Incubator

I have one but will need more next year as my collection is bigger now and i have a lot more breeding projucts. I cant remember where i got my incubator from as it was years ago. Does anyone know of a website that sells incubators? A nice one that maybe you all have purchased from with great results?

thanks!

depending how large your breeding plans are, it may be easier to build one. all you need is a suitable size container, a heat sourse, and a thermostat. A small fan also helps to circulate the air in the incubator and keep temps uniform.
Here is a pic of a snapple refrig I converted. I use two zoo-med uth for heat, and a helix db 1000 thermostat and i can maintain any temp I want.
As far as cost? $ 50.00 for the two heat mats, $125.00 for the helix thermostat. ( you can go cheaper on the stat, but I prefer helix) and $5.00 for a small fan. I got the snapple refridge at an auction for $50.00. I like it because of the glass door for viewing. Although any old refridge will also work.




This incubator will hold more clutches of eggs than i will ever have at one time and cost me way less to build than a commercial one that would hold only a few clutches. Besides it was a lot of fun to plan and build.
BTW, i do not have a fan on the incubator in the pics,.. it is currently in use elsewhere in the house

Where do you have the stat probe in there? Up in the top?? Actually, it looks like the middle.

I need an incubator this spring, but I am more worried about the eggs over-heating than getting cool. I experimented with a clutch of slugs this summer (not fertile, but I treated them as if they were) and I just couldn't find a place in my house that had steady enough temps. So I'm looking at that one that heats and cools, but it will only hold two clutches, but I don't want any more than that, anyway, and will be able to find room in the kitchen for it. ReptiPro. I wish I could find someone who had actually used one, though.

Nanci, The Helix probe is in the middle. I also keep a thermometer on each shelve level when the incubator is actually incubating eggs. when in use with a small fan in operation, all the temps on all the levels are the same.
I set the Helix at 80 degrees and things run great. I never did like to incubate at 84-85 like many do. 80 degrees may prolong pipping but I find at 70 to 75 days I produce bigger stronger hatchlings.
I incubated for years by just having them on a shelf in the snake room but last april we had temps near 90 one day and I was away.. the room got to 88 degrees, luckily everything worked out,..but I decided to play it safe so I went with an incubator in my unfinished basement which never gets above 75 degrees. :cheers:

Nanci said:

Where do you have the stat probe in there? Up in the top?? Actually, it looks like the middle.

I need an incubator this spring, but I am more worried about the eggs over-heating than getting cool. I experimented with a clutch of slugs this summer (not fertile, but I treated them as if they were) and I just couldn't find a place in my house that had steady enough temps. So I'm looking at that one that heats and cools, but it will only hold two clutches, but I don't want any more than that, anyway, and will be able to find room in the kitchen for it. ReptiPro. I wish I could find someone who had actually used one, though.

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I have seen them, unfortunately I do not know of anyone who has experience with one... check out ebay as I have seen them brand new for a bit less than Reptipro.
I loved the heating and cooling feature, but with 30 breeder females it was no good for me.:awcrap:

Yeah, I'm in a trailer out in the broiling sun with trailer-ish insulation, so there is no guarantee of temps not going up to 90F anywhere in the house. I tried a bunch of kitchen cupboards, etc. (The lowers). I even have AC piped into my garg's viv.

I think some sort of refrigerator might work nicely for brumation, though, here.

Nanci said:

Yeah, I'm in a trailer out in the broiling sun with trailer-ish insulation, so there is no guarantee of temps not going up to 90F anywhere in the house. I tried a bunch of kitchen cupboards, etc. (The lowers). I even have AC piped into my garg's viv.

I think some sort of refrigerator might work nicely for brumation, though, here.

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Yes, it does sound like you would need a cooling system for the eggs. I have my snake room upstairs in the house and in the summer I have an A/C Unit for the room that keeps the room at 80-82 degrees, but should it fail the snakes would handle the higher temps, but I don't think the eggs would do as well. Thus i went with the basement incubator.

Old_School how does one find old drink fridges that are being sold??

Asbit said:

Old_School how does one find old drink fridges that are being sold??

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I found mine at a deli liquidation auction, However I do see them often on Graigslist.

Old_School said:

I found mine at a deli liquidation auction, However I do see them often on Graigslist.

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kinda like this one I just found on Graigslist. though this is a bit high in price, still cheaper than an incubator of similar size.



Snapple Vendor Style Water Cooler....


Location: Quakertown
it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests



PostingID: 1496579731

the pic will not come up but its the same cooler i have.

Thx for the info!

Cool thanks! I think ill just build my own too. Now i have another question. Will i be able to put that fridge incubator in my garage? Will it be ok and will the eggs be ok, cause it gets about 40 degrees at night times in the garage as i have no room in the house for that fridge incubator.

BabyBlueEyes said:

Cool thanks! I think ill just build my own too. Now i have another question. Will i be able to put that fridge incubator in my garage? Will it be ok and will the eggs be ok, cause it gets about 40 degrees at night times in the garage as i have no room in the house for that fridge incubator.

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As long as your heat sourse can provide enough heat and you have a thermostat that will keep it from getting too hot you should have no problem.
I first only had 1 heat mat in the box and it would only get the incubator up to 78 degrees with the Basement being 65 degrees. When I added another mat it let the incubator get to 92 degrees ( without a thermostat) So using a helix thermostat, I set it to 80 degrees and have had no problem maintaining 80 degrees even today where as my basement is 55 degrees.
Note I have no eggs incubating this time of year, I am just testing it for poops and giggles. When I will have eggs, the Avg basement temp will be 65-75 degrees.

Ah what a time to find this post, I had just determined that I was going tolook for one of these reach in coolers to convert. Decided I should look to see what others are doing and this confirms I was thinking of a good idea!
What do you suggest to use as a heat source? I read heating pad but question if that is standard type for humans or something moe like Flex Watt. I have a heating unit that I custom built that I think would work very well...I'll post picks of it later.
Where is the best place (price) to purchase Helix controllers?
Looking forward to building this project!

When it rains it pours, didn't take long to have three of the single door coolers available to me for free. (don't ask me to pass one along that's how you burn bridges) anyway I'm really excited about next years incubation!

:As a side note, just to give a hint, if you know someone who works in the beverage industry get ahold of the maintenance department who repairs these units. They have standards for what can and can't be "repaired" take a few of them and combine the parts and you have a "good as new" working unit. You also have the needed additional shelves!