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Hey my 40 year old incubator still works

Lindsay Jul 02, 2011 08:30 AM

This was an upgrade from the coffee can with shredded newspaper
Image
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Lindsay Pike
Urotopia Uromastyx

Replies (6)

pyromaniac Jul 02, 2011 08:42 AM

LOL!
You must live in a home where the ambient temperatures stay within a moderate range. My friend Herb just puts his eggs on the top shelf in his snake room. I have to use a thermostatically controlled incubator as my temps range from low 40's F to high 90's F in the house.
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Bob
Pyromaniac AKA Greatballzofire
Keeping cats allows man to cohabitate with tigers. Keeping reptiles allows man to cohabitate with dinosaurs.

Bluerosy Jul 02, 2011 09:59 AM

You must live in a home where the ambient temperatures stay within a moderate range. My friend Herb just puts his eggs on the top shelf in his snake room. I have to use a thermostatically controlled incubator as my temps range from low 40's F to high 90's F in the house

I have had hundreds of snakes eggs drop to the 40F's for a few days. The eggs hatched fine. Just takes longer.

A drop at night is okay as long as the temps rise during the day. It may only add a fe days to the hatch time. otherwise there is no detrimental effect on colubrid eggs. Especially if the temps go up and down within 24 hours. Even with my aggs staying at the low 40's for several days the eggs still all hatched. And i was sitting on several hundred. I was very concerned as i was away from the house and had no control to put them in a warmer spot. But the eggs survived fine.

I would think in nature it is more natural to have temp fluctuations. Where the eggs get high highs and low lows for short perios (24 hours) due to nightfall and the summer sun beating down on a tree stump or whatever. Even then some areas have cold snaps for days/weeks and the temps stay low.

Myself and other have found eggs in the wild where the eggs were extremly hot, but the temps dropped at night to pretty cold conditions. Maybe it is better for the eggs to have these extreme fluctuations, rather than a steady temp all throughout the incubation period? Not sure if any studies were ever conducted on this? But it would make for a great study paper on colubrid eggs!
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www.Bluerosy.com

pyromaniac Jul 02, 2011 07:22 PM

Well, that makes me feel better. Keeping the temps at an even 80 F is nigh impossible, but have managed to range from 78 F to 84 F, mostly 79.5 to 80.5 F. Heat waves are challenging, but my trusty frozen gel packs keep things from getting too hot. I'd like to have one of those reptile incubators that do both cool and warm, but have heard they don't always work so great. My system has one major flaw; I must be home to deal with it. Since I am retired that is not too inconvenient, and my partner knows how to deal with the gel packs if I do have to be out for awhile. The stubborn little eggs have not hatched yet. Argh!!!!
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Bob
Pyromaniac AKA Greatballzofire
Keeping cats allows man to cohabitate with tigers. Keeping reptiles allows man to cohabitate with dinosaurs.

m77mcreedy Jul 02, 2011 08:37 PM

Oh yeAH!!!! Don MONG will put that stuff in his new Bookl!

daveb Jul 02, 2011 03:21 PM

a pseudo john hollister design that lasted me 10-12 years. not quite as long living as yours or bob applegate's, but it did its thing.

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odelay odelay odelay hee hoooo...
heeeeya huhhhh!
~Back in the saddle (Aerosmith)

denbar Jul 03, 2011 06:20 PM

The good thing is your incubator is probably worth a good bit to a collector when you get tired of using it.

--Dennis

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