Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I've self build an incubator, and already have an higrostat, I need buy a humidificator. I don't know if buy an ultrasound humidifier or a calor humidifier (i don't know the english name... an humidifier that works heating the water).
I have fear that the ultrasound could damage the hatchlings in the eggs, and that calor humidifier could rise too much the temp in a little incubator. I could attach the higrostat to a misting-like system with the water at the preferred temp, but if possible i'd prefere use a humidifier
What do you think?
thank you for your help
nazza

Hi Nazza,

Sorry I missed this post. I think I have a general idea of the terms you are trying to translate to english.

I would not trust one of those portable ultrasonic humidifiers inside of an incubator. There have been many quality issues with those products here in the United States. Maybe they are better in Italy. I believe you are from Italy or are studying there?

Your thought about the oscillations damaging the eggs is something I had never thought of and I'm not sure if it will be a problem. Regardless, I would not use these products.

I think you should heat water to warm your incubator. Don't worry about it over heating the incubator, the opposite will actually occur. Having a lot of water in an incubator increased the "thermal mass" or "thermal inertia". This will actually create more stable temperatures.

Lastly, I'm not sure what you mean by a "higrostat". If you mean something to control the humidity that is probably not necessary. In the US the term is "hydrostat". Due to the closed nature of incubators the humidity is pretty much always saturated or near 100%. It takes a large and complex incubator to control the humdity levels.

Please feel free to ask the questions again in case I misunderstood. I hope your incubator is soon full of Gonyosoma eggs.

Chris

Hi Chris,
I've always used water to heat my incubator with good results for some colubrids , but I hope to succesfully hatch the oxy and built an incubator perfectly insulated, with heating cable on the top, 2 fan to distribute the heat, and a good dimmer thermostat. I'd like to have a control on the humidity with a hydrostat and/or a fan to have all "under control".
I'd like to know the secret to hatch oxy, i bought mine from a czecho breeder that had a lot of cb and said me that he had an incubation time of about 100 days, so I assume that the incubation temp was of about 82F and that wasn't so difficult to hatch them. Had pics to prove that snakes were cb and all eggs had an handmade cute, said that at 100 days he cut all the eggs.
I'm italian and i'm studiyng in Spain, so i've a little problem with languages ! Now I speak badly italian, so and so spanish and i've forgotten english
regards
nazzza
ps
i'll not use ultrasound

Hi Nazza,

Well your english is very good for a third language. Good enough that I hope you and I can stay in touch and discuss Gonyosoma. I used to speak Spanish well but I have forgotten most of it.

I've lost four clutches of Gonyosoma eggs myself so hopefully we can figure it out.

I don't want to discourage you from using a hydrostat but I'm not sure how accurate and effective it will be. Hydrostats available in the US are not very accurate at all, especially as hard water deposits build up on the sensor. Maybe you have better technology available to you where you are.

For what it is worth, it seems like some of the most successful breeders of Gonyosoma use very simple incubators.

Like I said on the ratsnake forum, a friend of mine recently had his best hatch rate ever by incubating his eggs in a plastic box on the floor of his reptile room. This was after many attempts at incubating them in an expensive incubator.

Regardless, I like the idea of using a fan that can quickly remove the air in your incubator. If you leave several large bottles of water (sealed) in your incubator this will provide a lot of thermal mass and you should not see significant temperature drops.