Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Recently we had unseasonably warm weather. It's to early in the season so my A/C was not on and my snake room got to about 90 degrees. My gecko eggs, which were set at 82 degs., shot up to 90 degs. for a few hours. I thought the incubator would insulate them from becoming to hot from the room temperature. Was I being stupid or just expecting to much from a cheap incubator? I guess the hovabator keeps them warm and can only raise the temp and not effect the outside room temps. If I make a incubator out of a cooler would this help? I know have them in the basement which is much cooler. Any input?

You should have really kept them in the basement anyway. Its not that it is a cheap incubator at all, its that it is an INCUBATOR. You can't expect from any bator to hold its cool temps for more them a couple hours. You need to keep it in a cool place at all times, don't let it shoot up to 90.

It is much worse for the eggs to heat up for a period of time then to move down to even the 60's. Now, I don't know how long they where away from there 82, give or take 2 degree mark. But now they could have deformities.

You shouldn't have over expectations on anything that is holding something as valuable as leo eggs. I sure hope that you don't take your time, next time to move them...or watch the news for heat waves.

I would feal bad for any leo with a deformity if I was you.
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Austin-WiteLeo
Leopard Geckos
3.4.1
1-Blizzard
2- Super Hypo C. Tails Tangs
2-Stripe/Choc. Albino's
1-Het Albino
2-High Yellows
Brothers
2

From what I know, you get more deformaties when they are too cold...not to hot! Besides, to get males, most people incubate around 90. If anything, I would think they might end up with an unexpected male or two if it's within the first few weeks of incubating.

Tremper actually suggests raising temps to around 90 after 3 weeks to improve the color of albinos.

It's rather rude chastising him for a mistake, and giving him a guilt trip over it. I'm suprised that would come from you WiteLeo...you're usually a great help.

As for the mistake...which it was...the problem is thinking a heater (the incubator) would keep a constant temperature in a surrounding that is hotter then the temperature desired. Just as you need a heater in the winter to keep warm, you need a cooler in the summer to keep cool. The incubator has insulation to a point, and will keep temperatures steady so long as the surrounding temps are lower, but it's only a matter of time before a warmer surrounding temp will affect the incubator temp.

I live in Chicago and was running around pretty similarly to keep my tank temps down. Don't fret...it happens other people as well. It's hard for people in the South (me being a former Southerner) to understand how quickly temps can change on us. 2-3 weeks ago we got snow, and yesterday I was busy making sure my geckos weren't cooking, and today I'm back to making sure they don't freeze. I also understand about the A/C...after 5 months of freezing, 70's feel great and most people I know won't turn on the air until it hits the 80's. When your heating equipment is set to keep warm in the winter, temps can shoot up rather fast when you have a 20 - 30 degree increase outside. For your reptile's sake, it would be good to install a window A/C in the reptile room to make sure it doesn't get too warm in there. If you do that, then you shouldn't have a problem keeping your incubator in there as well.

I'm sorry if you find my post rude in any way. But you will get more deformities when the eggs heat up, over coloring down for that long. And I got heated up when I heard it.

Tremper-"Sex in leopard geckos is determined within the first 2-weeks of incubation." So, if you read, you will see that RIGHT then is when you would change from 78-83, to 90. Also, Tremper keeps his eggs at 90, not changing temps, that will cause a deformity.

Just so you know, sure you may get some nice looking females. But when changing temps to 90 in the Tremper method, many people tend to loose alot of there eggs. I know alot of people that have tried it and it doesn't always work. I don't even think Tremper has a good hatch rate, he has all those eggs, even a 50 percent hatch rate would be good with the nice leo's he is making.

So im sorry I was rude, its just I think that things like this should never happen...I guard my eggs like they have already hatched, I feal bad when one doesn't make it.

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___________________________________________________________
Austin-WiteLeo
Leopard Geckos
3.4.1
1-Blizzard
2- Super Hypo C. Tails Tangs
2-Stripe/Choc. Albino's
1-Het Albino
2-High Yellows
Brothers
2

I guess it was a stupid question but I was extremely tired and curious how well hovabators were at guarding against outside temps. Usually my incubators are set at much higher temps for my snake egss and I have never incubated at 82 degrees. It was a matter of a few hours so I hope no damage was done. I recenctly moved and am still perplexed how you might need A/C for a few hours and at night you need the heat back on.
As for following the news for heat waves? It was not anything like that. I think one of the biggest wastes of time is watching the weather. It seems all they do is explain why they were wrong yesterday. (hopefully I wont offend any weather forecasters). Hopefully I can post pics my hatchlings and show there was no harm done, it should be about two weeks.

Austin, am I rubbing off on you???? LOL..... Anyway, in my opinion the hova is a good starter incubator..... I would never use one again but did use one for a year or two back in the day...

There are a few problems with hovas.... The first big problem is the waffer heat regulation system.... That is what gets affected when the temp fluctuates outside the incubator.... I would advise anyone to use a thermostat instead of the waffer....

Another problem is the thin foam box.....

A well designed incubator will never go above the outside temps and will actually stay a few degrees cooler.... Keeping an incubator in an area where the the temps are stable is always the best idea... Your basement would have been the best choice from the start...

here is an example of what I build..... It keeps the most constant temp I have ever seen.... Just as good as the incubators that cost hundreds....

I understand WiteLeo...it was all I could do to control my temper when taking to the guy that thought albinos don't shed. I wish I could join the "other" site...but they never send a conformation e-mail, so I'm always blocked. It's happened 3 times and I can't find any way to contact any moderators, or site managers about it.

I wasn't aware there was such a high failure rate with the Tremper method. If it's true...that could go a long way toward advocating for constant temps at all time. I'm sure Tremper has enough eggs around that losing 50% still leaves him with a ton of eggs. I feel the same way as you, that everything should be done to make sure every egg has a chance to hatch out healthy. I had previously only heard of deformities caused after an incubator shorted out and the eggs cooled for a period of time.