Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi; I'm starting a new project and need some tips on getting my incubator up to speed. What I have is a homemade styrofoam cooler with a plastic pan inside to hold water, a fish tank heater, and a pan of vermiculite.

So, should there be holes in the lid for ventillation, or not? Should I just keep a condensation diverter over the eggs, and not worry about internal condensation, or is this of concern? What is the best substrate and egg box design.

I was thinking of upgrading to a large plastic cooler, but may need a little direction to get it right, if that's a better way to go!

Thanx in advance!

Freight

Hey, Freight. Take it or leave it, but I just thought I'd throw this little info out there. Colubrid eggs are pretty easy to incubate. Ever since I accidently hatched twenty hognose eggs on my backporch decades ago in a gallon jar of moist sand and sphagnum moss I've been incubating one thing or another. Easy snakes or difficult doesn't matter..their eggs behave pretty much the same way. Many big breeders just put their eggs on a shelf and they hatch. In my Herp Room the ambients temps usually range from 77 to 82*F, day and night, most of the summer. But I use a little setup anyway just in case it would get too cold. What I do is float the egg box in a heated aquarium. Simply transfer the eggs to a container with the right amount of vermiculite or other medium that is moist, not too wet, close the container except for a few breathing holes, and let it float on top of the water. A thermostat in the aquarium keeping the water near 82*F will guarantee your eggs won't die of exposure

Hope this helps a little. TC.

Terry, I guess in reality that thats pretty similar to the setup I have now, only I use a brick instead of floating. I have had a little war with condensation in the past with a lid on that's full of holes even, but I just made a V shaped diverter out of aluminum and it seemed to help. I figured I'd ask all the questions now, because come spring time I may have a very special little thing going on here that I don't want to screw up!

Anyway, I think if I put the incubator in a stable room things will work better.

How often do you change the incubator water?

Thanx again!

Freight

Freight, I think one of the things breeders have had problems with in the past is making the incubating medium too wet. It should be moist, but not wet. My shoebox type incubation containers don't get that much moisture buildup. I occasionally open them up, refresh the air, and let built up moisture run back into the medium. I don't ever have probs. with mold, and lose very few eggs. I don't have a need to change water in the aquarium because I use ten to twenty gal. tanks and just leave the water in them all summer. I add water to the tanks if too much evaporates. If I leave for a couple weeks I usually have to bring the water level up about an inch when I get home. With your setup you might want to change or add water more often.

Hatching eggs is one of the most fun parts of the herp hobby. I was so excited last summer when my first Mandarin rat cut its egg open and another five taeniura eggs hatched out. The fact that these exotic species from a foreign land are reproducing with our help right in our homes is intoxicating, heheh. You'll find a method that works for you, 'cus it's personal I'm just putting down my suggestions to see if I can help you in any way get started and for anyone else who can benefit from a different point of view. Old timers are really hard to change and tend to think they're always right...LOL.

Take care.....TC.

Nifty Note: An incubation box will tend to lose moisture to evaporation over the weeks. Try this trick to keep the environment stable.

After placing the eggs in the box weigh it on a gram scale (I have a digital scale that will weigh the whole box). After a couple weeks, if you think it has lost too much moisture and you have to add some back, bring it back up to it's original weight by adding just the right amt. of water.

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Ratsnake Haven: Elaphe dione, bimaculata, mandarina, conspicillata, porphyracea coxi, t. taeniura, situla, emoryi; Lampropeltis zonata, and mexicana.

You know, i like the idea of your simple setup, so I think I'll give it a shot! I always find that water has less of a tendancy to get scummy in glass, as opposed to plastic and clay, and since my setup is plastic that may be the reason the water gets so nasty! Also, I'm sure that having a lid on the incubator doesn't help either!

How much of a temp fluctuation do you find is tollerable with the tropical Asian species eggs? I've been told to shoot for 82, but plus or minus how much is safe?

What about light levels? Does it matter if you put the eggs in a clear shoe box, or should it be opaque or a color that lets in very little light?

Speeking of how awesome it is to hatch out babies, we had baby asian Leaf turtles at the end of last year! Something I've never seen before! 3 out of 4 eggs hatched the week before we moved, and unfortunitely we lost 1 to unknown causes, but the other 2 are growing and doing quite well! Very cool indeed!

Freight

>>You know, i like the idea of your simple setup, so I think I'll give it a shot! I always find that water has less of a tendancy to get scummy in glass, as opposed to plastic and clay, and since my setup is plastic that may be the reason the water gets so nasty! Also, I'm sure that having a lid on the incubator doesn't help either!
>>
>>How much of a temp fluctuation do you find is tollerable with the tropical Asian species eggs? I've been told to shoot for 82, but plus or minus how much is safe?
>>

I suppose temps depend a little on which species you're talking. Most of mine are temperate snakes and I set temp to not go over 82*F. It usually doesn't go much below that, but if it did it wouldn't matter too much. I would let it go down into the high 70's at night. The eggs might take a little longer to hatch, but they'd be healthy. I wouldn't let it go over 82* if it could be helped, but others say a couple degrees doesn't matter.

>>What about light levels? Does it matter if you put the eggs in a clear shoe box, or should it be opaque or a color that lets in very little light?
>>

I don't think it matters if the box is clear or not, as long as it isn't in direct sunlight. The light entering the setup should be subdued/dim. I wouldn't expose eggs to any bright light. I like boxes to be at least partially clear, however, so I can see if anything is happening inside. But I open it almost everyday anyway to check on things, so I've done both ways.

>>Speeking of how awesome it is to hatch out babies, we had baby asian Leaf turtles at the end of last year! Something I've never seen before! 3 out of 4 eggs hatched the week before we moved, and unfortunitely we lost 1 to unknown causes, but the other 2 are growing and doing quite well! Very cool indeed!
>>
>>Freight

Congrats on the baby turtles. We get baby turtles too, but they're outside near and in the ponds.

Good luck....TC.

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Ratsnake Haven: Elaphe dione, bimaculata, mandarina, conspicillata, porphyracea coxi, t. taeniura, situla, emoryi; Lampropeltis zonata, and mexicana.