Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hello all, i breed leopard geckos and fat tails mainly but have all sorts of ground dwelling species that i breed on a small scale. my question is does anyone know of a good incubator that has a thermostat and can hold the same capacity of at least 2 hovabators? i also want a clear door and it of course needs to be very sufficient. and dont have time to make one and i am soooo sick of constantly monitoring my hovas!!! i live in southern cali and the temps surprisingly change very rapidly and i dont have a a/c or a heater so my houses temp is constantly changing, which intern causes a temp change in my hovas. anyhow thanks for any help!

pic from evacuation last yr during the firestorm.

I remember that pic! I take it all are back home and doing well without complications? I still cant imagine having to pack up my entire collection on a moments notice! As far as the incubator question goes, you know what came to mind was a small wine fridge or mini bar fridge. You would need to do some tweaking to disable the cooling element and replace with your own heater and thermo regulator, but it would have a glass front and sufficient insulation to keep temp fluctuations minimal. Also, maybe you could try a tabletop type humidor?
-----

1.0 Hypo stripe, Het RW from JL (BJ)
1.0 HypoTang from Crested (Apricot)
1.0 Tremper Albino from Petsmart (Cloud)
0.1 Hi-Yellow Leopard gecko from Petco (Beatrice)
0.1 Stripe female (rehabilitated rescue)(Pepper)
0.1 Jungle het RW hatched by me! (Jungle Bunny)
0.1 SHCT Leopard Gecko from Petco (Brite)
0.1 Tangy Mutt Leopard Gecko from Petco (Rainbow)
0.1 RW Stripe hatched by me! (unnamed yet)
0.1 Leucistic rescue (Lucy?)
0.1 Tremper stripe from JMG (Delta)
0.1 SHCT hatched by me! (Blinky)
0.0.1 SHCTB hatched by me! (Sunny II)
0.1 Ball Pythons
1.0 Brazilian Rainbow Boa
Hatched: ~50 leos

I would caution about the fridge idea, just because the plastic isn't made to handle anything above room temps... who knows what kind of chemicals will be released from the polymers if heated.

I don't know much about incubators, but there is an ad for a company running here above the forum that I've read through their information. It has a humidity tank and temperature presets and "program your own" settings. Don't know if it is big enough, but it was interesting to read about... I'm not much help there.
-----
0.1 Albino Leo Gecko
0.1 Crested Gecko
1.0 Dear Boyfriend
Departed: Harvey and Spock

yes, everyone made it home safe and sound and while i was evacuated i actually added to my collection. i made a stop at a petsmart and saw this little guy. he looked deathly thin along with his cage mates but he was more orange than normal. i tried to talk the manager into letting me adopt him/her but was unsuccesfull. i went back on my last day befor going home to see how he/she was doing and it looked worse so i bought it. when i got home to my surprise i found that its front ankle was broken. everytime it would run it would buckle over/under. but if it walked most of the time it wold hold. so after that i took care not to scare it so it wouldnt run. needless to say i supplemented well and now hes heeled and gorgeous, still a little thin but a lot better then when it came home with me.

anyhow i like the wine cooler idea but i dont have time to put it togther. being as the temp would only get up to 92f at the most im not to worried about it. i did check out that link above but that is way to small for what i have in mind but thanks. anyhow im still open to suggestions. i know there has to be a better solution because im sure the big breeders like abley, etc..., dont have 20 hovas laying around.

I'd grab him too! You know what, I know a lot of the big breeders do use actual refrigerators, with of course modifications. When you're hatching that many eggs, I guess it's worth the time. But the other method you can try is to use a cooler. Roughly the same as the wine fridge in terms of insulation, etc. I'd get like a picnic cooler of whatever size you need, some wire racks to put in it, and use the hot water/aquarium heater method. Though depending on the size of the cooler you may have some temp variation even within the incu itself.
-----

1.0 Hypo stripe, Het RW from JL (BJ)
1.0 HypoTang from Crested (Apricot)
1.0 Tremper Albino from Petsmart (Cloud)
0.1 Hi-Yellow Leopard gecko from Petco (Beatrice)
0.1 Stripe female (rehabilitated rescue)(Pepper)
0.1 Jungle het RW hatched by me! (Jungle Bunny)
0.1 SHCT Leopard Gecko from Petco (Brite)
0.1 Tangy Mutt Leopard Gecko from Petco (Rainbow)
0.1 RW Stripe hatched by me! (unnamed yet)
0.1 Leucistic rescue (Lucy?)
0.1 Tremper stripe from JMG (Delta)
0.1 SHCT hatched by me! (Blinky)
0.0.1 SHCTB hatched by me! (Sunny II)
0.1 Ball Pythons
1.0 Brazilian Rainbow Boa
Hatched: ~50 leos