time to panic?

[Daigga]

So, expecting eggs at the end of May or early June, I went and purchased myself an incubator. I picked the nice looking exo terra model that looked like it would be everything I needed. Except I got it in, and it is tiny. The shelves in it are also so close together that only the little plastic tubs it came with (also tiny) can fit between them, and only if they are as far apart as they go (which is like 3 inches).

Picture, paper towel roll for scale (pardon the mess)



Has anyone used one of these for ball python eggs before? Can I make this work? Also, do I need to worry about the humidity inside the entire incubator, or should I be fine as long as my egg tubs themselves have pretty high humidity?

One last thing, but my girl has been laying inverted on and off for the last week. Is that weird at this point? I'm very sure we're close to egg laying time, as she's enormous and her back end is looking about ready to explode (her pre-lay shed was on the 4th)

Quick edit for more information:
I had planned on using the 6 qt shoebox tub as an egg container, but those just won't fit into this incubator. At all. What sized tubs will I need?

[MS2]

I always made my own incubators, so I can't really help you there. It does look very small. As far as your girl laying inverted, that's normal and sounds like she is getting close to laying. Good luck.

[blk02ssmonte]

I am currently using one now for my eggs. Yes it is small and I was planning to build one but time ran out. I borrowed this one and I am making it work. I have 8 eggs in mine. I went to walmart and bought a container that would work. I measured the bater and then went and measured glad tupper ware and found one to work. Don't put water in the tray just set the temp and check it. I am using hatchrite and it all seams good so far. Only thing is my temps fluctuate a bit. I have a tub of water in the bottom and my eggs sealed in a container on one shelf. If all is good I should have hatchlings soon. It is somewhere around 30 days after the shed she should lay....give or take. so if her shed was 5/4 then look for eggs somewhere around 6/4ish maybe longer but good luck!

[BCS]

Wow, that is tiny, and I though mine was small. If you have one or two clutches of eggs, I could understand using something like that but not for a starter collections like 4 or 6 clutches. I personally have not used that one but besides the size of it, it should run like any other incubator out there, just with a smaller amount of eggs.

[Daigga]

The good news is I'm only expecting a single clutch of eggs at the moment. I had hoped when I purchased it that I would still be able to use it next year when I'll be expecting at least 3 clutches, but seeing the size of it I think I'm just going to sell it and build my own once the current job is done. I've got it plugged in and warming up (with a zoomed digital thermometer monitoring the temps as well), so at least I know it works.

The new problem is going to be getting my vermiculite from the post office before they return it... Curse regular working hours...

[MS2]

I have found vermiculite at my local Lowes, but can not find it at Home Depot.

[Ballpythoncrazy]

Wow, that is tiny, and I though mine was small. If you have one or two clutches of eggs, I could understand using something like that but not for a starter collections like 4 or 6 clutches. I personally have not used that one but besides the size of it, it should run like any other incubator out there, just with a smaller amount of eggs.

May I ask which incubator you use? I'm trying to find one but the only ones I can seem to find that would work well for ball python clutches are the hot box incubators. And they're super expansive.

[Albert Clark]

I had referenced this particular incubator about a month ago in a similar thread. Most people were not familiar with it. I think bc it is a fairly new product, a few including Deborah (moderator) felt it was too small for bp eggs. I don't think the incubator has really been tried and tested enough to tell. Exo terra is a big name in herp supplies though. I was considering buying it but went with the zoo med reptibator for the larger dimensions and the proportional thermostat that is built in to the product. Hovabator makes a pretty good commercial incubator also. Some of their models come with internal fans as well. Hope this helped. Good luck! I am expecting my first clutch around the same time as you. My female had her pre lay shed on May 9. I think that Exo terra incubator has a "thermoelectric heating element", correct? IDK, but I felt the "proportional" thermostat was more of what made me feel comfortable.

[grcforce327]

Ever thought about researching products first?

[aalomon]

Exoterra incubators have been around for a few years now. I bought mine in 2011 and used it until a few months ago without a problem. You do need to have a thermometer inside the incubator, because the external display can be off a few degrees (had to set mine to 93 to get an internal temperature of 89).

It works very well and I only lost one good egg the entire time I was using it. As someone else said, you can get small containers at Walmart (rectangular with a green lid) that fit 2 per level almost perfectly. 100% full I could get 24 eggs in the incubator at a time (2 tubs per level/3 eggs per tub/4 levels high), so if you just have a few clutches it works really well.