It appears you are working off the assumption that there is only one right answer. All of the variations you described will work; therefore, are all correct. I prefer to use what I have available to me. When I made my incubator from a wine fridge, I used a 2' section of 11" flexwatt layed across the bottom and up the sides in a "U" shape. I am fairly certain I could have gotten away with just 1' of flexwatt but can't afford to tinker with it anymore since I may have eggs within days to put in it. I also had heat rope laying around and could have used it, but didn't. No real reason I guess.

Get a general idea from others about what has worked for them and just start playing around with what you have. There are several plans floating around the forums and Julian Garcia has a nice video on Youtube (search "reptile incubator" ). Most of what I have seen seem more than you need for leo eggs, unless you have a lot of leos. I would just use a small cooler and 4" flexwatt or heat rope. A good proportional thermostat is a must and fill as much empty space in there as you can with bottles of water to add thermal mass. As mentioned previously, this goes a long way to help stabilize temps. As long as you have a well insulated container, reliable heat source,and reliable t-stat, the rest is just a matter of playing around and finding what works for you.

Good luck,
Bart

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