Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have an incubator that was custom made for me and I'm testing it now. I'm using a ceramic 100 watt heat emitter as the heat source. It's located at the very top of the incubator pointing downwards. The heating is controlled by a Ranco thermostat with the temperature set at 90 degrees F with a 1 degree differential.
The probe is hanging freely in the incubator and not affixed directly to the heat source like they are in my rack systems.

I've noticed that the heat is going beyond 90 degrees to the tune of close to 95 degrees at times. My hunch is that when the thermostat shuts the heater off, the heater continues to emitt heat due to the heat buildup in the ceramic. I'm not sure if 100 watts is too strong or if I should buy a 60 watt ceramic heater.

Any help would be appreciated, thanks.

I personally haven't had any experience with ceramic heat emiters, but it does seem you might need to go to a 60, unless there is one between that and a 100. Also, I believe the probe should be in with the eggs, not hanging in the air.

If you can put a small fan in the incubator running continuously, you will have more consistant temps.