want to solder the Flexwatt or dont have access to a soldering iron or whatever? You can by a Under the Tank heater I think? I am not sure if the newer ones get as hot though...you will need to check? My older ones get very hot. I thought I read somewhere that the newer ones do not get as hot, but I am not sure? The manufacturers might have started limiting the heat output, they will put a current limiting resitor in series with the plug, you can probably remove it but you would need a soldering iron again to do this??

The most important thing is that you use a really good controller set for 89 - 90 degrees. I use Herpstat, but Helix is supposed to be excellent as well. This is imperative to maintain temps precisely at what you set it for.

Also, you want to use an egg box to maintain humidity. This is just a tupperware box, large enough to hold the eggs. You poke a couple hole in the sides, then put wet vermiculite 3/4" on the bottom and place 1 or 2 pieces of eggcrate (the light fixture kind) ontop of the vermiculite. The eggs are then placed on top of the eggcrate, so they do not touch the wet vermiculite and die.

This is good for now, let me know if you get stuck or have additional questions.

thank you for the advise. i didnt mean to sound like a beginer. i have hatched out 5 clutches of eggs with a modified hoverbator. i raised the heating element by building the sides up. now it sits about 10 inches above the egg box. i put my eggs in a seperate box again this year covered by glass. last year tried the zero substrate and lost half my eggs. i use a external thermostate with a probe. i was looking to spend a couple hundred dollars. i looked over in the classifieds at some of the incubators available most are like 500-700$ for mini fridge sized ones. i was looking for tips from anyone that might have bought one. i still might just build the mini fridge but i am getting a full size fridge this weekend. would it be better to convert the mini or full size. i have a small collection of 30 balls{8.22of various morphs}. thanks for the info

spider

Ohh - Ok it was hard to tell from your post ezactly what you wanted...for me anyway?

Similar to you, I keep between 20 - 35 snakes at anytime. I go witha smaller incubator myself, but you can go with a fullsize, it really depends what your plans are?

I didnt even breed all my girls I could have last year because I dont want to have to care for so many babies. I really am doing this for personal enjoyment and I hate having to sell the babies or find homes. The past few years I have been setting up for long-term breeding projects by selective breeding of a couple females. This year and the next I will start having some nicer girls that will (FINALLY) be big and old enough to breed. I really have been trying to breed the morphs I want to own entirely on my own with hets. I have gone almost entirely with reccessives to this point. I am going to add a couple co-doms next, depending on how this year plays out? I find the planning and selective breeding to produce your own stuff to be the most fun...for me anyway? Something that takes 2-4 years of total patience is a very rewarding thing in the end. Anyone can just go buy a co-dom and shove it in with a female... At least thats my feelings.

Good luck to you and your breeding plans.

Heres mine , has worked fine for me !
Used 11in flex watt........1ft long taped to the back.......
Used a johnson controls A419 thermostat. I have a clutch on day 45 right now . Candled them tonight and you can see them moving in the egg. I used an egg container inside,2 6qt sterilite tubs taped together.Temp probe in the container with 50/50 vermerculite and water by weight.

I hate Hovabators, although they do work for some people. To me, they are not worth the $150 pricetag when you can build a much larger and more efficient incubator for much cheaper.

With your mini-fridge, all you have to add is heat cable and a thermostat. That's it! You can buy ZooMed Heat Cable from www.reptiledirect.com . That's where I got mine and it worked great last season as I had it hooked up to a Helix thermostat.

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~* Jen *~

Pink Lady Constrictors

I don't think I've seen an incubator post from you without some negative reply about them. Sorry you lost your clutches. This year, I lost a few clutches from temp spikes because my Helix (Yikes!) controller quit working properly. Once it hit the desired temp, it kept on heating.
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Jay A. Martin
Jay Martin Reptiles

I wouldn't be so negative about them if they didn't cost me $150 just to kill my eggs. LOL!
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~* Jen *~

Pink Lady Constrictors