Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Has anyone made there own incubator, and if so how did ya do it???thanks

Depending on how many eggs you plan to carry. A cheap alternative to an expensive thermostat, Hovabator thermal air incubators have been used in the past with pretty good results. Thing is I personally think you are better off getting a mid dorm sized fridge mid size freezer, or a very large cooler if your planning to incubate multiple clutches, even from multiple females. These can work out for you with the use of a Ranco or Helix which I have had the best results with so far in my trial runs. I first tried the cheaper zoomed repti therm 500 with marginal results. Seems these leave a bit more of a rise and fall in the incubator if the ambient temps in the house spike or dive. I'm getting my opinions here on building a few with different thermostats just to see if I was wasting the extra money for a higher priced thermostat of $90. and up, and to be honest they are worth the extra money. Instead of the 3-5 /- I've received in trials so far with the zoomed and the alife or big apples cheaper model they are basically the same system only one has big apples name on it. These too allow for a much wider gradient throughout the day of temps as low as 82 and as high as 88 in some instances. With the Ranco My temps maybe have a /- of 1-2 degrees which is much safer, and controlled, and even with the changes in the house temps they maintained a nice and even temp and held them very well. I would also like the opinions of experienced breeders, to see if their results in the use of these thermostats has been different then mine, and to learn of what design you use to incubate?? Please insight of experienced breeders would come in handy for many of us on this issue. Dachiu or Paul, Chris Allen, Joel R, and Brandon from Dragons by nature or anyone with experience would really come in handy in this matter. Where has Brandon or Chris been lately anyway? Hope everything is OK with them. If you guys are reading this or anyone else with experience, your insight would be greatly appreciated on how you incubate and what you use to do it, and find to work the best for you. Thanks. Matthew
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Mystical Dragons webshots pictures
Mystical-Dragons Website

I basically found the same problems you did with the lower end Alife, etc. As much as a 2.5 degree temperature change between on and off.
I bought a thermostat from www.dsreptiles.comand I am thrilled with it. Digital read out and you can set the temp difference to 1 degree. Seems to hold a pretty accurate temperature. I used a medium freezer and have it heated with 2 small 10 watt under cabinet halogen lights.
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Lisa
100% cricket free babies!
www.beginnersbasics.com

There are a lot of ways you can make your own incubator. The most important thing is to have an accurate thermostat. The key to incubating dragon eggs is to control the temperature and humidity. Your temperature can fluctuate 1 or 2 degrees and your humidity can also fluctuate /- 10%. I would say the 2nd most important thing is to make sure the container you use as an incubator is very well insulated. This will make controlling the temperature so much easier and not allow outside temps to greatly influence your inside temps. One of the 1st incubators I built was using a large styrofoam box placing a high quality fish tank heater inside a container filled with water. The water heats the incubator and also creates humidity. With this type of set up you definitely want to build your incubator well ahead of time and closely monitor the temps for a few weeks to get everything dialed in.
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Paul Morlock
of CaptiveCreations and
Retail Sales Rep. for Sandfire Dragon Ranch

I'm using an old mid size dorm sized fridge this season. Do you want the inside of the whole fridge to have the high humidity or just put the humitidy square inside the tubberware/plastic box with covers holding the eggs with the moist vermiculite/perlite inside??
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Mystical Dragons webshots pictures
Mystical-Dragons Website

Primarily in the egg box, but having a good level of humidity in the incubator itself will help keep the egg boxes more stable for a longer period of time.
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Paul Morlock
of CaptiveCreations and
Retail Sales Rep. for Sandfire Dragon Ranch