Reptile & Amphibian Forums

How can you make an incubator instead of buying one? I would like to know b/c my lizard is due in some little time now. Thank you, Anole16

This is what I would do, but keep in mind the following. 1. I have no experience breeding anoles. 2. I am going off of what "I" would do. This does not mean what I suggest will work but I can see no flaw in it. 3. Do your research, I recommend using http://www.kingsnake.com/anolecare/ and Google searches....

Grab a bag of vermiculite (you can buy this at almost any garden shop) and a disposable Ziploc sandwich container(any grocery store). Fill the sandwich container up with vermiculite and use a spray bottle to mist it heavily and put it aside to let the vermiculite to soak up the water real good(you do not want standing water to be in the container just the vermiculite to be very damp).

The heat needs to be kept above 80F and below 86F (I found these temps on the anole care site here at kingsnake) so my suggestion is to grab a thermometer put it in the incubator and make sure you can keep the temps at least close to this range before introducing the eggs. On the anole care site he says to use a human heating pad underneath the incubator to accomplish this. I personally would grab a 5-10 gallon put the incubator in there and place a ceramic heat lamp over it. Again put a thermometer in the incubator to make sure you get the temps right.

When removing the eggs from the tank take care not to turn the eggs AT ALL. This is VERY important as you will kill the egg if you do. Place the eggs in the "incubator" by starting in the center and working your way out. Keep the vermiculite moist but not damp after the initial spraying check the temp and humidity once every other day. Try not to disturb it to often.

If I missed anything or if someone has better ideas please post them I would be interested in what other people have to say on this subject. Personally I do not ever plan on breeding my anoles, the adults are difficult enough to take care of properly

Good luck! Shaon94

A small styrofoam container will keep the temperature more constant and you can cover it with a plastic top with ventilation holes. You can also use potting soil (without fertilizer or Perlite) as a medium and put one of the thermometers on top of the soil to monitor the temperature. Keep the medium moist but not wet -- don't allow it to dry out. The eggs should hatch in 35-40 days.